Travels wıth Balthazar

candle light at the cave concert in Goreme
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So at this point, a week into the music tour, I'm realizing the downside of traveling as a pack of 16. Mostly, I hate riding on a tour bus and getting sucked into that group mentality of wanting something when you want it and acting out of fear that the size of the group will prevent you from getting it. I guess that's how it is growing up in a big family. So I have managed already to bond with Tim, a soft-spoken gay man from the Bay area with whom I have quickly developed a relationship of mutual teasing, and Gabrielle, a Lebanese/Midwestern beauty who has traveled the world and has the wisdom and ease and style to prove it.

the town of Goreme
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Despite the fact that we will be traveling on a bus for the next week, the three of us decide to spend as much time as we can seeking out the "real Turkey".

We fly into Kayseri in central Turkey, board our bus and head off past the snow covered peaks of Mt. Erciyes toward the magical fairy chimneys and cave dwellings of Cappadocia.  This is a place where Christians in the 4th til the 11th centuries literally carved their way into the limestone rocks to create homes and monasteries  and people have been living in them ever since. On our first night our guide had arranged a cave concert by candlelight. There were carpets and pillows draped on the floor of an ancient cave church. we were treated to music that was as ancient as the cave, and played by several local musicians. One of the musicians  locked eyes with Gabrielle and ended up being our connection to  Flintstones Bar where we spent the next several nights drinking Raki, smoking nargile, dancing to mix cd's that Eunice (the bar owner/new friend) had compiled of all forms of Turkish music. We stayed up all night and took a hike to the scenic viewpoint to watch the hot air balloons take off at sunrise.

byzantine scene painted inside one of the caves
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During the day we toured the caves and walked through the town chatting with locals. we stayed for three nights, but it hardly seemed enough.

We headed out on the tour bus for Pamukkale,  the famous travertine mineral water pools, where we spent several hours swimming in the 95 degree water. The pools are immense and heavenly. There are sections of the pools where you can swim in deep water, and little waterfalls and bridges, and fallen ancient Roman columns on which you can sit and relax and watch the parade of Russian and Ukranian tourists. This place was originally founded in 190 BC as a cure center for the Romans. There are beautiful ancient ruins here as well, but I was so happy langushing in the mineral baths that I skipped the ruins and spent every possible minute soaking up the healing water.