cappadocia
i just had to go to cappadocia.
my parents said they’d join me.
and they did!
we hit the road around 7:30 am on a monday morning and arrived at urgup at 6:30 in the evening. after leaving our bags in the hotel and having a quick rest, we walked to the city center and had dinner. it was goood.
next morning.
it helped us a lot that my father went to (a boarding) school in urgup for two years. (he was twelve at the time but nonetheless he knew the area pretty well.
and also, it was my mother’s birthday! <3
my father said it would be best if we went around with a tour (mini)bus, so that’s what we did. in our group were 4 italians, 2 aussies and 2 brazilians, all of whom turned out to be really cool people. (aussies being just a little bit cooler than the rest.)
this is obvious but i just have to say it: the whole place is absolutely surreal. some volcanic ash, some wind, some rain. and apparently you can get this:
or this:
you can even get a camel if you really wanted to.
at some point they took us to a pottery place. which proved useful for some reality check after seeing all these bizarre formations. the master (hallelujah!) allowed me to play with the clay a bit. i have a feeling that i’ve made a sugar bowl. or a vase.
then we had lunch at some place and i swear to god every single thing i ate tasted the same. pretty amazing, huh? i don’t know how they managed to do that. anyways, at least the wine -being local- was pretty decent. oh yeah, the cake was good too. after lunch, they took us to the goreme open air museum. this used to be a monastery complex where people carved out the rocks and built houses and churches (and some other things).
apart from the 7-story nunnery (see above) and the kitchen and the dining area, what i found really amazing was “the dark church.” this one gets very little light so the frescoes are really well preserved.
we spent quite some time there going in and out of the rocks but i should better not go crazy and upload all the pictures i have. just know that you’ve got to see this place at some point. and that you have to give me a call when you’re going there.
after the museum we took a break at a place where you can enjoy a nice panoramic view (with mount erciyes in the background — look all the way to the right)
and some turkish coffee in the foreground (also, on the right)
what else? hmm, i did some wine tasting and watched some camels chill. as you all know, camels and wine go really well together. well, that was pretty much the end of our tour. then we went back to the hotel to take a nap and perform some internet activities. in the evening we were out again for a walk. my mother and i climbed up this little hill for yet-another panoramic view. this time of urgup.
i loved this place. thanks to it, now i know what “serenely beautiful” means. i’m planning to go there again with cagla this december. let’s see if we can do it.
oh yeah, what we did the day after is a whole different story. coming up next.
this route has tolls
so here’s what i’ve done in turkey in the past 5 weeks. spent roughly 60 hours on the road, and did 4000 kilometers. and loved it!
will be back with pictures, (some) details and instructions.
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back in the city right before irene
after irene had passed, i went out to look around and take some pictures. thankfully new york city looked pretty much as i’d left it. so here are the pictures i took:
i have some from turkey too. will try to upload them soon.
xx
rambling nature of my posts
we’re burning.
i read the elegance of the hedgehog and i think some of you might like it. a lot. click here to find out if you think i’m talking about you.
okay, no, i wasn’t talking about you really.
yesterday one of you told me to start thinking about what i want to do next. that for the first time made sense. i’ll think about it. i mean, i’ll think about if i should start thinking about what i want to do next. good.
last saturday i got sick and i didn’t know why. i still don’t know why. then on sunday i watched the french open final. it was good but predictable and, as you can guess, was easily predicted by me (and many others).
speaking of many others, you know they support cloud computing but of course žižek is criticising it (werner herzog style). this guy here, i think, is also against it. he wants us to un-cloud our files in cement:
i like him.
i found this book called strong poison in the bathroom and started reading it. old school mystery is good for you. and if you want to know why we all love a victorian murder, this guy here thinks it’s because of sexual repression, dark alleys, great detectives, and ornate prose.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/15/true-crime-victorian-fiction
let me post a picture and i’ll get back to my book. and tea. later.
urban flowers
goddammit! is it june already? where did may go?
see woody allen’s midnight in paris.
also see: tuesday after christmas. yes of course it’s romanian. someone on youtube said that it looks like it’s illegal to make bad movies in romania. i agree.
and of course: once upon a time in anatolia — nuri bilge ceylan’s last.
xx
fang island
saw these guys at brooklyn bowl a couple of days ago. they are gooood!
sunday stare
nighthawk
yet another summary. god am i boring!
so it’s officially spring break.
saw samson and delilah with sarah on wednesday. we weren’t expecting much but it turned out to be really good. the characters barely speak with each other but still you think you kind of know them when the movie is over.
then on thursday i saw wye oak at bowery. it was also pretty good. liked the opening band caveman too. oh and the thursday before that i saw morning teleportation. absolutely everyone refused to come with me but i had my fun. ^_^
here, check them out:
today i’m staying in and watching soccer. not going out until the sun comes out. no.
