Immediately left behind the gate to the Orient

With Istanbul we left Europe and many – I mean many – sweet cats behind us and have now fully arrived in the Middle East in Cappadocia. Luckily, there are also cats here who enjoy being petted (and puppies, ducks, chickens, sheep, donkeys, etc.).

Traveling here is suddenly completely different for us, not only because there are three of us currently traveling, but also because we decided to rent a car for a week. Because we quickly noticed that in Central Anatolia the tourist infrastructure outside of the highlights is quickly becoming very thin and that public transport outside of the few cities is practically non-existent.

But even from the car we are completely under the spell of this mixture of lunar landscape, barren flora and bizarre rock formations, which glow in purple tones in the light of the setting sun.

When the sun isn't just setting over the horizon, we explore lush green canyons, rock churches from the 10th to 12th centuries, fairy towers, underground cities and of course the local bathing culture in the hammam (which we were even allowed to go into as mixed genders) and local ones Specialties. We have become big fans of Turkish tea culture, which is so much more than black tea, sugar cubes and small glasses. It invites you to linger, slows down, takes place everywhere, is enjoyed by friends and strangers alike, it is as natural as white bread with every meal and yet is always celebrated.

It's always refreshing for us how pragmatically and driven by great hospitality things are simply clarified here: the more apparent roofer not only becomes an interpreter, he also ensures that we are all allowed to go to the hammam, even if it's actually just that day is open for men, gets freshly brewed tea and then takes us to a good little restaurant around the corner. Nothing like this has ever happened to us in Germany.

Tomorrow we will continue early in the morning to a protected area for flamingos, cranes and herons.

Robert