Visit Sultans' Land - Istanbul, Turkey (Day 4)

I woke up with excitement as we would be traveling to another part of Turkey this afternoon.  However, we still have more than a half day to kill.  This morning, we decided to skip the breakfast at hotel.  We wanted something else, other than boiled egg, cheese, cucumber and bread, a hot breakfast would be great.  So, we walked toward the tram line and to where we had our first dinner, opposite from Hagia Sophia.  We found a place that offered different kind of egg dishes.  One thing that stood out was fried egg Turkish style.  Actually, it was a pan fried egg (fried and served in a pan) with some spicy sausages and cafe latte.  It was quite nice, having breakfast next to a small park with a view of Hagia Sophia. 

While we were eating, a pair of cats also were having their breakfast in the park.  I saw a restaurant staff put the cat food there.  However, apparently, one of the cat thought that the dry cat food wasn't tasty enough and he wanted something freshly cook.  So, we became his target.  First, we went to sit at my friend's side, hoping for her to share a bit of egg or sausage.  He actually looked like a spy. 

When my friend finished her plate without sharing with him, he somehow looked kind of annoyed.  Once he couldn't get a scrap from my friend, he turned to me.  I was eating a bit slower so, he probably thought that he could get a chance with me.  And so, he came and sat next to me, starring at me and maybe trying to hypnotize me to give him something.  Well, it didn't work.  I might sound cruel but, giving food to animal could create bad habit for begging.  Other people might not like having cats around when having meal or ever.  So, I also finished my breakfast.  The different from what happened to my friend was, this time, he didn't just move away.  Maybe he wanted to make sure that I really didn't leave anything for him, so he just climbed over to my lap!!  Then, he proceeded to inspect my plate...hmmm, a bit of fried egg and sausage would be nice.  Sorry tabby, nothing left.  When he was sure that there was nothing left for him, he just gave up and got comfy on my lap...a bit of cuddling and lounging. 

It was a pleasant surprise, didn't think that he would be this friendly.  He was really cute, soft and heavy, a big healthy cat.  It turned out that he belong to the restaurant.  If I remember correctly, I think his name was something like Thussund.  It seemed like he was having a pleasant time as well.  So, we took time to slowly sipping our coffee...didn't want to disturb his peaceful time until we couldn't wait anymore.  So, we asked the restaurant staff to remove him, he wasn't going to go on his own.  I thought I felt his claws digging in, trying to hang on to me.  My t-shirt was covered with his hair.  I really like him but, trying to brush off his hair wasn't a pleasant thing to do.  Poor Thussund, he ended up going back to his dry cat food when we left.
Since we have all morning and part of afternoon, we decided to head to Eminonu area(the last stop on the T1 tram before crossing to another side).  However, we decided to walk so that we could take a look at the stores on both sides.  Along this street, there were hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops as well as a park.  It was a nice walk, nice weather and not too many people.

At one corner, in front of the park, we found sort of grocery kiosk but, the kiosk was traditionally decorated.  They sell drinks, snacks and candy inside that gorgeous birdcage.

It just tells about the attention they put on a little and simple thing.  The park across the street is called Gulhane Park or the Rose Garden Park.  It's actually back to back with Topkapi Palace.  The last time I came, it was the middle of tulip season and the park was full with full bloom tulip in so many colors.  Too bad, this time, the tulips already started to wither.  After went around the park, we resume our walk toward Eminonu.  We continued to window shop as well as pop in and out of different stores.  We stopped at Sirkeci Teminal.  This terminal has been used since 18 century.  It was pretty in pink, very feminine.

Then, we walked back up and passed the stores on another side of the street.  Since it was still early, we decided to walk further, following the tram line to a stop after Sultanahmet (Cemberlitas).  What was up there?  We saw a cemetery which looked pretty old.  The mausoleum and sarcophagus were made of marble which was carved into different image.  It was beautiful and eerie at the same time.

 There was also a mosque, of course and quite a few nice shops.  We did a bit of gamble when we took some small alleys behind the mosque.  We thought that it would get us to the Grand Bazaar. 

Well, not exactly.  However, we did find a little walking street which lined with galleries, carpet stores and cafes.  It was very peaceful and different from the main street.  We did get lost in that area a bit but, eventually, we found our way to the main street and to the tram line.  Once we got back to Sultanahmet, we decided to have lunch around the area...another cafeteria food would be nice.  So, this time, we chose a very famous cafeteria style place which is also featured in many travel guide, the Pudding Shop.  It's also in wikipedia along with other historical monument of Turkey, how special. 

That was a strange name for a restaurant but, it wasn't the real name.  The original name was Lale restaurant.  It's said that this was the meeting and hanging out place for hippies who were on the way to Asia, like India or Nepal.  It was hard for them to remember the name of the restaurant so, they gave it a nickname, Pudding Shop and the restaurant adopted it.  The restaurant is richly decorated with ... stuff, so many signs and pictures.  It just shows how long this place has been opened.  It was nearly full when we walked in, lots of westerners, no doubt following the guidebook.  We ordered only a few dishes, rice wrapped in vine leaves for appetizer.  Well, the staff just brought everything all in one time so, I might not be able to call it appetizer.  Then, we had some kind of lamb stew and doner kebab with sauce.  It was actually similar to the kebab with yogurt that we had at Hamdi.

I just love the sauce.  It would be difficult to decide which cafeteria, Can restaurant vs. Pudding Shop, is better.  They both looked good and both tasted good.  I think you just have to have both. 
After lunch, we took taxi to airport to travel to different area of Turkey.  The problem was, we didn't know that there were more than one airport in Istanbul.  The taxi had to stop and make a call to check which airport we were supposed to go to.  We were starting to think that how lucky that we got such a nice cab driver.  Well, we weren't totally right.  Along the way to the airport, he stopped the car and ask me to close his trunk tightly.  He claimed that it wasn't closed properly and that he could feel it bouncing.  Well, we didn't suspect anything and I did as he asked (since he was nice to us).  However, once we were at the airport and paying his taxi fee, he tried to pull off the magician trick on us again!!  Well, this time we were ready and watching the bill.  So, when he said that I gave him 5TL, we immediately pointed out the it was impossible.  When it was apparent that we couldn't be fool, he just simply said that it was his mistake.  So, we didn't loose another 50TL.  Nonetheless, we did feel that his fee was kind of expensive.  We remembered that when we took taxi from airport to hotel on the first day, we only paid around 30 something TL.  However, this cab charged us over 50TL but, we couldn't argue since it was on the meter.  We did suspect though that when he asked me to close the trunk, he might tamper with the meter.  I was out off the car and my friend was watching me from the inside, he could have done anything.  Well, but that was just our suspicious, we couldn't prove it.  The only thing that we could do was to be more vigilant next time.
Our trip to other part of Turkey was organized by a local agency which I found on the internet.  They are called Insight Travel (http://www.tour-turkey.com/).  For anyone who would like to travel to different part of Turkey but not sure about how to go about, this agency could help you.  I was really impressed with their pro-activeness, responsiveness and information they gave me.  They pretty much arranged everything that I wanted, air tickets (local), transportation from airport to hotel and day trip.  Usually my friend and I like to travel on our own but, we were not sure how difficult it would be to travel in those areas so, better to arranged ahead of time.  Moreover, we only had day trip which mean we didn't have to stick to the group all day all night.  We would still have our freedom at the end of the day.
For the domestic flight to Asian part, we had to board the plane at Sabiha Goksen Airport.  The airport itself wasn't big but, clean a least.  In the middle of the airport, surrounding by gates, was a cafe and fast food restaurant.  It looked quite nice actually so, we went there to wait for our flight and had some tea.  Warning, the tea was about 30% more expensive than outside.

We took a flight from Istanbul to Nevsehir (can't even pronounce the name) which is in the Central Anatolian region.  However, this wasn't the city that we would stay.  We arrived there around 5:45pm.  The airport was really small, only a few gates and only one or two baggage belts.  It was good that we already had our transportation arranged as the airport is in the middle of nowhere.  Once we were outside the airport, an elderly driver was waiting for us.  We later knew that his name was Hassan and he had become our Uncle Hassan for the period that we were in the area.  Though, he could not speak English much, we pretty much understood each other.  He was the driver who took us around everyday and we kind of felt that he was watching over us.  Honestly, we felt reassure and safe to see him around.  The ride from the airport in Nevsehir to our hotel which was in the town of Urgup, Cappadocia, took around an hour.  The landscape was totally strange to us.  At first, it was very dry, almost desert like with very few houses.  Once we were getting closer, it was more mountainous and the strange shape rocks started to appear.  That actually what we came here for, the mushroom looking rocks. 
This area, Cappadocia, is famous for cave hotel.  In the past, Christians escaped Roman to this area and were able to thrive by living in caves and underground cities.  Later on, the government of Turkey banned the use of cave for residency for the safty reason.  However, they allowed hotel developers to buy these caves and turn them into hotels.  Our hotel is called Elkep Evi Cave hotel.  It was recommended by our travel agent.  We were so excited because this was totally new experience for us.  It was getting dark already when we arrived.  Uncle Hassan dropped us off in front of the reception office as well as informed us that he would be picking us up tomorrow for tour at around 9am.  There were two people waiting to greet and check us in.  Before coming, we have informed our travel agent that we would like to go on hot balloon ride and they already arranged it for us.  So, we asked the reception about that and he told us a shocking news.  The hot balloon ride was already arranged for us tomorrow morning and....the pick up time was 4am!!!!  OMG, that was like no sleep at all!!!  We wanted to scream when we heard that.  I mean, I knew that we had to get up early for it but, didn't think that it would be 4am.  For people who love to sleep like us, getting up at 4am was unthinkable.  But, since we were already there, to back off from once in a lifetime experience wasn't a choice.  So, 4am it was!!
Then, we asked the reception about where to eat, it was around 7pm already.  We needed to have dinner and got to bed early.  They told us that the hotel has a restaurant which serves breakfast and dinner.  However, the hotel fee didn't include dinner.  The dinner was a fixed set menu and needed to be pre-ordered.  Since it was getting late, we were a little tired and needed to rest, we decided to take the dinner at hotel.  The dinner was reserved for us at around 7:30pm, given us a bit of time to freshen up and of course, WOW our room.  Our room was a short walk away from the reception area but, it was an up-hill walk.  One of the reception offered to carry our luggages for us.  We really felt bad for him as our luggages were very heavy.  By the time we reached the room, he was breathing heavily.  Our room located in a little compound which had about 5-6 rooms.  Ours was on the ground floor and yes, it was a cave. 

The room was very simple decorated given the cave a center stage.  It was a square hole in a mountain with some pretty carving.  The room was incredibly cool.  It felt strange but, pleasant.  I love my cave.  The only downside of living in the carve was that we needed to be very careful when walking close to the wall as it could leave a mark on our cloth or skin.  From our compound to the left was the hotel restaurant.  From the picture in their website, I thought that we would be eating outdoor.  However, it turned out that that was warmer month and we were not there yet.  The indoor restaurant was also a cave, a bigger one.  I quite like the decoration.  The cave is very light shade of creamish brown and color of table cloth and pillows were in similar light color.  It looked really simple, like people life around here.  When we went there, a waiter already was waiting for us.  There were quite a few table there but, only two tables were set.  That was basically the number of people who were having dinner at hotel.  Just about the only thing that they did wrong was to play Elvis songs....WHY!!!  It would be much better if they played local/ traditional music.  Well, maybe the waiter liked it.

Our menu today, as I remembered, was soup, an appetizer, salad and main course of local trout.  It was a nice change from heavy meaty meal we had in Istanbul.  The soup was a very light brothy lentil soup.  Looked simple enough but, it was pretty tasty.  It served with salad (maybe that was their way, soup & salad at the same time) of lettuce, tomato and cucumber, very basic.  The vegetable was seasoned only with vinegar and oil.  For a meat lover like me, it was a little too much.

Then, the waiter brought our appetizer which became one of my favorite food there, cheese pastry.  It was like a cheese spring roll and it was so good.  The shell was crispy and the cheese was warm and creamy.  Now, I could eat salad.

Our main course, as mentioned, was grilled whole trout.  They said it came from the local area (didn't know that Turkey has trout).  It was very simple, served with lemon and some green which was very bitter.  The trout was very fresh as it didn't have to travel far. 

After dinner, we did explore the place a bit and took some pictures.  It was very peaceful, no barely any sound from cars and not many movement around.  It was pitch black beyond the area of hotels.  

We could have walked around some more but, we thought of tomorrow 4am appointment and decided to retired early otherwise, we might fall asleep and fall off the balloon tomorrow.

To be continue...