Troglodytes!

July 6, Monday: Today we liberated ourselves by figuring out the Turkish national transit system: the busses. My impression is that reservations are either optional or unavailble. You just go the “ottogar” and a bus is pretty much leaving for every possible place within the hour.

So, after our wonderful Dedeman breakfast and a leisurely packing we arrived at the Ankara ottogar just in time to catch the 11 to Urgrup. In Turkish fashion the place is frenzied and confusing. There is bank after bank of desks where various bus companies sell their tickets – mostly helped by an army of touts that fall on you as you get out of your cab. So, we did find the route to Urgrup on the Nevshehir buslines.

Amazing fact: that four hour bus trip costs only 25YTL (= $17). So, getting around Turkey is not an expensive proposition. The busses are very comfortable too. There are tv shows, and every ten minutes the steward goes up and down the aisles offering water, coffee or tea or cupcakes. They also make a rest stop every ninety minutes. We availed ourselves of one of those to get one of those amazing Alglida popsicles (reason enough to come to Turkey).

The bus arrived around 3:30 and we took a 15 minute taxi ride outside Urgrup to Ayvalu – a little village nested in a valley. The hotel is a cave hotel – and as I write this I am lying on my bed in the back of our cave, a sweet little room and bath dug into the volcanic ash rock that makes the region what it is. We arrived in the late afternoon but had time for a nice walk around the village here before a shower and dinner.

Things are definitely quiet and out of the way here – and that's ok after the Istanbul/Ankara experience. Throught the village – which is all made of stone and winding roads. You see women in traditional dress chatting and watching the chickens. Judging from the number of roosters here, it might be an early morning. There was a donkey, a cow – and pretty much everyone is growing vegetables in tubs in their courtyards or the patios outside the house. Then, behind it all, in a little valley surrounded by high rising cliffs sits this rather high end cave hotel catering the tourists here. The place is hard to describe – the stone building sort of fade in the cliff wall with lots of different levels and terraces – and someone has done a nice job planting roses and shade trees all over the place. I'll try to provide some pictures.

I understand (through various back channels) that many of my readers want to hear more about the food. Well – today was one of the better days, and not just because of that amazing popsicle at the bus rest area. Turkish food is – as far as I can tell – mostly about good and fresh ingredients. They don't do all that much with them. Mostly the question is whether you want your lamb in chops, ground and served as meatballs or as sort of squashed sausages, or broiled on skewers. Chicken and even fish are also proffered in the same way. This is accompanied by grilled or fresh tomatoes and cucumber. They put some lettuce in the salad, but it is not the main event. I like getting the C(h)oban Salati – which is a chopped salad of cucumber and tomato and maybe some herbs or even a bit of hot green pepper in it. It is served only with a bit of olive oil and – if you want – a lemon wedge to squeeze over it. They have excellent fish which is served whole – so eating it without bones takes some technique and care. Even that rather large meal we had in Istanbul – which my assistant wrote about so luridly- was really just that. A mere surf and turn with about three pounds of shredded lettuce and grated carrrot spread over a large tray. The meal consisted of a fish – either sea bream or trout – and a few extra bites of lamb – the rest was just salad and potato.

Tonights dinner was better. It started with a kind of tomato based barley soup that was nicely seasoned. Then a course of salad – good old cucumbers and tomato with some parsley and corn kernals – this time dressed with a little olive oil and pomegranite juice (really good!). There was also a plate of chicken salad to finish the salad course. The main plate was – of course – groud lamb kofte (meatballs) and rice and (this was a surprise) brussel sprouts. Desert was a kind of honeyed bread topped with some ground spices (cardamom?) and what I think was an unsweetened cream whipped almost to butter. This was served up course by course on the rooftop terrance of one of the buildings facing the opposite bank of old caves as the moon rose over the valley.

So – I hope this proves interesting to my readers. The Golden Horn has not usually been driven to chase after ratings, but I understand my assistant has been spinning little shards of truth into whole cloths of deceptions, so I figure it is important to keep up good relations with you, my cherished readers.

Most Remarkable Thing: Those popsicles really are good.

Photograph: These are the caves on cliff face just opposite our cave. Of course, ours is nicely finished much like the Baggins place at Underhill but the basic idea is the same.