Welcome to dreamland. Let your mind wander and allow your
imagination to take hold. It is ethereal. It is magical. It is surreal.
Surrounded by fairy chimneys and sleeping in caves, it feels as if you are
within a fairy tale. Yet no imagination could create this landscape. It is a
dream scape. Salvador Dali would be impressed. Rising before the sun to go hot
air ballooning was something I never thought I would do, but as most things on
this trip it proved to be one of the best experiences of my life. Floating
above this dream scape as the great yellow orb peeks its sleepy head over the
misty mountains and chimneys you truly feel alive. This is what it’s about.
This is why you invest time and money. This is it.
Alas the day had just begun,
furthering my Turkish education we preceded to a pottery class where I was
volunteered to create a bowl. All I can say is that I managed to create a
remarkable accurate depiction of the male anatomy, but as a bowl it would be
highly inefficient. This was then followed by a traditional folklore evening
where all you can drink was on the invitation. Well we all took that as a
personal challenge. Halfway through this fine evening I was once again volunteered
to partake in the ancient tradition of belly dance. I don’t want to toot my own
horn here, but the Turkish lady who was teaching me quickly became the student.
As I went a little crazy with my moves (without a doubt Grabba’s and Iggies
proved the greatest of training grounds), I realised that without the bottle of
Turkish wine I would not have even contemplated any of those moves. So thank
you, Cappadocian white wine. You were grand.
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| Majority of comments on the trip were directed at my Turkishness. Call me Aladdin |
The journey began back to Istanbul and twelve hours later we
touched down where it all started. Many friends were made and our paths will
continue to cross, but Turkey gave us all a memory that we are never likely to
forget.
