Arrived in Goreme

I’m going to continually resist the urge to sound ridiculously gushing and mawkish as I describe my arrival and first few hours in Goreme…but lapses might be inevitable.

After some ado at the tiny airport in Kayseri involving me stepping over a (very faint) red line and a succession of four security guards of increasing size and rank, I was met by a driver and bundled into the little van heading to the hotel. Our approach was made in the dark, which meant there was no view but also meant that the tiny sliver of moon and Venus hanging above it were even more apparent as we drove east toward Goreme; I guess now I know where the design for the Turkish flag comes from.

Goreme is situated in one of a series of valleys carved out thousands of years ago by wind and water, which left not only rippling bluffs but also tall, capped spires that descend down the hillside and into the village itself. Most of the original structures were carved out of the rock, and at night the spires appear lit from within by the lights glowing in the caves. Add to this the Turkish love songs being broadcast over the town speakers, the fruit of an exuberant father-of-the-bride’s desire for his daughter’s wedding party to be enjoyed by all 2,000 of Goreme’s residents, and the warm breeze smelling sweetly of cherry tobacco and you have…well, you have the recipe for me being gushing and mawkish. Sorry. Basically, though, this place is incredible.

Isn’t it usually the case that when someone arrives at their destination after 20 hours of travel, especially if it’s around 11pm, they are immediately given chamomile tea and then shuffled off to bed? Not so in Goreme! On the night of my arrival I was first shown my room, then taken to the restaurant where I’ll be working, introduced by Mehmet (hotel and restaurant owner, whom I met in Seattle) to several of his friends and acquaintances, fed spicy bulgar and chickpea soup and Turkish beer (both delicious) and regaled by live music (a man playing an hourglass shaped drum and a Turkish lute player with a very deep voice), then driven by Hasan on his scooter to a mountaintop with a panoramic view of Goreme to look at the milky way and “get oriented.” Which I still am not quite.