Thursday, September 25 –

Another transition day, so an early start. In Turkiye, the hotel fitness centers aren’t in any rush to open in the AM, so I had to do my resistance workout in the room. Needless to say, Dan was delighted Thankfully, it was a large room!

Today’s breakfast wasn’t as nice as the hotel in Istanbul, but it still blew away the old Hampton Inn.

First stop today was the Anatolian Civilizations Museum. I will admit, I knew nothing about the Hittites or the Bronze Age, so I learned a lot and enjoyed the collection, maybe more than I expected. I also enjoyed the fact that Taylan got frustrated by the leader of another group who felt the need to yell his talk at 500 decibels–see, it isn’t just me!!

We then proceeded to the Mausoleum of Attaturk, who remains a giant figure in Turkish history. We got there just in time to catch the changing of the guard, which was interesting.

To be honest, the actual mausoleum was kind of a “that’s it?” It was huge, but, essentially, just a big block centered in a big room. In addition, Attaturk is actually in a different area not accessible to the public. But, importantly, it is a symbol of Turkiye’s pride in being an independent republic, and I can respect that.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving to Cappodocia, with another rest area lunch break. It wasn’t quite as fancy as yesterday, but it sure isn’t the old Molly Pitcher on the NJT!

We made a brief stop just before we got to our hotel to get a panoramic view of the terrain–the Turkish “badlands” Absolutely epic, which cannot be fully captured with a phone camera.

We arrived at our hotel to find a series of rooms essentially carved into the hillside. Every room was different, and all were very cool–we were all like were like kids in a candy store checking out the facilities.

The fun spilled into the evening as one by one, we ventured into the bar to get a drink before our group dinner. Next thing we knew, the entire tour group had spilled out onto the lawn area. I remember asking the guide on our last tour when he would know if the group was going to “gel”. He said Tour Day 4. Guess he was right. It was just such a fun, organic event–it made for a convivial group dinner.

Alas, we had to break up fairly early because tomorrow the alarms go off before dawn. Tomorrow is our much anticipated balloon ride!!!

15, 206 steps

6.2 miles