Here's the view of Istanbul as we docked. I didn't get to see too much of it, because as soon as we touched ground, Rachelle and I took off for the airport. We weren't sure where we were going, but we knew we didn't want to do any more tourist things.
At the airport we bought tickets to the Cappadochia region (not exactly sure what awaited us there) and waited two hours for our plane to appear. Rachelle slept while I tried to figure out how to use a phone (mind you, I tried, but I didn't succeed).
Upon landing, we found ourselves at an airport about the size of the cafeteria on the ship. Outside we ran into a man holding a sign that said "Cappadochia." Even though we thought we were already there, we hopped in his van for a 30 minute ride and ended up at the Hotel Alfina, which was built into (or maybe it was out of) the side of a hill.
Our plans to go for a hot air balloon ride were dashed by the weather so we rented a scooter and took off for nowhere. And that is exactly where we ran out of gas.
A vacuum cleaner salesman stopped to help out, as did some carpet dealers, who we ended up bumping into later in the day. They invited us in from the cold and we learned more about carpets.
We took off on the scooter for the underground city of Kaymakli, where I saw this pup. And on the ride back we learned the definition of adventure. I believe the rock group Soul Asylum described it this way: "Night driving without headlights, wearing sunglasses too."
