After locating the road to Cappadocia—to Urgup to be precise—we had around 375 km ahead of us, and a ride we expected to take 3½ to 4 hours. As we traced our route through magnificent scenic highways between hills and through valleys, thick cloud slowly began to amass and obscure the skies above us. It looked like a storm was chasing us; but luckily, we reached our destination with just a few drops of water on our helmet visors and jackets.
This Post is part of 15-day, 4000 KM motorbike ride from Lebanon to Bulgaria across Turkey and back. Use the links at the end of the post for more insights about this adventure, the challenges and achievements
It was late afternoon, the sun was about to set behind those never-ending hills, and it was time to find a place to spend the night. To our surprise all the hotels we checked were full. After spending a couple of hours wandering around looking for vacancies, we had almost lost hope when we spotted what looked like a fancy boutique hotel. “This is the place,” said Chantal. “I have a hunch we’re staying here!” At that point, we were ready to pay whatever it costs rather than spend the night on some sidewalk!
Taking this chance, we went into the hotel, called Kistar, and were pleasantly surprised when the man at the reception said yes; there were two rooms available for the night. Mehmet Ozkilic (I hope I got the spelling right) was the owner/manager of the hotel, and It didn’t take him long to recognize our Lebanese accents. Luckily, he was fond of Lebanese people and had a lot of friends from Lebanon. It turned out that he was also very knowledgeable about classic Lebanese music such as the songs of Fayrouz and considered her singing to be very close to prayer. He welcomed us to his premises and immediately offered us a very fair price that we couldn’t argue with. And because we were newly married he rewarded Chantal and I one of his best suites. It had a superb view of the valley. The room was outstanding—large and comfortable with part of it carved into the mountain. Our large bed actually nestled inside the rock.
By the time we’d all taken a short rest and had a warm shower, it was around 9 pm, and we decided to take a walk in the silent and almost empty streets of Cappadocia. On our way out, we met Mehmet and were introduced to his wife and family. When we mentioned we’d like to go in a hot-air balloon ride the next day, he made a simple call and booked us a private balloon ride for a regular price. Usually, it isn’t that simple to book, as the hot-air balloons must be booked well in advance.
Read the whole adventure, day by day. Click on the links below
- TAKING THE FERRY BOAT FROM TRIPOLI, LEBANON TO MERSIN, TURKEY
- THE ROAD IS OURS: DESTINATION CAPPADOCIA
- UP AND ABOVE CAPPADOCIA
- THE ROAD TO ANKARA
- CROWDED ISTANBUL
- FROM WHEAT FIELDS TO SUNFLOWERS AT THE BULGARIAN BORDERS
- A PROMISE IS A CLOUD; FULFILLMENT IS RAIN
- WEATHERED IN VARNA
- LONG ROAD TO A SECLUDED BEACH HOTEL
- THANK YOU BODRUM FOR THE BREAK!
- THE BEACH IS CALLING! MARMARIS
- ON THE ROAD AGAIN
- BACK TO SQUARE ONE
- HOW DID IT ALL START?
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