Juniper
One of the many beautiful cats in Turkey right outside our hotel cafe in Cappadocia
During my 5-night stay in Turkey on tour with ikhlas.com, my days were great, enjoyable and interesting while my nights were tortuous as inevitably, I would be awakened after 3am by my roommate’s extremely loud snoring and other noises. This really stressed me out and gave me PTSD so much, so I vowed to myself to never ever share a room with a stranger for the rest of my life. It was unforgettably unpleasant to the extent that I could not wait to see the last of my roommate. I bet they don’t even snore as loud as this in boot camp and you’d have to share a dorm with dozens of others
The cafe in our Cappadocia hotel opened at 630am and I would be the 1st at the door during our 2-night stay there. Getting out of my room was such a relief. 5 hours of sleep would be the maximum I could get every night. I am not kidding. If you listened to my recordings of the snorer, you would understand why.
Breakfast in Turkish hotels is very different from what we are used to in Malaysia as we don’t have nasi lemak, roti canai and all the other comfort foods we are so used to. But their selection of bread is very good and isn’t it part of travel to experience another nation and culture’s foods? One of my favourite things about the Turkish breakfast is their tea, so thick and there is never any need to add sugar.
Çardak Underground City dates back to centuries ago and was the abode of people hiding from persecution due to their religion. The “city” is a network of dark, narrow passages which have uneven steps and surfaces. The ceilings are also very low so visitors have to watch their steps or risk a tumble. These dwellings were carved over time from soft volcanic rock. Of course, there is a reason why the passages are so narrow, to prevent enemies from rushing in all at once. This way, they would have no choice but to enter one-by-one.
The temperature in these caves is around 10C. They’re well organised dwellings though as there’s a kitchen, church and even a room where they made wine by stepping on grapes. Definitely worth a visit as you can imagine how harsh life was back then. There’s a huge round slab of stone that is a door to the entrance.
