Although a detour off the old Silk Route, I felt a visit to Cappadocia was a must. It is more or less midway between Kayseri and Konya (well, not quite midway in a straight line) and therefore a logical stop, not to mention well known for its unusual natural scenery.
Everyone talks about the unusual hill formations in Cappadocia but my initial impression is that it reminded me of the Provence in the south of France. It comprises several villages all within a short drive of each other. Most of the villages have a fairy tale-like quality, with small shops, cobblestone roads and village squares. In my view, the more charming villages are Urgup, Uchisar, Sinasos and Goreme. The others (like Avanos) have grown too large and have too many multi-storey buildings (albeit none seemed to be more than 8-10 stories) and uniform grid-like houses. So, if anyone is going to Cappadocia soon, I recommend the smaller villages. I stayed at Goreme. In Sinasos, I saw old men sitting on wooden stools placidly playing chess on a makeshift box, with a glass of mid-afternoon raki, as I came out of an old Orthodox church at the edge of the village square.
There are boutique hotels everywhere, growing out of your ears, as they say. The big sell is “cave hotels” which in most cases mean hotels that have been built to resemble living inside one of Cappadocia’s strange-looking hills. I am not sure there are many (or any) boutique hotels that are actually built into an actual hill. Many of them are new constructions but the inside is largely stone and made to look cave-like with rounded walls. My boutique hotel has less than 20 suites but some boutique hotels only have 3-4 suites. I say suites because there is a separate living room from the bedroom. The main problem with these hotels is that they are built like interlinked villas and one has to walk outdoors to get from place to place. This in itself doesn't matter but one is walking up and down different levels all the time on uneven stone stairs. And at night, there is little lighting outside – enough to make the hotel look romantic but not enough for navigating the stairs. God help you if you’re tipsy or have bad eyesight as it is pretty easy to put your foot in the wrong place. So, all in all, good to look at (fantastic for hotel brochures) but it became tiresome for me. That said, the rooms themselves are very comfortable and my hotel even has heating under the stone floor so it was all very cosy.
During my visit, I was the only guest in my boutique hotel so it was very quiet, and the rates were less expensive so the splurge was well worth it. However, because it is the low season, the restaurant only serves breakfast (typical – bread, honey, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and fried eggs). But there are plenty of restaurants in every village. We enjoyed two very pleasant and inexpensive casual dinners at Top Deck restaurant hidden in an alleyway in the hills of Goreme. It is family-run with around 10 tables. Dad and mum cook and the two daughters help take orders and serve. The dad is Turkish but had moved to Capetown for many years and married a South African woman there before returning to Turkey. He and his wife are very friendly and genuine and the daughters speak excellent English. Most importantly, they have a simple menu but everything we had was delicious rustic home-cooking at its best. On one night, I had braised lamb ribs (tender meat falling off the bones which were themselves edible) and another night, minced beef stuffed into baby aubergines and baked in a light tomato sauce. This is the best kind of restaurant to encounter on a trip – the menu doesn’t have to be large; it is better to have fewer choices but all of them cooked from scratch and served with genuine affection.
