To Cappadocia and the Fairy Chimneys

Time flies when you're travelling, and you don't get around to updating. It's also hard to find an air conditioned Internet cafe. I'm doing this one from my iPod.

To Goreme
Istanbul tourism comes with a shuttle pick up no matter what you're doing. Our bus to Cappadocia, land of cave monasteries and underground cities, came with one. After going through great pains to make sure we were at the pension for our arranged pick up, we waited while the minibus crawled through traffic. Half an hour later, a man appeared and ushered us and a few other waiters on our street around the corner, saying that the ride was "this way." we all hauled our luggage around the corner just to join another group of waiting travellers. The man explained that the minibus was caught in bad traffic, shrugged, and said that this always happens. I added that it apparently must be a surprise every time, too.
Once we got to the otogar (bus station), we still had to wait around for another hour before the bus left. We boarded, then had to deboard while someone tried to fix the bus's a/c. Not a good sign. It was fine, though, although I didn't really sleep much (it was a 12 hour overnighter). Sophie slept all the way no problem of course. As it turns out, Turkey is famous for its buses. Since then we've done two more big rides, each one snazzier than the last. These buses are nicer than most airliners I've been on--touchscreen on demand movies on each seat back, and a snack and drink trolley. While I watched "Triangle" in Turkish, I actually forgot I wasn't just on a bumpy plane ride. By the way, Jean, you'd get a kick out of that flick, although I'm sure it's much dumber in its original English.
.The lowdown on Turkish Buses wıth Great Pix
To be continued--fingers getting tired