Konya [GP:Konya], mid-20s, clearing skies
We’re at the Konya Hilton, and celebrated our arrival in this most conservative of Turkish cities by drinking upon arrival. We’ve been told over and over that Konya is conservative, that here is no fun to be had here. So, naturally, we arrive at the brand-spanking new 28 story Konya Hilton, which is located next to a shopping mall featuring a bowling alley. Conservative here obviously has a new twist to it.
The day started out wonderfully – yours truly shelled out a bit of money to take a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia at sunrise, and it was worth every single penny I spent. I only wish the sun had been out a bit more, but the experience itself was incredible. You can’t actually feel the basket moving while you’re in it – and even those of us who are a little weirded out by heights were perfectly fine (although I will confess to being a little nervous when they took us up into the clouds. We weren’t that high – the clouds were low, but it was a little weird. I liked it better when we were brushing against the tree tops.) The balloon I was in is the largest in Asia, and the third largest in the world. Little factoid to make you all jealous right up until you ask how much I spent.
That was the highlight of the day, on many levels. My frustration hit an all time high soon afterward. During the morning, we went to two overlooks with souvenir shops – selling the same crap in both places. Honestly, how many times can you look at the same damn postcards? Where I lost it was what shall henceforth be referred to as The Carpet Shopping Incident. Several of the people in our group had expressed interested in learning how carpets were made, so Ali, our ever effervescent tour guide (who sounds a little like Sylvester the Cat due to a speech impediment) took us to a carpet factory in Göreme. We should have been there fifteen minutes – that’s how long it took for them to explain how carpets are made. We were actually there slightly over three hours. Rob and I lost patience after the carpet making talk and wandered around Göreme, winding up on the front stoop of the carpet gallery watching several kittens play in the street. Göreme, as I mentioned, is a lot like Luxor except that I don’t remember Luxor having quite so many chickens.
After watching the kittens play for a while, we went back inside for the grand carpet laying out ceremony, which was nice in an “are we done yet?” sort of way. We weren’t done yet – not even close. You see, once the carpets were all laid out, showing off the difference in quality, design, and price, they picked them up one by one (all five hundred or so), so that we could announce if we were interested in any of them. (The only carpet that caught my eye was an antique worth nearly $5,000. I took a picture and will blow it up and put that on the floor instead.) The lucky folks who wanted to further discuss were then invited into private rooms, while the rest of us were fed cup after cup of strong tea and/or Turkish coffee while we waited for over an hour. Bad move on their part – a group of people who are getting frustrated should not be given an unlimited supply of caffeine. By the time we finally got to lunch (3 o’clock), tensions were high, words had been exchanged, and feelings were hurt. I wound up having to calm down the group’s self-declared pariah, a woman who is judgmental and loudly outspoken about her own conservative beliefs, and then sulks for days when someone disagrees with her. Today I couldn’t fault her for what had happened, but I was rather annoyed that an unscheduled stop turned into such a huge obstacle.
After that, we resumed sightseeing in Cappadocia, and finally set out for Konya around 5:30. The Nevsehir-Konya highway went from four lanes to zero since it’s being turned into a freeway, and it was nearly 9 PM by the time we finally got here. By this point, my ears were ringing from the noise on the bus, and I was sick of everyone. The lack of sleep didn’t help at all, and neither has the fact that we haven’t had any substantial free time since Nicosia. We haven’t been able to sleep in, and we’re always on the go. It’s been stressful, and it’s going to keep being stressful for a few more days. The trick here is to keep breathing…
