The Cube

It was another 30 minutes walk to Paşabağı from Çavuşin according to Google maps but probably took me longer due to hot weather and short legs. It is said to be part of tour group route and would be busy. I did not meet anyone in the valley when I was there, but I started late so I was there past noon and I could be also entering from a different entrance. 

I initially plan to continue to walk to Devrent Valley but it was still a trek there and I could only fit in another place. So I picked a place closer to Göreme and made my walk towards Love Valley. 

By this time I was running low of sustenance, particularly water. I popped in one of the shops by the road side to pick up water. The person who attended to me offered to bring me on a ATV ride to see sunset at Love Valley which I politely declined. Then he gave me a bottle of water for free. I tried to pay for the water but he didn't want it. It was my first day in Türkiye, my thoughts were - Cappadocia is a touristy town and Turkish are friendly and generous but skeptical part of me think that there is no free lunch. 

The walk to Love Valley were scenic, as like the rest of the valleys really. I was walking towards Love Valley viewpoint. As all viewpoints are, the walk was going uphill and there were a remarkable number of ATV tour groups passed by me. One of the guide stopped and offered me a ride to the Love Valley. I was sorely tempted this time. It was getting to evening time and I was making my way to the Love Valley viewpoint and the road were steep uphill. By this time I already clocked 30,000 steps at least. According to my fitbit, I hit 40,991 steps and walked 25.77 km on that day.  

However, cautious brain took over and I didn't think the offer extend to bringing me back to Göreme so I also declined this kind offer. The number of times I had to stop walking and step aside were growing. There really were a lot of ATV tour groups heading to Love Valley viewpoint for sunset. I changed my mind and walked towards the opposite direction from the viewpoint to head back to Göreme. 

Then I saw a sign that indicate Love Valley. It was going in to the valley itself and not the viewpoint. I saw someone on a horseback with his guide. Since it was along the way, so I walked into the valley. This was how I ended up walking so much. 

I thought I could walk back to Göreme if I was walking towards a similar direction instead of backtracking my steps but I was so wrong. Connection wasn't available in the middle of the valley. The sun has somewhat set and I wanted to leave the valley before it gets dark. 

After walking for awhile and I was still in the valley, I saw a few women picking grapes within the Love Valley. I stopped to ask for direction which pretty much just me uttering the word, "Göreme?" and point. They pointed to the opposite direction and said, "Göreme" and the direction I pointed as "Uchisar". Then they offered me the grapes they plucked. 

On speaking with the hotel staff after, she told me Turkish are brought up to always share food. So they saved me from walking to a different town and also offered me food. Shame on me for being skeptical. 

See how wrong I was...

Powered by some grapes, I retraced my steps, little legs worked hard and I was out of the valley before it gets dark. The valley was beautiful at dusk.

I was going to lump all 3 days of Cappadocia in the same post but this was getting too long this was day 1. 

I had a 6 hours layover between landing in Istanbul Aiport to my domestic flight to Kayseri. I initially booked a flight at 21:40 (on 30th September) giving me a 3+ hours gap but the flight was cancelled. I was rebooked on the next flight, which unfortunately scheduled at 01:25 (on 1st October) so I spent a lot of time in Istanbul Airport, specifically the domestic departure. There was a row of 6 ATM machines and I tried all to check which bank I should use to withdraw cash. 

From tripadvisor, last update 28/09/2022 and this website, last update 04/2022 - the banks that doesn't charge a fee are PTT, Halkbank, ING Bank, Şekerbank, Fibabanka, Ziraat Bankası. 

Of the ones in the list, I've only used ING bank. PTT are mostly outside of Turkish Post but I've not used. 

I paid €230 for a 60 minutes flight time hot air balloon with maximum 24 people. Breakfast, pick up, landing party with drinks are the norm across all. Post my travel, I think the price should be closer to €200. I booked via the hotel and was with Air Kapadokya Balloons. On hindsight, it is easy to make a booking online by ownself, especially after flight that I learned the more famous companies are Butterfly Balloons and Royal Balloons. 

I found from here that Turkcell provides a Tourist Welcome Pack for 149 TL (~AUD 12), which includes 20 GB and 200 calling minutes, and valid for 30 days. This website was last updated in 2020. Turkcell's webpage mentioned that,

However, when I walked into a Turkcell outlet in Istanbul Airport on 1st October 2022, I was told the Tourist Welcome Pack cost 600 TL (if my memory doesn't fail me). I remember reading somewhere that sometimes Turkcell outlet in the airport could be more expensive compared to outlets outside of airport. One of a traveller I met told me that she was quoted an even higher price when she walked into a shop in Göreme.

I feel 600 TL (~AUD 48) is a little steep and asked if there is any cheaper plans. The staff whom I spoke to quoted me a 10 GB plan for 480 TL (~AUD 38.50) with validity of 30 days. Still not cheap and a less attractive package definitely. I didn't need the calling minutes and I could manage with 10 GB for 17 days, so I took this. 

Long distance buses are probably the only one where the fare is consistent with what I found before visiting Türkiye. Obilet.com is the website to look up buses schedule. I found this when I was researching for buses in Türkiye, and this same website was given to me by the hotel staff when I was in Göreme. 

One of the traveller I met during my trip said his attempt to get a ticket from the website was unsuccessful due to card issue but I've not tried. My usage was contained to looking up the schedule and decide which bus I want. I then bought a ticket from the bus station whenever I arrived at the city/town. 

Long distance buses were comfortable and some served drinks and snack. I played Candy Crush on one of my rides. Most commuters didn't wear a mask but I usually donned one on public transports. ID checks were very common on buses, we were stopped 3 times on the bus from Denizli to Bodrum (about 4.5 hours).

All the toilets in bus stations charge a fee for entry, ranging from 2-5 TL except one that I don't know where because it was a stop in between Cappadocia to Pamukkale. The 5 TL (~AUD 0.40) one was in Bodrum bus station. 

Public buses that connects Bodrum bus station to central takes credit card. So you tap on using a credit card, and it costs 5 TL (~AUD 0.40).

I don't know how it turned out that I was mostly on public buses or I walked. I only got on a taxi in 4 occasions. Twice the hotel called a cab on my behalf, and twice I approached a taxi driver in a bus station. All 4 times they used the meter voluntarily. I did round up when I paid but the differences were negligable. 

I opted to travel in October as it was said to be the shoulder season. I was hoping it would be less warm by then but not yet hitting the rainy months. There was only 1 day of rain but it went on/off for the whole day. 

30/09, Day 00 - On flight, arrived Istanbul in the evening, flight to Cappadocia* (Kayra Caves Suites)

01/10, Day 01 - Cappadocia*

02/10, Day 02 - Cappadocia*

03/10, Day 03 - Cappadocia, overnight bus to Pamukkale* (Paradise Hotel)

04/10, Day 04 - Bus to Bodrum* (Pasha Motel)

05/10, Day 05 - Bodrum*, day trip to Kos

06/10, Day 06 - Bus to Selcuk* (Hotel Ave Maria)

07/10, Day 07 - Selcuk*

08/10, Day 08 - Bus to Ayvalik* (Lunaria Guest House)

09/10, Day 09 - Bus to Canakkale* (Sera Palas Pansiyon)

10/10, Day 10 - Canakkale*, day trip to Troy and Gallipoli Peninsula

11/10, Day 11 - Bus to Bandirma, then ferry to Istanbul* (Happy Suite Boutique Hotel)

12/10, Day 12 - Istanbul*

13/10, Day 13 - Istanbul*

14/10, Day 14 - Istanbul*

15/10, Day 15 - Istanbul*

16/10, Day 16 - Istanbul*

17/10, Day 17 - Flight to Dubai* (Excelsior Downtown Hotel)

18/10, Day 18 - Dubai*

19/10, Day 19 - Dubai*

20/10, Day 20 - Dubai* (Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek)

21/10, Day 21 - Dubai*

22/10, Day 22 - Flight to Melbourne

23/10, Day 23 - Arrive Melbourne in the morning

Brooklyn is a town in NSW surrounded by Muogamarra Nature Reserve. It occupies a strip of waterfront along the southern bank of the Hawkesbury River. Best part is, Brooklyn is accessible via train - Hawkesbury River Station. 

I've been to Hawkesbury River once many years ago but didn't do much. Such coincidence that it was also rainy day this round. I still didn't do much this round but manage to catch the Riverboat Postman cruise. The regular cruise runs on weekdays and nowadays I am only ever in Sydney for work without any extension days so it gets a little tricky to get on the cruise. Anyway the last round I was in Sydney, it was a couple of days prior to a Melbourne's public holiday, plus the government announced an additional public holiday due to Queen's demise so I ended up with 2 free days in Sydney for roaming. 

I like the idea of it - getting on a traditional cruise that started the run in 1910. They serve coffee or tea with home-made ANZAC biscuits for morning tea. As the mail delivery cruise is a 3 hour cruise, lunch is included in the ticket and consists of a Ploughman's style plate with shaved ham, cheese, tomato, zucchini, carrot, lettuce, pickled onions, bread roll, pickles, fruit chutney, butter & Italian dressing. 

However on 'execution', I did feel that it's not something I enjoy as a solo traveller, especially since the weather wasn't great that day and I can't spend the whole time outside. Whilst inside the ferry, I was seated with other commuters and felt a little awkward. It is not the issue with the cruise, of course. 

The cruise is actually a functioning riverboat postman and they deliver to settlements of Dangar and Milson Islands, Kangaroo Point, Bar Point, Marlow Creek, Fisherman's Point and Milson's Passage before returning to Brooklyn by about 1.15pm. On the day of my cruise, there was only 1 delivery plus they dropped of a family of 3 who were visiting their family.