Here and Now: From Here to There and Every Where

We loved our time in Göreme - so many good memories and so many pictures, but there is more to see and our next adventure is just around the corner or at least a plane ride away. At the designated time someone arrived at our hotel to take us to Kayseri to catch a plane to Kuşadasi. Okay there were three of us and three suitcases and three carry-on pieces and we get a small red car?

It takes these two fellows a few tries to get the luggage in the trunk, some anxious, tense moments and we are on our way. Kayseri is about 1 - 1-1/2 hours away. The day is beautiful, we pass farms, orchards of olives and pomegranates, fields of corn, sunflowers. In the distance we see mountains - extinct volcanoes - one of which is the home of a ski resort. The landscape is dry and I was amazed at the thought of skiing but was assured by our driver that they do indeed get snow.

As we approach Kayseri, off in the distance is an area full of large low buildings which we are told are factories - furniture, clothing, car parts, food processing. There are a lot of new high rise apartments - housing for the factory workers.

I have no pictures to show you of the airport in Kayseri so I will describe it best I can. We are dropped off. As soon as we get inside we have to go through security - okay - but we see people with water bottles? but okay. We get inside and all signs are in Turkish. We match the name of the airline on our vouchers to the signs and we get checked through and a boarding pass. We go through security again then we wait at a gate. Lots of announcements in Turkish but we get the idea that perhaps we are boarding now - so we just follow the crowd and trust that we are getting on the right plane. Off we go and about an hour later we are in Izmir. Again no signs in English but the pictures of baggage and arrows are there so we follow them and the other travellers. We get our luggage and exit to find someone waiting with a sign that says our name. Good to go. We head out to Kuşadasi.

We leave the city of Izmir. The trip is beautiful - but still desert like. We start up into the hills and pass by Ephesus and the home of the Virgin Mary in the distance. Then we see the ocean - the Aegean Sea.

The city of Kuşadasi is on the hillside around a large harbour. We drive by large hotels, apartments, shopping areas - up hills and down and around and around through narrow, cobblestone streets until we finally get to our hotel - Villa Konak. It is a small hotel. The people that greet us make us feel like we are long lost relatives and welcome us in.