It’s a party in the sky with Turkish Airlines!

Our last day in Goreme today. You could be here for a week and not see everything!

A chilled morning again as we packed up and relaxed on the roof terrace with cups of çay in the sun enjoying the views over the town. We were waiting for midday to come so we could tick off another Turkish experience.

We are heading for a Turkish bath, or Hamman. This is a tradition that dates back centuries and is still a part of Turkish culture. Basically you sit in a sauna to heat up, then lie on a marble table while the bather scrubs you down all over with an exfoliating glove, lathers you up with soap before massaging you and rinsing you down. It’s a great experience. Normally males and females are bathed separately. However they seem to be a bit more liberal in this part of Turkey, or they had no males working and still wanted our money, so we were

bathed together. There was also another customer in the room as well, so it was five women and Crom. Made for an interesting bath.

After the bath it was time for an oil massage, salt room and clay mask facial. Now the funniest part of this whole experience was that there had been rolling blackouts in Goreme the whole time we have been here and the power was flicking on and off the entire time. This was fine in the bathroom as there were skylights, however it’s hard to change in the dark, even into just a towel, and the massage would of been tough for our masseuse with only a few candles to light the room. All in all it was a hilarious, but really relaxing experience. Would recommend, but maybe somewhere with a reliable power source.

Once out of the Hamman, we had to catch the transfer back to Kaysari. This went well until the driver turned around about 10

minutes into the drive as he had forgotten a passenger! Turns put the guy he forgot was Barry from Gisborne. A real nice guy who was travelling around Turkey and the Balkans for a month by himself as his wife hates going through LA airport. We were running late but made it just in time for the flight.

If you haven’t flown on Turkish Airlines you really should. It is heaven. Free food, free drinks and in flight entertainment on a domestic flight. The highlight is the safety video though, it’s done by the characters from the new Lego movie. You should try and YouTube it as it’s got a super catchy song in it.

Once back in Istanbul we found our hotel and dropped our bags. We are staying in Sultanhamet this time so went for a walk and found the main square where we sat and had a çay while enjoying the sights of the Blue Mosque (actually called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque) and the Haig Sophia all lit up at night. The thunder and lightning back drop was super spectacular. Great to be back in this city.