After England, I spent the next several weeks at home in Pensacola. I did get to work at NAS Pensacola for September-October so I was able to stay home and work on my place for a change. Remodeled 2 bathrooms, teaching myself to tile floors, repair sheetrock and buy new bathroom furniture. So between work and home improvement I stayed pretty busy. Now as I write I am in the south of Turkey at Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey. I have been a little slower getting going this time, probably due to having arrived here with a chest cold. There are plenty of things to see and do here so I wont get bored. I have met some Turkish and Kurdish folks, been carpet browsing, but not buying yet, because I want one that will fly. The mosque here is pretty amazing; it's huge and one of the biggest in the Middle East. Today I went hiking with my new friend Ottis and climbed up to the 12th century Snake Castle about 20 miles to the east of Adana; no path, lots of boulders, no guardrails, awesome adventure. Driving in Turkey is a lot of fun. For the most part its pretty civilized, but in town, there are no rules, only suggestions! It hasnt rained here in quite some time but the rumor is that 3-4 days after the Holiday of Sacrifice ends...it will rain to clean the blood our of the streets. Holiday ended on Friday, so maybe days will be less brutal and rain will wash the dust out of the air. But I like it here so far. Stay tuned. By the way this meal is a Kebab. minced and spiced lamb meat served on a sword covered with roasted vegetables and chicken, all sitting on top of a large piece of flatbread. mmm-mmmm!
One thing about the Turkish language is the letters are always pronounced the same way, none are silent and every single one is pronounced. Of course they have more letters than we do which adds a mild degree of complication. The English version is Cappadocia. I went there this weekend and didnt get to see or do everything. Kinda typical, but this place is so chock full of nooks and crannies that you probably couldnt see it in a year let alone two days. You have to google it to get the history, but it goes way on back into the BC's. The hotel I stayed at was the Caravanserai Hotel in Goreme and sleeping in a cave was pretty cool. Anyway to sum up: great food and Cappadocian wine, Love Valley, Zelve open air museum, belly dancers, whirling dervishes, fairy chimneys, Turkish bath, underground city of KaymaklI (which has one of those extra letters -the I is actually different and looks like a small capital I). I have a couple of pictures here, but this is definitely one of those places that pictures can't seem to capture and ought to be on everybody's bucket list.
