There are some swollen heads this morning from the all-inclusive wine and late night. The Turkish Evening revellers are a little quieter as luggage contents are reorganized and placed outside their rooms for pick up. A box breakfast is waiting for us at the front desk for consuming later in the van. It is time to bid farewell to Göreme and head to the regional airport for our return flight to Istanbul.
On our way out of town, we see the hot air balloons dotting the horizon again. We could have been up there today. Jocelyn turns in her seat and glances back at Shannon and I. Without words, we reconfirm we have accepted the decision to bypass the balloon ride today. We turn our eyes and thoughts to the passing landscape. I think Kivanç is relieved he didn’t lose 3 members of his group.
Cappadocia Regional Airports
There are 2 regional airports in Cappadocia that are close to Göreme (Nevsehir Cappadocia (NAV) and Kayseri Erkilet (ASR). I have no idea which one we are heading to although in the distance I see an extinct volcano, Mount Erciyes so I’m going to say Kayseri. Perhaps that is a clue. Its last eruption was early in the Holocene period about 11,000 years ago. It is now a winter sports site. It looks impressive in the distance. All I know is that Kivanç has our tickets. It takes around an hour to get to the airport.
Missing Luggage
Arriving at the terminal, it is discovered that Jane’s luggage is not in the van. Oh no! She put it outside her hotel room door for pick up, but it didn’t make it to the van. Kivanç is making urgent calls to the hotel and her luggage is found and will be forwarded to Istanbul via bus later that day. This confirms to me the importance of witnessing our luggage being loaded and unloaded. I bought an Apple Airtag for this trip, but it didn’t work out for me. Shannon had one, and was able to track her luggage through the airport. It’s a cool tool and one I hope to use on my next trip now that I have figured it out.
The 1.5 hour flight to Istanbul is smooth and before we know it, we are on land again. This time we fly into the Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW), the other international airport. For our final evening, we return to the the same hotel we started at, the Manesol Galata. We unpack only what is needed for tonight and tomorrow morning because our flight back to Canada is tomorrow afternoon.
Farewell Dinner – Chef Ocakbasi
At the supper hour, our group meets in the lobby, and we walk to the Chef Ocakbasi restaurant for a fish sandwich. Surprisingly, for a food tour with cities on water, we didn’t eat much seafood. We ordered seafood ourselves in restaurants on our dollar, but it wasn’t part of the tour.
We walk up many stairs to the roof top (sarcasm – why am I not surprised?) and are presented with an open window view of the harbour. It is a full circle moment for me. Our trip began with the roof top view of the harbour and ended with it. It is a spectacular view. We can hear the boat horns and witness the ferries coming and going. Once again, across the water are various mosques and their minarets set against a blue sky. We snap single and group shots of our tour members. It has been a great group. Thanks everyone!
Kivanç and I have a private chat and he gives me a hug and tells me he is proud of me for being open to trying new things. Getting outside my comfort zone is always a goal for me, although lamb brains might not need to be tried again!
We have a lovely fish wrap with mezze (dips and bread) and of course some Turkish wine. Reminiscing about our favourite trip moments makes for lively table conversation.
Kivanç must leave and retrieve Jane’s suitcase from the bus station. His work is never done, and we know he has paperwork to be completed. He went over and above for us and I sincerely thank him. We hand him our tip envelopes and say we would take care of the dinner bill. It seemed pretty straightforward.
When the dinner bill arrives, there is lots of confusion about the charges. Shannon takes the lead but there are unexplained charges that needed further investigation. The waiter ran up and down three flights of stairs at least three times attempting to get us answers. He deflects responsibility and obviously has no decision rights. Too bad this was happening because the meal was taste-bud delightful.
Greg calls Kivanç and he speaks to the manager. The evening sadly ends with us leaving and the waiter waving at us saying, “Just go!”.
We stand on the pavement outside of the restaurant just shaking our heads at the poor service experience. I’m sad that this is how our Farewell Dinner ended especially after a super trip. It was a bit of a let down. I’m sure feedback will be provided to Intrepid.
Some of the group decide to go back to the hotel and the rest of us go to a nearby café for a tea to accompany baklava and dondurma (ice cream). It was a sweet way to end the evening.
We climb the hill to our hotel for the last time.
