After 48 hours in Istanbul, we were ready to flee the big city. Istanbul is full of amazing sights and nightlife, but also an overwhelming 15 million residents plus tourists fighting for space. After sitting in traffic for an hour on the shuttle to the bus station, we were desperate to find a more peaceful Turkey.
Our next stop, Capadoccia, was an overnight bus ride away to a town of 3000 people. It only took us a few hours to begin to see more differences between the city and the country. 98% of Turks are Muslim, but in Istanbul, you find bars on every corner and outside of mosques head scarves are rarely sighted. On the bus, only one woman besides Cara was showing her hair. After 11 hours of smelling body odor, socks, and baby, we were ready for a steaming cup of tea, our favorite Turkish habit. We were pleasantly surprised when the bill was half what we had been accustomed to in Istanbul. Outside the fancy bus station, the price cut in half yet again.
After a week in the countryside, we will be yearning for our return to the bustle of Istanbul. But for now we are enjoying sipping our cheap tea at a slower pace.
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