I woke up at 5am on a bus which had just stopped in Kayseri. I resented that the bus was a half hour early because it robbed me of that much more bad and frequently interrupted sleep. In the bus terminal, my friend Ashley and I lay down across the waiting chairs and slept some more. An hour later I got up to use and internet cafe in the bus terminal where I googled Kayseri. I learned a lot about the city, it's geography and the best places to visit. We left the terminal, learned the bus system and rode to the city center.
The city was still waking up as we wandered its streets looking for a place to eat breakfast. We were so hungry, too! Just then a man walking near us asked where we were from. That's when we met Enver, a retired local who happened to be on his way to his favorite breakfast restaurant before killing the rest of the day with friends. He invited us along and we happily accepted. We ate a full Turkish breakfast, accompanied by fresh-from-the-oven bread and some delicious spread that is a speciality of the city. Afte rthe meal, Enver made a list of about 9 places we ought to see in Kayseri. Then he said "let's go".
We walked through old bazaars, modern streets and in the shadow of a fortress built in the 6th century. At one point a local news crew interview me briefly about how I was liking Kayseri. Then they filmed the 3 of us together. I guess we appeared on local tv, which is a funny thought considering I had only just arrived there for the first time. Another highlight of the excursion was when we were visitng Döner Kümbet (the rotating tomb). There were some apricot trees nearby and its fruit was tempting, although too high up to be reached easily. Furthermore, a nearby water sprinkler didn't allow one to stand in a spot near the trees for very long without getting sprayed. Unable to resist the joy of munching on truly fresh apricots, I took my shoes off...
I returned slowly from the hieghts of the tree with a shirt pocket full of ripe apricots. We snacked on the apricots after I rinsed them with the water sprinkler, and we stood nearby to allow ourselves to be gently sprayed by its refreshing mist. Those apricots were delicious!
Later on, we met up with a few on Enver's friends inculding a gentleman selling original Kayseri carpets. He showed us many different styles of carpets as we sat in his shop sipping tea between ooh's and aah's. As we excited his shop, we passed through a wool shop. So much wool!
In the evening we went to a hookah cafe near the Erciyes mountain/volcano. At more than 16,000 feet it is stunning. The villages near its base were gorgeous. Flowe-laden stone walls and old houses speckled the fields and lined winding streets. The cafe itself, the most modern looking place for kilometers, felt cosy and natural with pine, plum and mulberry trees providing a lot of shade. We played backgammon and ate pide, passing the time in a fashion so enjoyable and relaxing that it was difficult not to spoil it by talking too much about it.
During our informal albeit vicious backgammon tounament, we were joined by Bora, a Couchsurfer (couchsurfing.com ...I went to the website in the morning at the internet cafe to see if anyone in Kayseri was interested in hosting a couple of strangers for a couple of nights) with whom I'd been texting earlier in the day about a possible stay. Always strange meeting strangers, but it turns out the guy rocks. He joined us for the backgammon tournament and we chatted a bit. Later we went back to his place, enjoying views of Erciyes at sunset on the way. There we passed a chill evening full of Turkish and English conversation.
Then I thought about going to sleep but realized that would be impossible given how much of an awesome day I just had. Glad I wrote it all down.
