Travel

Of People and Places: Rose Valley and tufa hills in Turkey

I was travelling solo from Istanbul to Cappadocia by an overnight bus. None of the passengers seemed to understand a word of English. There was only one stop-over at midnight somewhere in the more than ten hour long journey. I followed the women to the washroom, bought something to munch on, without a word uttered. My seat was almost on the last row and a bit uncomfortable. But all the discomfort disappeared as I woke up as dawn broke and through the window got the first glimpse of Cappadocia. Was it how the moonscape looked like, filled with the stark snuff-coloured hills, some looking like gigantic ant hills? My imagination ran riot. But then it was the much talked- about land of the Fairy Chimneys I reminded myself. 

by Ranjita Biswas September 20, 2022