Miles Driven: 471 miles
Hours in the Car: 9
Borders Crossed: 0
We bid farewell to the city we all agreed upon had the best food of the trip thus far and were on our way to Göreme by 8:30 AM. Mike navigated the menacing downtown Istanbul AM rush hour traffic and we crossed the Bosphorus Bridge. Just like that we were in Asia. As for Europe, we’ll be back soon (Georgia, Azerbaijan).
While on Friday evening we were all excited to get a break from Stevie for a few days, come Monday morning we were glad to see our Skoda knowing that today would be a day of driving instead of logging 10+ miles walking in 85 degree heat. We had a full day of driving through the Pontic Mountains to the city of Göreme, a city in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey known for its chimney rock formations and hot air ballooning.
About 2 hours from Göreme, we made a brief pit stop at Lake Tuz, a super saline lake and the second largest in all of Turkey. It only runs about 5 feet at its deepest point but stretches on for several miles in all directions. Needing a break from the car, the team waded into the ankle-deep water to enjoy the mirage views against the mountain backdrop in the early-evening sun. It was great stop to break up our drive - not to mention the great exfoliating and skin-drying qualities of the water.
Lake Tuz
Later in the evening we arrived at our campsite in Göreme which was already chalk full of other rally teams. We grabbed dinner and drinks with some fellow Kiwi and Aussie teams we had met previously before having a beer back at the campsite with the very Rally-friendly campsite host. The owner of the campsite also has mechanics on-hand who will be fitting Skoda with a sump guard tomorrow morning - more protection for Stevie’s vital parts. While Stevie is performing incredibly thus far, we want her in tip-top shape once we cross the Caspian.
It was a driving day without a doubt - fuel fill ups, Dorito bags, podcasts, Spotify playlists, and we even started a Stephen King novel on audiobook. There will be many more 9 hour drive days in our future just like this and many longer too. We are glad we have two nights here in Cappadocia before the next one. - FWY