Part 4 – Cappadocia to Safranbolu

We were certainly becoming accustomed to bus travel around Turkey. The journey from Cappadocia to Safranbolu was the longest, more than 500 km and an overnight journey. So here is a little about what to expect on a Turkish bus:

• Buses get washed at major comfort stops (unlike Egypt).
• Rugs & newspapers are covered on the floor to keep bus clean.
• TV screens are in the back of each seat in the bus, with music, radio, sitcoms and even road cam so you can see where you are going.
• There is a USB port to review your own photos on screen.
• The attendants are neatly dressed in shirt and tie or bow tie. They move up and down the aisles with trolleys, selling food and drinks.
• The attendants get to start the bus and then announce its impending departure.
• The Ankara bus station is built over 3 levels for buses to come in, with about 30 buses on each level – it is huge.

It’s not an airline, but a well organised bus system, in Turkey.

Part 3 – Antalya to Cappadocia

With confidence growing, we prepared for our first over night bus journey. Comfortable clothes, an early light dinner and iPhones charged to listen to the music.

The driver from our hotel gave us instructions to take the bus with livery that matched the ticket. Four buses pulled out at 9:30pm, not one of them matching the yellow and black ticket.

Sixteen buses pulled into their bays for the next departure at 10:00pm and not one matched our bus ticket.

It was about that time that a man with limited English asked where we were going. Bruce meanwhile went looking for some assistance.

It turns out that our instructions were wrong and we should have been on one of those 9:30pm buses. And now we were told to bring our luggage and run (after a bus that left 15 minutes ago?)

We were piled into a minibus with the driver who was competing for speed with an ambulance with sirens blarring, in the same traffic jam.

We reached the bus, which had been stopped just out of town and shuffled in. Alas, not enough seats, so after some Turkish chatter, Bruce and I were given adjoining seats at the back of the bus. One young man was asked to give up his seat and sat on the step between the two double seats at the back. Not comfortable for a long night journey.

At the comfort stop in the early hours of the morning, the man who had asked where we were going, reappeared. By now I had learnt he was a policeman in the area of Cappadocia. He showed me photos on his phone of the sights we were expecting to see there. He also warned us about the sharks at the bus station in Göreme.

An amazing sight of thirty to forty hot air balloons hovering over Göreme in Cappadocia greeted us when we arrived at 6:30am, but the Information Office where we were to be met was shut. It was however a shadowy looking guy who knew who we were and where we were staying.

For further encounters with our policeman friend Dilaver, read Bruce’s blog about our run in with the law.

Part 2 – Fethiye to Antalya

We had survived the journey to Fethiye so we were better prepared for the next journey.

A minibus arrived at our hotel and transported us to the bus station and we were shuffled onto the bus.

What amazed us this time was the quality of the buses. Massive big vehicles with luggage compartments underneath that you could easily stow away in.

And on the bus, after our destination was checked, we were offered water, tea, coffee and cake, all from a little trolley wheeled up the aisle. Then rubbish was collected. There was a comfort stop half way through our journey where most people walked – to shake off the cobwebs.

The most amazing part of the journey was the speed and ease with which the bus driver navigated the steep winding road coming down into Antalya. This part of Turkey is mountainous, and those steep mountains seem to fall right into the sea.

We arrived at a massive bus station and felt overwhelmed. We have been to big rail stations and big airports. This was big. Buses were everywhere. People were coming and going in all directions, all knowing where to go.

Before long the two older, fair to greying passengers were identified by our hotel manager. What an easy journey. We are now masters of bus travel!!

Our tripping around Turkey is by bus, a combination of tour buses and public buses.

Tour buses are easy – hop on, listen to the guide, hop off.

For the public buses, our travel agent said there would always be a colleague to take us to the public bus station and pick us up after the journey.

Our first public bus journey was from Pamukkale to Fethiya. An interesting journey over the Tourus mountains to the sea.

And we were duly picked up from the hotel in a mini bus and driven to another hotel.

A half hour wait and with more passengers on board, we were driven to a petrol station a few kilometres out of Pamukkale.

From there we were taken in a larger bus to a bus station in the next major town. There were more passengers than seats, so poor Bruce had to stand the whole way with his camera bag hanging off his back. I got to sit in the dicky seat at the front, quite scary as they drive at 100kph down country roads and pass slower vehicles at any opportunity.

Our next bus was a small local bus. We had no idea how far we were going. It was evident that this bus would struggle up the massive mountains. And then it started to rain.

We arrived at a very small village in the mountains where it was wet and cold, and we were told “change buses”. After collecting our luggage we piled onto another small local bus, and in the teaming rain it made its way down very steep mountainous roads into Fethiye. I figured this bus driver had driven this road many times before, so the mobile phone calls and chit chat with his assistant really didn’t bother me too much. I was however frightened when a horse ran in front of the bus, causing some quick and wobbly braking. It felt like the bus driver reduced his speed after that incident.

Fethiye was the first destination where we were expecting someone to meet us. That didn’t seem to happen. It was a man with a broom in his hand who asked if he could help. When I showed him our hotel voucher we were piled into another minibus and taken to a hotel that didn’t match the voucher.

It was the 6th bus that picked us up from that hotel and drove 200 meters down the road to The Daffodil Hotel that finally finished a long day of lugging backpacks on and off buses.

Watch this space for more bus journey adventures!!