Türkiye Kedisi - Cats of Turkey

 

Resting in the ruins of Ephesus

For Nicole's Friday Face Off I am sharing cats' faces today. In August 2018, after we had come back from our trip to Turkey, I had already written about the cats of Istanbul. However, somehow I missed to give the cats outside of Istanbul the same "honor". Until today.

In Göreme

The Turkish people are very cat (and dog) friendly people. Especially cats are seen everywhere - most of them are stray cats that nevertheless are looked after. And they are loved by everyone and everyone looks out for them. It was quite amazing to witness.

The cats seem to hang out everywhere - in the streets, in ancient historical sites, in national parks, in museums, even in mosques.

Keeping us company while we had dinner in a street café in Selçuk

We visited the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk and look who was hiding there! Professor Cat, taking a nap.

The roof of the building across from our beautiful small hotel in Selçuk was a meeting point for cats of the neighborhood.

But the highest number of cats we saw in the archaeological site of Ephesus.

It was a punishable hot day and the cats took all the spots in the shade.

They were completely unimpressed by this:

They did what cats can do best - sleeping, napping, resting.

Only a few were a bit more alert.

I guess sleeping in such a historical place on such ancient stones is just perfect for cats. Meow.

If you love cats, you will love this 2016 movie, "Kedi" (cat), about the cats in Istanbul. I loved it. Here is the trailer. 

I might not be able to get to your blogs today. Kibeau is ready to cross the rainbow bridge (he is 18 years old) and we hope the vet can come over tomorrow. Today is probably his last day and I want to be at his side. He has always loved company.

Cats And Coffee

 

Do you see the cat on the moped? This little guy entertained us a few years ago while we were sitting in a little street café called "Green Corner" almost right next to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. It was the morning after the wedding of the Geek's cousin and we just had a few more hours before his mother, brother and nephew had to leave for the airport for their flights back home (we were lucky to have one more week in Turkey to look forward to). After the wedding that started late in the evening and lasted into the early morning hours, we were a bit tired and didn't feel much like walking around. So we had some iced coffee in this little street café that we had frequented several times during the week before.

However, this was the first time that we saw this cat. It inspected the moped, hopped on the seat and finally lay down to take a short nap.

This wasn't the only time that we were entertained or visited by a cat while taking a coffee break. It happened again when we had a very delicious iced coffee (they make great iced coffee in Turkey) in a little street café in Selçuk (which is not far from the famous site of Ephesus).

We were planning the next day when this little cat turned up and decided to hang out right next to us. I ended up resting halfway on the sidewalk and halfway on the street. It didn't mind since everybody in Turkey seemed to be very considerate of stray cats and dogs. The Turkish people feed them, give them places to sleep safely, care for them, even pay veterinary bills if the need arises. If a cat crosses a street, traffic comes to a stop and everybody waits patiently until the little stinker is on the other side of the street. I've never seen a country where stray animals are so much loved as in Turkey.

Back in Istanbul, we of course paid a last visit to the "Green Corner" for our last Turkish iced coffee. There was no way we would leave without a final taste of this delicacy.

Guess who was there? Our little moped loving four-legged friend.

Have you watched the movie "Kedī" (Turkish for 'cat')? It's a wonderful little movie about the cats in Istanbul and the people of Istanbul. I watched it after having been to Istanbul and I felt like being back in the magical city. I wrote about the cats of Istanbul here.

The coffee, of course, is for the T gang - all gathered for Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

A Thousand Suns

At the end of summer the sunflowers are still going strong, painting a smile on our faces with their brilliant happy color. I used to grow sunflowers in my garden, but stopped doing that since the squirrels always "killed" them and I didn't like those empty stems stretching into the sky.

But entire sunflower fields are a different story!

While we drove through Turkey last year in July we saw many sunflower fields, and finally we stopped on a little dirt road and took some pictures of this wave of yellow suns.

There were so many fields - and they were huge. They stretched over the hills and down to the water, covering wide areas of land. It was quite the sight.

Where there are sunflowers there are birds and the air was buzzing with the sweet voices of hundreds of birds. Unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to make a short video and capture this. I also love how the faces of the sunflowers follow the track of the sun - we were standing just in the right position for the pictures above, but not for some below.

It's amazing how far one can see the yellow color glowing in the distance.

A thousand suns. (well, probably more...)

Village Cave House

In my first post about Cappadocia I mentioned that we stayed in a cave hotel in Göreme. It was quite unusual, but very fascinating. The hotel was in the huge rock that you can see in the top photo - you can actually see the entrance to it in the lower part of the image. Here's a better look:

All the rooms were accessible from outside, obviously there were no hallways. That meant each room had its own patio or terrace which was wonderful on those late warm evenings when we could sit outside and read and plan the next day. The view was amazing.

Just to give you an idea how low the door to our room was:

We had a three person-room. It was huge, very generous and cool (great in the hot summer). There was a beautiful sitting area beneath the window and tea and coffee making supplies. No further decoration except for the amazing fabrics they use in this country. Apart from that, just naked rock.

We had our private bathroom as well,  very clean with sparse decor.

The road to the hotel was narrow - I try to include a video I made with my phone while driving from the center of Göreme up to the Village Cave House.

This was the view on our last morning in Göreme - the hot air balloons. On clear mornings with perfect conditions dozens of hot air balloons float over the rugged area. The view from up there must be amazing - it's one of the most popular things to do here. Unfortunately we didn't - but if we should ever come back I think we will.

By the way - this was my 1000th blogpost!