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Monday, November 18th - Goreme to Kayseri - 14,410 km
So, we are moving on today, leaving this magical land of Cappadocia. I really appreciate that Coen and Vincent get up and get ready at the same time and pace as I do, which really helps with the compatibility factor. We share breakfast with our Scottish hosts and some of the current residents, who have continued to change during our stay here. Only Betty, the Australian, is still here.
Then, like two days ago when we went to the Open Air Museum, we set off on our bikes heading north. The air is crisp and the hills filled with autumn colour. We have to wear our tights today, as a winter chill is in the air. The sky is fairly clear but there is a haze. The clouds are moving in. Vincent is leading and Coen and I exchange positions on and off behind him, staying close enough to shout if we stop to take a picture. 
Beyond the Open Air Museum, we reach Cavusin, a recently inhabited area where caves in the hillsides above us are fronted by brick buildings with arched entrances. We turn east through the Zelve Valley where tall fairy chimneys are topped with darker, pointed mushroom caps. The route makes a sharp turn north and leads us to the Kayseri-Nevsehir Highway.
We turn right, to the east and towards Kayseri. The highway has better pavement and intermittent traffic, but like most highways in Turkey, most of the traffic is
comprised of buses and trucks that zoom by us aggressively. With an absence of a paved shoulder, it can be unnerving so we decide to take a side road when the opportunity arises. Our map shows one coming up only 6 km from where we joined it. Before we reach the turnoff, we pass another Caravanserai, not as ornate but it better condition than some others we have encountered. No one wants to stop, but at least we know we are still on the Silk Road. Our side road is narrow with patchy pavement. The fields and hills around us are brown and gold. The clouds have moved in by early afternoon and there is a north wind slowing our progress, but at least the truck traffic is gone. Our side road bends back to the highway and crosses to the north of it, affording us another 12 km before it merges with the highway again.
The remainder of today's trip takes two and a half hours more as we fight the headwind for the first hour as the highway turns and then the crosswind as it bends east to Kayseri. The land around us is flat and barren, a dusty tan-brown, devoid of interesting features except for a giant, extinct volcano, Mt Eciryes that towers 3900 m (13,000 ft) above the plain south of Kayseri.
The sky is now heavily overcast and it is spitting rain as maneuver our way through the city traffic into the city centre. There doesn't seem to be much interesting to see here at first glance. There is no tourist information office open when we arrive, but Vincent's Lonely Planet Guide to Western Asia gives us clues as to where to look for inexpensive accommodations.
It only half an hour we have found a hotel that can store our bikes. I have a room for myself this time. The distance was not too long today but we are tired of fighting the wind. It is still spitting rain but it doesn't look like any heavy rain will happen tonight. The clouds in the west are already parting.
We have a dinner at a local restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, which is an available choice in this bigger city of half a million or so. I try to raise the subject of revising the article for the Dutch cycling club again but they don't want to discuss it, which means he doesn't want me to do it. I won't mention it again, even though I feel a bit slighted. It's the only item of discord between us and I want and need their friendship.
Tomorrow morning we will board the train for eastern Turkey. It will be a whole new and exciting world, deep into Asia proper.
PHOTO 1: more ash-made topography
PHOTO 2: at Cavusin
PHOTO 3: in the Zelve Valley
PHOTO 4: tall skinny fairy chimneys
PHOTO 5: heading east to Kayseri
PHOTO 6: our side road, clouds moving in
PHOTO 7: Mt. Eciryes in the distance
PHOTO 8: ladies of Kayseri
PHOTO 9: evening market in Kayseri
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