Morning comes early

Our first morning in Cappadocia came even earlier than it did at Istanbul. Even before the firsts rays of light the early morning call to prayer gently drifted through the open window and into my ear. The prayer call originated in the nearby village of Avanos. The melody here was different than it was back in Istanbul, and the voice was calm and even somewhat pleasant to hear. It was welcomed as a gentle alarm clock is, as opposed to the clanging annoyance of an old fashioned mechanic alarm that sits on your nightstand. Although still dark, I answered the call, not to pray, but to get up. I sat at my computer reflected on my experiences. I glanced out the window which faced east toward the small village, just as the sunrise hit. Flaming reds and yellows silhouetted the mountainous ridge at the back of the village. Lights from the many homes dotted the foreground like stars, and in the sky a crescent

moon looked down from the stark blackness of space. It was a masterpiece. I marveled that this was not being observed on the wall of a museum, this was happening before my eyes. Pictures could not adequately catch the beauty. I wondered if we had sunrises, back home. If so I scarcely saw one. Lol

The breakfast buffet here was quite extensive. There were fruits

Fresh Honeycomb on buffet

and nuts and cheeses and all sorts of different kinds of meats and breads and yogurts and cereals. The strangest item on the buffet was an entire honeycomb taken from a bee hive. People were cutting entire chucks out of the honeycomb and putting it in little ice cream cones.

Most items on the buffet were not marked and it took some studying to figure out what things were and often the only way was to taste them. For example, there were 4 different kinds of thick white substance in identical bowls sitting next to each other. I took a little of each for some taste testing. Two of them were different kinds of yogurts, one tasted like buttermilk, one was sour cream. A lot of the buffet was like that. It’s like trying to order off a menu in another language or in another country. HEY, that just might explain it! Haha