The Princess Diary: The Fairy Tale is Over

The fairy tale ends tomorrow. Sigh. I feel as if I’ve been here longer than two weeks and that I’ve been sleeping in the same comfortable bed in a room with an amazing view for a quite some time. Istanbul is far away in more ways than one.

I’m going to have to trade my breakfasts of cheeses, olives, honeycomb, halva, Şerife Anna’s home made yoghurt, freshly baked bread, and freshly squeezed orange juice, with my back to the stove, and cats peering in the window in front of a panoramic view of the sculpted and snow covered Goreme Valley, Red Valley, Avanos Valley, Love Valley and Mount Erciyes for a quick simit and cheese at my desk. I won’t get to sample fresh baklava, traditional Cappadocian desserts and gourmet meals. Instead of following the sheep trail through knee-deep snow to look at caves and fairy chimneys, and possibly annoying the elderly, nearly toothless shepherd, I’ll be walking down Serencebey Yokuşu to the bus stop. (I think the shepherd realized I’m harmless when I patiently waited for him to let the sheep out of their cave stable and didn’t scatter them by accident.) No more sitting in the warm office with the dogs, Ihsan who roasts chestnuts on the stove and tries to teach me how to shoot pool Turkish style. No more wandering around Uchisar village, making friends with random dogs and throwing snowballs with mischievous boys, or drinking tea with my new friend in the tourist shop. It’s back to Shakespeare and grammar. And no one is going to wait on me hand and foot or make my bed with clean sheets every day. Again, sigh.

Once, at a friend’s birthday celebration in Sardinia, I learned a funny saying. When someone receives a lot of gifts, her friends might say “You’ve got a big ass.” It’s a compliment, but also an expression of slight envy. Here in Cappadocia, my ass is huge. In addition to the oyas, the staff has presented me with hand-knit hats and scarves, many hugs and kind words. Add those to the presents I’ve bought for myself… The other day, rug dealer in Goreme offered me a summer job selling carpets because, as he says, I’m “clever and have an artist’s eye.” This of course may have been a ruse to get me to buy a rug.

Tomorrow morning, I’m supposed to wake up very early to watch the sunset while hiking with the dogs. We’ll see how motivated I am at 5:30.

Now I better get packing.