The last destination of our mini tour de Turkey ended in Göreme, where we stayed to explore the splendor of Cappadocia. Cappadocia is an area in the center of Turkey famous for its landscape of fairy chimneys, underground cities, monasteries, and early Christian frescoes.  This place is overwhelming, to say the least.  Even standing on the edge of any unsuspecting rock cliff, you see thousands upon thousands of caves everywhere you look.  Hell, even all of the hotels and hostels are actually set in caves themselves.

Kris playing Backgammon with our new friend Stephanie in a hotel "room" aka cave

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It was bound to happen.  I was within days of leaving Turkey and not a single man up to this point had really caught my eye.  No offense to the Turkish gentlemen – they are lovely people but just not my type.  That all changed in Cappadocia.  We arrived for our second day of sightseeing and as we were introduced to our guide for the day, I felt my heartbeat speed up and my palms grow sweaty.  The man that stood before me was tall, lean, with piercing blue eyes and a goatee.  He had that look of indifference that I find totally irresistible.  And the icing on the cake was that he was wearing a castro hat, black jeans, a grey hoody and Converse sneakers.   If he had busted out an acoustic guitar, I would have proposed on the spot.  Let’s call him Nihat, for the sake of reference.  As he led us around the fairy chimneys and frescoes of this ancient world, I had difficulty concentrating on the history lesson he was trying to give us because I couldn’t stop staring at those stunning eyes.  Nihat had just graduated from university and was preparing to do his six months of mandatory military service. Damn it.

Nihat, if you’re reading this, please don’t think me creepy.  Creepy would be attaching your photo to this blog (which I briefly considered before thinking better of it).  Instead, slough off the military service and look me up in Vietnam.  I’d love to look more deeply into those eyes.