2019 Nov 4 Cappadocia · Göreme · Travel Notes

Opened the map and fixed today’s destination—east, 744 km, ETA 8 h 22 min—a cave hotel in Göreme. I started the car, merged into traffic, and soon disappeared in the flow. Same pattern as anywhere: most people follow the rules, a few cut in; only the plates ahead remind me this is a foreign road.
We entered the cross-continental undersea tunnel; there’s no marker for the boundary between two continents. Out of the tunnel we were on the Asian side—residential districts, jams, slow rolling. Everyone repeats the daily script; among all these cars I may be the one going farthest today.
Creeping out of the city the pace picked up. The limit showed 120 km/h, but cars whooshing past were doing 140+. I went with the flow; the speed cameras were visible—over the whole 744 km there were no more than about five.
Most towns we skimmed were clustered on hillsides near the highway or down in rolling valleys. Around them, fields after harvest left broad golden stripes; roadside woods flashed that particular autumn brilliance. The road toward Ankara was excellent and wide-open; even distant lakes sat within view.
Lunch cost 85 TRY—two dishes and a soup, with free bread. Food free of additives brought back the taste of childhood. The end of the motorway meant we were about to pass through Ankara. Traffic thickened; the limit became a very exact 82 km/h—severe in tone—and sometimes came with signs warning to yield to tanks. Even without the sign, I wouldn’t challenge that kind of vehicle.
Beyond Ankara we took a national road with a bit more than 300 km to go. The unchanging yellow stayed with us until sunset. At 17:40 the palette flipped: everything turned gold, the sky from blue to pink; far snowy peaks suddenly appeared, and low hills riddled with caves multiplied—like slipping colored cellophane over a light bulb: vivid yet not abrupt. Two hunches: 1) the sun has set; 2) the destination is near.
Right on nightfall, pinpoints of cave lights traced the village contours on the hills, winking at me. Tonight I’ll sleep in one of those caves beneath a twinkling light.

● 2019年11月04日 鳗游随笔
● 打开地图，定下今天的目的地，东方，744km；预计8小时22分钟，一座在格莱梅小镇的洞穴酒店。发动汽车，驶入车道，很快就隐匿在车流里，和平时熟悉的场景一样，遵守规则的多数，加塞插队的少数，只有前面可见的车牌照提醒着我这是行驶在一条陌生的异国街道上。很快进入了跨洲的海底隧道，没有什么地标标记出两个大洲的分界线，出了隧道就是亚洲生活区，堵车，缓行，人民也是套路一般的重复着每天该做的事情，也许在这些车里我因该是目的地最远的一个吧。慢慢的蠕动出了市区，速度慢慢的提起，120的限速出现了，按照这个速度你会发现从身边呼啸而过的车速都在140以上，随波逐流吧，测速的仪器都是可见的，这744km总共不超过5个。擦肩而过的城镇大部分是在高速边上不远的山坡上或是丘陵谷地里，建筑物很聚集，城镇的周围都是农作物收割后留下的大块金黄色线条，路两侧偶尔出现的树林在这个季节呈现出正在换季时展现的独特绚丽，前往安卡拉的路况非常的好，视野开阔，就连远处的湖泊也能远眺在眼底，午饭花了85里拉吃的两菜一汤，面包免费，远离添加剂的餐食忆起了儿时的饭菜的滋味，高速的结束意味着即将穿过土耳其的首都安卡拉，车慢慢多了起来，限速也变成了82km/h，这有零有整的限速标志很是严肃，有时候伴随着注意让坦克先行的警示标志，就算是没这标志估计我也不会和这种车辆抢行。穿过安卡拉驶入一级公路，还有300多公里，一成不变的黄色一直到太阳落山也没有变过，17:40分，主色调一下子被切换成金色，天空的蓝色被切换成了粉红色，远处的雪山突然的就出现了，满是山洞的小山丘也多了起来，就像是房间里原本的灯泡上盖上了一张彩色糖纸，鲜艳而又不觉得突兀，两个预感：1、太阳下山了，2、目的地快到了；夜幕降临的时刻刚刚好，山丘上星星点点的洞穴灯光形成的小镇轮廓一闪一闪的向我眨着眼睛，今天我就住在这某个灯影下的山洞里。