Cave dwelling in Cappadochia

Where castle walls meet the imagination
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My last day in Istanbul I took a small tour up the Bosporus just far enough to get a chill and see a perfect vision of a mideaval fortification.

I decided to take the city railway system to the airport.  I didn't realize that the one by the hotel was the old version.  I arrived at the final stop and discovered I missed the airport stop 7 back.  When the police officer who helped me showed me on the rail car the stop he had to rub the grime off to indicate the airport name.  I got there just in time to make my Onur air flight to Kayseri.  About half way through we hit turbulance during the beverage service.  Not only did liquids hit the ceiling but the stewardess hit the floor of the plane right behind me.  There was applause at landing.

Goreme
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I hitched a ride with a shuttle with the aid of a British couple.  We were taken the 80km to Goreme which is the heart of the land of the famous caves carved out of the tuff of those strange conical formations you have seen pictures of.  I had no reservation so I stopped where they stopped and went next door to the hostel where I got a cave bedroom for 10 lira.  I was the only person in the room and for good reason.  It was so musty I had to leave the window open all night and cover myself with the blankets from the other 3 beds.

Some of the conic neighorhood
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The next morning I awoke with a view of a cone right next door. I set out to find Bunny and Co.  and take in the strange world of trogylodytes.  I didn't find Bunny but found a guide, Nagel who drove me about for a couple of hours to see several of the local sights.

In fact I never did find Bunny but I found her group and had dinner with them at a carpet sales shop which was a total mooch on my part.  I just claimed to be eating for her.

I had been in another carpet shop earlier in the day - when you get a ride you have to pay the driver - where they fed me local wine which was tasty but still did not induce me to buy.  The owner was personally showing me carpets.  I got to see some beautiful and very expensive stuff.  He showed me an old piece that he was asking 150,000usd for.

An area known as love valley
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There were people for tens of thousands of years living in these carved creations of homes.  In the twenties there was a forced relocation for the Greek people.  All that remains are remnants of their churches of which many are to be found in the open air museum.

The clouds parted as I got there and the blue sky setting off the tawny strangescape of this unusual and striking place.  I got there just in time to get stranded on the tight stairways and entries by tour groups of French, German, Japanese and Italians vying for their photo ops and educational lectures on the meaning of the remaining frescoes of these now abandoned Greek Orthodox churches.

when the sun shines it is stunning out here
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I changed hotels so my night of sleep went much better but unfortunately I am now suffering a cold.