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By Christina
Wednesday the 7th of November found us on our first domestic flight in Turkey, on Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Kayseri and, other than Abby learning how to say “barf bag” in yet another language, the flight was relatively uneventful. Kayseri is smack dab in the middle of Turkey. The only reason one goes there, is it is the gateway to some of the most magical topography in the world. Dan and I had both been admiring pictures of Cappadocia for years, and to say we were jazzed to be there is a major understatement.
Things started out great, really great. I had chosen a small boutique “cave” hotel, Esbelli Evi, in the small town of Urgup (excuse me), based on rave reviews I had read online and in Lonely Planet. When we arrived we were greeted by Ramazan, a young Turk (I later learned he is studying tourism and trade at the university), who showed us proudly around the grounds of the hotel. The hotel is comprised of stone buildings (many from when the Greeks were evacuated from Turkey in 1923) and caves. In fact, the rooms are all located inside caves dating from the 4th Century. The big surprise of the night was that they had upgraded us to the family suite, consisting of two large bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchenette with a stocked refrigerator, and a private courtyard. I could go on and on about how great that suite was (fluffy duvets and towels, bottled water everywhere, enormous shower room, etc.), but let’s just say we had a heck of a time pulling ourselves away from that place to see the countryside. Needless to say, we were glad we did.
Cappadocia is like no other place on Earth. In fact, as I sit here, I am struggling to find the words to describe it. Our first day was spent in Goreme, arguably the hub of the Cappadocia region. Located there is the “open air museum,” a group of caves that were used as churches, convents, and living quarters, for a group of nuns and monks during Byzantine times (11th and 12th Centuries). Many of these caves contain well preserved frescoes depicting several of the saints we know so well (John, Paul, Theodore and Catherine) and some new ones (Barbara and Onuphrius). Our favorite spot was the monks’ mess hall, where we sat at the dining table and on benches cut out of the rock, imagining what it was like for the fellas so long ago.
Next was an invigorating hike through the Swords Valley where we saw hollowed out caves inhabited by the local folks until the government decided to relocate them to use them for tourists. For all of the government’s planning, however, there wasn’t another soul around, so we had the cave paintings and architecture to ourselves. By this time, however, we were freezing our buns off, so we headed to the village of Goreme to warm up. Quick purchases (hat for Dan, gloves for me) were followed by Gozleme (pancakes) and soup in a small café downtown.
When we planned this trip, our philosophy was to “follow the sun” and stick with the warm weather the entire time we were gone. With this in mind, we did not pack anything warmer than lightweight fleeces, drip-dry pants, and wool socks. We knew Cappadocia would be a challenge, however, given its location and the fact that we were visiting in November. So, we were mentally prepared to just stick it out for our short visit. We were not mentally prepared, however, to awake on our second day and find it snowing!! It was so pretty to watch the snow falling from the comfort of our cozy cave. Luckily it didn’t last long and most of it was melted by the time we set out in our rental car for some more sightseeing.
Our first destination was Kaymakli, an underground city to the south. During times of peace, the people of the area (primarily farmers) would live above ground. When the enemy approached, however, the people would hurry down to their underground city, where they had ingenious rolling stone doors that kept out attackers. These cities, dating back to the 7th century BC could hold up to 8000 people for six months at a time. It was good that we had a guide to show us through the five floors of rooms, otherwise we certainly would have gotten lost. While the kids scampered around the tunnels, Dan and I admired how everything was so well thought out for underground living (toilets, wine press, bathtubs, etc.). The ingenuity and cleverness of the place simply blew us away. After we left, we noted to the kids that this was yet another example of a great ancient civilization (along with the Romans and Greeks) whose skills and know-how would be forgotten until the Renaissance. My mom would hate the place, however, given its small enclosed spaces.
I was keen on seeing two other things that day - the pigeon houses of Uchisar and the “fairy chimneys” for which Cappadocia is best known - so we left Kaymakli and hit the road. Pigeon houses (small niches carved into cliffs where pigeon poop was collected for fertilizer) are fairly ubiquitous in the region; however, the best preserved ones are in Pigeon Valley. We spent about an hour hiking around and checking them out, even though it was mighty cold. Our favorite ones were painted on the outside in vivid red colors, apparently in an attempt to attract the birds (who knew pigeons were so fussy?).
The fairy chimneys (it is not clear who came up with this cheesy name) are the mushroom-like stone formations that you see on nearly every Cappadocia postcard. They were formed by several huge volcanic eruptions that left rocks, lava, and ash covering the entire area. As erosion occurred, the rocks were left on top of pillars of ash that were protected from erosion by the rocks above. Despite their size, these odd formations (they look like mushrooms) were a bit of a challenge to find, however, after a bit of off-road action in our rental car and another hike, we rounded a corner to find some giants awaiting us. These babies, probably 40 meters high, were spectacular. Once again, we had the place to ourselves. So, we made the most of it, walking around, admiring the clearly marked layers of sediment, and peeking into caves. We closed out the day watching the sun set over one of the coolest sights we have ever seen.
previous travel blog entry
R8dermania says:
Best laid plans... eh guys? Oh well i am sure you will troop on and deal with whatever weather comes your way. WE miss you!