Turkey Part 2 - Cappadocia March 30-31

Sunday March 30 began in a quite confusing manner.  We were supposed to meet our driver for transport to the airport at 5:00 am, so we set our alarms for 3:00 and 3:30.  Here is where it gets confusing, and I hope you can follow.  What happened is that Turkey was supposed to spring forward at 3:00 am along with the rest of the EU, but Turkey decided to stay on the same time until their election was over so they did not spring forward.  Well, our smart phones did not know this so they sprung forward just like they were supposed to do.  One might wonder what happens when you have an alarm set for 3:00 and that time doesn't exist anymore, well the alarm goes off at 4:00.  Now that wouldn't be that big of a problem if there was only one of us that had to get ready, but there were two of us and we didn't hear Vanny's alarm at 4:00. I heard my alarm at 4:30 and wondered why it didn't go off at 3:30 like I had set it.  I checked my iPad to make sure that it was really 4:30 and not 3:30, but my iPad had sprung forward just like my iPhone so it too said 4:30.  So we hurriedly got ready and headed downstairs to discover that the clock down there said 4:00 instead of 5:00 like our phones.  What?!  We questioned the guy at the desk and he agreed with our phones and changed his computer time to say 5:00.  Good, so we were right and everything else was wrong. Wrong!  As we were waiting for our ride to show up, another hotel employee explained the situation, in Turkish, to the first guy and he switched the time back and explained what had happened.  It was indeed 4:00 am, and we had another hour before the driver would pick us up to take us to the airport.  A confusing start to a great, but confusing day as we wondered what time it was throughout the day.  There were 5 other people joining us for our tour of Cappadocia and they had the same problems that we had.  At least we weren't the only ones who were terribly confused!

Our flight to Cappadocia lasted an hour and we were given emergency exit seats so at least it was comfortable.  We were greeted in Cappadocia by the driver who would take us on our tour.  We quickly boarded the bus, as we didn't want to stand around outside while it was freezing (-4 C/24 F) and flurrying. It was neat to witness Vanny's first experience with snow, even though it was only flurries.  Even with our newly bought gloves we were definitely not prepared for these freezing temperatures.  At least the bus had heat!

Our tour that day consisted of the fairy chimneys, an open air museum where we saw monasteries built into mountains, an underground city, a quick stop at a pottery making shop, and the Dervant Valley.

The fairy chimneys are made from erosion of rock and volcanic ash and lava.  The rock erodes at a slower rate than the ash and lava so you are left with a column like rock (volcanic lava and ash) with a darker mushroom like top (rock).  They are absolutely beautiful, and there are so many of them.  The sun was shining making the day look warmer than it actually was, so we wandered around taking pictures of the fairy chimneys before getting back on the bus to get warm.

The Goreme Open Air Museum was our next stop on the tour.  It was here that we saw many houses and monasteries carved into the rock.  It was absolutely amazing to see how and where people lived and worshiped during the 4th century in Turkey.  It's difficult to imagine people living in caves carved into mountains, but that is exactly what they did.  The houses were divided into different areas, just like they are now, and there were even places for animals.  The churches and monasteries were built in the upper stories of the rock with the houses below and the barns below the houses.  Everything was easily accessible to all who lived there.  The monasteries had frescoes (natural paintings) covering the walls of the caves.  The frescoes are deteriorating, but they still are beautiful depictions of worship during that time period.  We walked through a few monasteries discussing what it would have been like to live during the 4th century, and then we made our way back to the bus to continue our tour to an underground city.

The underground city was absolutely amazing!  They were truly cities underground.  Christians had all they need to survive the persecution that they were facing from the Romans.  The cities were complex, narrow, and hidden so they could survive.  The tunnels were small and narrow with rolling stones to be used to block passages if necessary.  There were tunnels to bring food down, places for animals, and gathering places. Amazing.  Unfortunately it was necessary for these 4th century Christians to live this way.  Although it was very interesting exploring the city and imagining what it would have been like to have to live underground with no sunlight, it was quite painful touring the city.  The passages were very short and narrow and there were times when I almost had to go through on my knees.  I experienced more pain in my ribs than my back or knees, but it was definitely worth it.

Before heading to the Dervant Valley we took a quick detour to a pottery shop where we saw master craftsmen making and painting pottery.  This is where I got my vase to add to my collection.



Our last stop of the day was the Dervant Valley where we saw various rock formations, including one that looked like a camel.  This was just a quick stop for a few photos before heading to our hotel.

Although we were a bit disappointed because we did not get to stay in a cave hotel like we had wanted to, that quickly passed once we saw our hotel, the Lykia Lodge.  It was beautiful!  Definitely a huge step from the one that we were staying at in Istanbul.  The room was nicely decorated and big enough for the both of us, with a good view of the mountains in the distance and TV channels in English.  Dinner was included in our tour price so after briefly warming up and freshening up in our room, we headed downstairs to the buffet. What an assortment of food!  There was soup, salad, pasta, vegetables, chicken, lamb, and the required dish of rice.  Everything was exquisitely prepared and arranged on the buffet line and it all looked delicious.  I settled for soup, vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots) with chicken and rice.  After our late dinner we returned to our room to get some sleep before our 4am wake up call (we decided to get a wake up call after what happened that morning) for our sunrise balloon tour.

Words simply cannot describe the balloon ride.  Stunning.  Spectacular.  Amazing.  It was not nearly as cold as I had been expecting because it was -6 C (21 F) on the ground.  It felt much warmer in the air, not sure why exactly, but we weren't freezing cold like we had been.  There are over 100 balloon companies in Cappadocia and each balloon holds 16 people, so there were a lot of people taking the morning sunrise tour of the Rose Valley.  To get into the basket you have to climb up using foot holds on the basket.  It was a bit challenging, but they help you and once you're in, you're in.  There really is nowhere you can go as they cram 4 people in each section of a basket.  There was only a little bit of room to maneuver around and take pictures.  We were shown how to brace ourselves during the landing, but other than that we just stood there watching the scenery.  The takeoff was smooth, and before we knew it we were airborne.  We witnessed the sun rise in the Rose Valley turning the rock formations a flaming orange, the fairy chimneys, and the open air museum from above.  I took way too many pictures, but it was absolutely beautiful.  The landing was a bump, and then we were down.  Before we could get out of the basket, they hauled us up onto a truck bed. I carefully climbed out, but they lifted Vanny out!  She is super tiny, so they were able to do that.  We had a nice chuckle over that.  On our way back to the hotel for breakfast I got to talking to an older lady who is from DC; I was talking to her husband while we were waiting for the balloon to take off.  She gave me her contact information and agreed to show me around DC if I end up there.  Pretty neat to already have a contact, if necessary.  We got back to the hotel just in time for a quick breakfast before the next part of our tour.

Pigeon homes

Greek city

We began our tours for the day with a 5 K hike through the Rose Valley where we saw ancient pigeon homes carved into the mountains.  The people of Turkey used to use pigeon droppings as fertilizer so there were many homes for these special birds.  After hiking through the mud and puddles of the Rose Valley, we hiked uphill to see an ancient Greek civilization where we met a woman who used to live in one of the caves that are now being sold and turned into cave hotels.  She showed us her cave, which was very modest; just one room, but you could tell that she loved living there.  There were places in the wall for placing belongings and nails in the wall for pictures or other wall hangings.  It was simple, but it was her home.  All of the hiking had made us hungry so we ended our tour and drove to lunch.

After lunch we went to another underground city, but after the pain and difficulties of the first underground city that I toured, I opted out.  I walked around the souq and just sat in the sun chatting with another couple that chose not to go on the tour either.

When the rest of the group got back, Vanny and I had some traditional Turkish ice-cream before boarding the bus to go to the carpet factory.  At the carpet factory we saw master carpet makers at work.  It was so impressive watching them weave the carpet just by looking at a simple design attached to the loom.  They rarely looked up and didn't even count the strands before threading the silk, cotton, or wool through the loom.  Amazing patience and skill.  One carpet may take over a year to finish, depending on the material used and how big the carpet is.  Watching them work definitely made me appreciate the cost of these carpets.  They really are worth every penny paid.

With our tours finished for the day, we headed back to the hotel to pack up so we could meet our driver to take us to the airport for our 9:45pm flight back to Istanbul.  We arrived at the airport around 7 and had to wait to check-in and then go through security.  In addition to waiting for the essentials, we discovered that our flight was delayed until 10:50.  That meant we spent nearly 4 hours waiting in a small local airport with nothing to do; no wifi, no cafes, no TV, nothing.  We did a lot of reading.

Upon our arrival in Istanbul, we met our driver to take us back to our hotel, turned the heat on and went to bed.  We had an exhausting, but exhilarating 2 days in Cappadocia and I highly recommend visiting that city.