Cappadocia (pronounced wıth hard Cs) is a beautifully interesting place. Due to ancient volcanic erruptions, the rock is very soft, and erosions have created stunning valleys and plateaus and the famous, Dr. Suess-esque Fairy chimneys. Starting with the Hitties (read, a really long time ago), people began carving out the soft rock to make homes, hollowing chimneys into multi story houses and carving entire villages into cliff faces. Eventually, because the land sits on the natural border of Roman, Persian, Byzantine, Arab, and Turk empires, the local people carved entire cities underground, designed to hide ten of tousands of people for months at a time. The engineering knowhow to pull of a fifteen level city 50 meters below ground must have been incredible, and they clearly worked because the cities were forgotten by history and were rediscovered by farmers in the '60s, and I was able to walk around a city down eight levels. While none of the individual caverns were that large, the overall scale reminded me of walking through a large cave system that was perfectly adapted for humans and things like holding livestock and making wine.
We arrived in Göreme at a reasonable hour and checked into our hostel. We had been told that the Göreme tourist office as actually helpful so we used it to call a hostel. They came to pick us up, which was really cool until we figured out that the hostel was like 3 minutes away. Our owner gave us the standard two day itenerary, reccomending that we do the 'red' tour on foot without a guide, and then joining a tour group for the farther ranging 'green' tour.
Day 1
The was spent on a wandering hike through the valleys northwest of Göreme. The hike was a long one, 10am to 7pm, though we did spend nearly three hours in the Göreme Open Air museum, a collection of churches in a small valley with well preserved frescos and a good audio guide. Listening to the audio guide was interesting because it would walk you through all the Bible scenes on the walls assuming you had no prior knowledge of the Christian stories. The churches (really chapels) were impressive, with barrel vaulted ceillings and side altars and all sorts of chapel-y thıngs carved from solıd rock. Often the frescos were flaking away revealing the artwork of the earliest Christians, which was circa fourth century and was mostly geometric figures painted directly on the rock in a pigeon-shit based (yep) red paints. As for the pigeons, rock carved pigeon houses are everywhere, as are the pigeons, which were kept by the locals as 2-way messengers and their poop as fertilizer (and paint). Our guide the next day looked at me like I was a weirdo* when I asked if the ever ate the birds for meat. Apparently you don't eat your fertilizer.
*Defensible, I know.
Our walk continued along the road and then into a long, narrow, and thankfully shaded valley. There we met some lost French guys and explored some small caves. At the last junction, exiting the valley onto a ridge, we talked to the guy selling fruit*, but he was very unhelpful. I was going to go one way, but Gina was convinced we needed to backtrack ~50m before turning, and it ended up she was right. We were pretty tired at that point but the last leg was the best as it ran along a ridge and had great views as the sun went down. The road ended at a village, Çavuşın, and we had to come off the path through someone's backyard. We took a dirt road back from Çavuşın to Göreme and when it hit the main road we stuck out our thumbs and hitchhiked for the first time in our lives. The first car (after the delıvery truck) stopped, but the the two guys were mighty confused at first and didn't seem to know were Göreme was, which was odd because it ended up being like 3km away and they seemed like they were going there also. Further dıscussıon took place at the Otogar, and we fınally got out, but not wıthout me accıdentally stealıng one of theır water bottles.
*This was actually how this turn was hand-labled on our map by our ownern, 'fruit vendors.'
That evening we met up for dinner with Joe and Eli, two Canadians we had met back at Selçuk. While chatting with Eli and Joe I realized that Gina and I had utterly failed to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Joe So how did you celebrate America day?
AJ What?
Joe America day!
AJ Oh. Didn't do much.
Joe You didn't shoot your guns in the air?
AJ No, we left those at home.
Day 2
We took a guided tour. Astonishingly,it was Gina and I, our adorable* Turkish tour guide, and two minibuses full of Asians. They were a mix of Koreans and Chines and were apparently an uncorrodinated almagation of small groups. The highlight of the trip was then when we were underground and the guided said that the large room we had just stepped into was a kitchen, and the Asıans all together went, 'aaaaah!' I don't think I'd seen that stereotypically Asian behavior since, well, the last large group of asian tourısts I saw...
*why when Turkish ladies speak broken English it's cute, and when large Turkish men do it is sketchy?
The tour started in Ihlara Valley, which was a pleasant walk that reminded me of Indiana forest and made me slightly homesick. We then had lunch and I had fresh fish, scales and all (No as good as Perry's at the Lake). Next was Derinkuyu, the most famous of the underground cities. As I said above, it was very impressive, and I'm glad we had a guide or otherwise I would have gotten lost (Gina insists she wouldn't have, so if you ever fınd yourself there wıth her, make sure she gets lost). The trip also included a few stops at panoramas and a final stop at a jewlery store.
That night was had dinner at a cafe our owner recommended. I had the special, a ravioli that was just OK, sauce wasnt any good but the cheese, as always, was excellent*. Gina had gozleme, a stuffed pancake thingy that I enjoyed more than she did. I had a glass of local white wine, which was quite good and went well with my pasta.
*Good cheese, the lone constant of this trip.
Day 3.
This day began with a trip to the barber. As I am wont to do, I had not shaved for a week and without my clippers my razor would have been inadequate. I was told to expect around 6 lıra for a shave, but the only place I could fınd that was open charged 10 YTL, so after I failed attempt to baraıgn I left, and then bashfully returned 45 seconds later as I had no other optıons.
The process starts with the applıcatıon of shavıng cream. Lather lather, lather, lather. Thıs took a rather long tıme as he scrubbed my chın wıth a brush to generate foam, but ıt felt nıce. Then was the actual shave wıth a straıght razor*, applıcatıon of face cream, break for tea, washıng off of face cream, touchıng up wıth eletrıc razor (cheatıng!), burning off of ear haırs with a flaming cue-tip**, shaving of nose hairs wıth a specıal electrıc rasor, a massage, and done! Sadly no eyebrow work, but he dıd do a quıck touch up on my neck, whıch ıs always my favorıte part of a haırcut.
* My take-away? Shaving w/ a straıght rasor hurts more and doesn't do a better job than my Quattro.
**Having your ears lit on fire feels like, well, lighting your eyes on fire. Your ears get really hot lıke when you put your fınger too close to a candle, and then he snuffs ıt out wıth hıs free hand.
We rented a scooter (125cc) for 8 hours. In Turkey you need to have a Scooter license, so I had to lie and say that my American state drivers license was good enough and hope that we didn't run into any savvy gendarmene.
As inThailand, I absolutely loved driving around int he scooter, so I decıded that I'm buyıng a motorcycle for my fırst mıd-lıfe crısıs.
We started towards Uçhisar, and stopped to explore a still inhabitted six story fairy chimney, where we bought something nice for mom (Hi mom!). We then climbed Uçhisar castle, a hollowed out crag with stupendous* views. We then drove up to Çavuşin, where we had been before, to have lunch, and then on to Zelve open air museum. The three adjacent valleys were quite hot but we explored the former monestaries throughly, having to avail ourselves to our flashlights to navigate some of the deeper rooms and a tunnel between two of the valleys. Some of the climbing was quite difficult, occasionally going straight up vertical shafts with only ancient hand holds in the crumbling rock. Either** to or from Zelve we stopped and explored a church on the side of the road. A man was there collecting money but he didn't look official so we refused to pay. He got quiet angry and animated but let us be.
*Almost as good of a word as 'funicular.' See next post.
**Translation - I have no idea at what point ın the day thıs occured, but it happened.
The final part of the day was spent driving up to Avos to check out the Red River, and then driving down to Mustafapaşa, a small town with the redeemıng qualıty of havıng a funny name. The poınt of Mustafapaşa was that the road to pretty much nowhere south was supposed to have stunnıng vıews as ıt rıdes a rıdge above a valley, so we cruısed that for twenty mınutes, and then turned around and headıng back towards Göreme as the sun set.
For dınner that night I decided to let Gina excercise some decision makıng authorıty and pıck the restaurant, but in the time it took for her to decide I had already made up my mınd whıch restaurant I wanted to eat at, and had to grudgingly follow her lead, but the Pıde place we went to was just fine.
Day 4
Our bus heading out to Ankara was forty minutes late,but its dubbed American movies were quality, plotless movies like Transporter and Blade Trinity, where the language isn't all that important. Also the bathroom at the rest stop was free, so to celebrate th gloriousness of free bathrooms I used it three times during our stop. Win.
Day 1
The was spent on a wandering hike through the valleys northwest of Göreme. The hike was a long one, 10am to 7pm, though we did spend nearly three hours in the Göreme Open Air museum, a collection of churches in a small valley with well preserved frescos and a good audio guide. Listening to the audio guide was interesting because it would walk you through all the Bible scenes on the walls assuming you had no prior knowledge of the Christian stories. The churches (really chapels) were impressive, with barrel vaulted ceillings and side altars and all sorts of chapel-y thıngs carved from solıd rock. Often the frescos were flaking away revealing the artwork of the earliest Christians, which was circa fourth century and was mostly geometric figures painted directly on the rock in a pigeon-shit based (yep) red paints. As for the pigeons, rock carved pigeon houses are everywhere, as are the pigeons, which were kept by the locals as 2-way messengers and their poop as fertilizer (and paint). Our guide the next day looked at me like I was a weirdo* when I asked if the ever ate the birds for meat. Apparently you don't eat your fertilizer.
*Defensible, I know.
Our walk continued along the road and then into a long, narrow, and thankfully shaded valley. There we met some lost French guys and explored some small caves. At the last junction, exiting the valley onto a ridge, we talked to the guy selling fruit*, but he was very unhelpful. I was going to go one way, but Gina was convinced we needed to backtrack ~50m before turning, and it ended up she was right. We were pretty tired at that point but the last leg was the best as it ran along a ridge and had great views as the sun went down. The road ended at a village, Çavuşın, and we had to come off the path through someone's backyard. We took a dirt road back from Çavuşın to Göreme and when it hit the main road we stuck out our thumbs and hitchhiked for the first time in our lives. The first car (after the delıvery truck) stopped, but the the two guys were mighty confused at first and didn't seem to know were Göreme was, which was odd because it ended up being like 3km away and they seemed like they were going there also. Further dıscussıon took place at the Otogar, and we fınally got out, but not wıthout me accıdentally stealıng one of theır water bottles.
*This was actually how this turn was hand-labled on our map by our ownern, 'fruit vendors.'
That evening we met up for dinner with Joe and Eli, two Canadians we had met back at Selçuk. While chatting with Eli and Joe I realized that Gina and I had utterly failed to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Joe So how did you celebrate America day?
AJ What?
Joe America day!
AJ Oh. Didn't do much.
Joe You didn't shoot your guns in the air?
AJ No, we left those at home.
Day 2
We took a guided tour. Astonishingly,it was Gina and I, our adorable* Turkish tour guide, and two minibuses full of Asians. They were a mix of Koreans and Chines and were apparently an uncorrodinated almagation of small groups. The highlight of the trip was then when we were underground and the guided said that the large room we had just stepped into was a kitchen, and the Asıans all together went, 'aaaaah!' I don't think I'd seen that stereotypically Asian behavior since, well, the last large group of asian tourısts I saw...
*why when Turkish ladies speak broken English it's cute, and when large Turkish men do it is sketchy?
The tour started in Ihlara Valley, which was a pleasant walk that reminded me of Indiana forest and made me slightly homesick. We then had lunch and I had fresh fish, scales and all (No as good as Perry's at the Lake). Next was Derinkuyu, the most famous of the underground cities. As I said above, it was very impressive, and I'm glad we had a guide or otherwise I would have gotten lost (Gina insists she wouldn't have, so if you ever fınd yourself there wıth her, make sure she gets lost). The trip also included a few stops at panoramas and a final stop at a jewlery store.
That night was had dinner at a cafe our owner recommended. I had the special, a ravioli that was just OK, sauce wasnt any good but the cheese, as always, was excellent*. Gina had gozleme, a stuffed pancake thingy that I enjoyed more than she did. I had a glass of local white wine, which was quite good and went well with my pasta.
*Good cheese, the lone constant of this trip.
Day 3.
This day began with a trip to the barber. As I am wont to do, I had not shaved for a week and without my clippers my razor would have been inadequate. I was told to expect around 6 lıra for a shave, but the only place I could fınd that was open charged 10 YTL, so after I failed attempt to baraıgn I left, and then bashfully returned 45 seconds later as I had no other optıons.
The process starts with the applıcatıon of shavıng cream. Lather lather, lather, lather. Thıs took a rather long tıme as he scrubbed my chın wıth a brush to generate foam, but ıt felt nıce. Then was the actual shave wıth a straıght razor*, applıcatıon of face cream, break for tea, washıng off of face cream, touchıng up wıth eletrıc razor (cheatıng!), burning off of ear haırs with a flaming cue-tip**, shaving of nose hairs wıth a specıal electrıc rasor, a massage, and done! Sadly no eyebrow work, but he dıd do a quıck touch up on my neck, whıch ıs always my favorıte part of a haırcut.
* My take-away? Shaving w/ a straıght rasor hurts more and doesn't do a better job than my Quattro.
**Having your ears lit on fire feels like, well, lighting your eyes on fire. Your ears get really hot lıke when you put your fınger too close to a candle, and then he snuffs ıt out wıth hıs free hand.
We rented a scooter (125cc) for 8 hours. In Turkey you need to have a Scooter license, so I had to lie and say that my American state drivers license was good enough and hope that we didn't run into any savvy gendarmene.
As inThailand, I absolutely loved driving around int he scooter, so I decıded that I'm buyıng a motorcycle for my fırst mıd-lıfe crısıs.
We started towards Uçhisar, and stopped to explore a still inhabitted six story fairy chimney, where we bought something nice for mom (Hi mom!). We then climbed Uçhisar castle, a hollowed out crag with stupendous* views. We then drove up to Çavuşin, where we had been before, to have lunch, and then on to Zelve open air museum. The three adjacent valleys were quite hot but we explored the former monestaries throughly, having to avail ourselves to our flashlights to navigate some of the deeper rooms and a tunnel between two of the valleys. Some of the climbing was quite difficult, occasionally going straight up vertical shafts with only ancient hand holds in the crumbling rock. Either** to or from Zelve we stopped and explored a church on the side of the road. A man was there collecting money but he didn't look official so we refused to pay. He got quiet angry and animated but let us be.
*Almost as good of a word as 'funicular.' See next post.
**Translation - I have no idea at what point ın the day thıs occured, but it happened.
The final part of the day was spent driving up to Avos to check out the Red River, and then driving down to Mustafapaşa, a small town with the redeemıng qualıty of havıng a funny name. The poınt of Mustafapaşa was that the road to pretty much nowhere south was supposed to have stunnıng vıews as ıt rıdes a rıdge above a valley, so we cruısed that for twenty mınutes, and then turned around and headıng back towards Göreme as the sun set.
For dınner that night I decided to let Gina excercise some decision makıng authorıty and pıck the restaurant, but in the time it took for her to decide I had already made up my mınd whıch restaurant I wanted to eat at, and had to grudgingly follow her lead, but the Pıde place we went to was just fine.
Day 4
Our bus heading out to Ankara was forty minutes late,but its dubbed American movies were quality, plotless movies like Transporter and Blade Trinity, where the language isn't all that important. Also the bathroom at the rest stop was free, so to celebrate th gloriousness of free bathrooms I used it three times during our stop. Win.
"I was going to go one way, but Gina was convinced we needed to backtrack ~50m before turning, and it ended up she was right."
ReplyDeleteThis is becoming a running theme of your trip.
Jordan's comment was my first thought when I read that part, too:-) Also, did you not know the word funicular before? I rode one in Paris, and in Barcelona, and a few in Italy. I guess I'll find out in your next post. I sure hope you managed to put the "fun" in "funicular"!
ReplyDelete--Caroline
I remember learning what a funicular was with Julie in Slovenia, just a year and a half ago, and thinking it was a wonderfully silly word.
ReplyDeleteBetter word - Stotinki, 1/100 of a Bulgarian Lira.