En Route to Cappadocia
I felt like this cat!
Of course, I met another aussie on our flight, (aussies are everywhere we’ve found!) Kelly, who works 6 months of the year in Croatia as a tour guide for crazy drunk UK tourists. Apparently drinking is part of the job, sounds appealing but its a Full time job that starts at 8am…..eek.Despite my reverting to grunge style and feeling horrid, it was so wonderful to see Greggy waiting at the baggage carousel! (Sounds like the beginning of a song….I met you at the baggage carousel, my hair was wild – yours as well…) If you remember he went to London for a job interview with the NHS whilst I partied in Tokyo for a week. Rainy Istanbul greeted us, the huge ancient church silhouettes like ghosts in the misty sky. A good sleep and then we travelled onwards to Cappadocia. Now if like me, you have no idea what or where it is – read on!
History Lesson by Jade
*In case you’re wondering I use Before Common Era rather than Before Christ dating system as I dont believe in dating our whole civilisation by a single religion. It is, however the same timeline, just a bit more politically correct.
Goreme Open Air Museum
Turk Khavesi!
A Walk through Pigeon Valley to meet the locals
Halfway through the valley there was what looked like an open air cafe / home! We ventured in and were greeted by a farmer and his family. Over drinks of cay (turkish tea), and freshly squeezed orange & pomegranate juice they tell us their story. During Spring and Summer when crops are growing, they come out and live in the cave home, planting crops in the rich volcanic soil. When winter hits, it gets too cold so they pack up (except the stubborn Grandfather) and go to their ‘normal house’ in the next village. Peeking inside their ‘house’ we saw a large cosy cave with decorative turkish carpets over the floor, walls and roof. Tiny windows let in light, while power cords and sockets seemed to come from no where. Laptops and a tv sat in the corner while the youngest boy did his school homework on the floor. They showed us the sleeping mattresses, folded up in a small side hollow during the day, and put out on the large floor at night, and their cats who found a cave room above the family’s and sleep there. It looked very comfortable and I was tempted to stay – but onwards toward the castle!
Ballooning over Cappadocia!
Once we all settled into a basket (about 20 of us crammed in) we slowly took the sky, girls near me precariously hanging their iPhones over the edge to get photos.We floated so high it stole my breath! Then gently came down to brush the fields and fairy chimneys….and as all the balloons around us flared up we saw the rising sun spreading her pink rays over Cappadocia and it was just other worldly!
The underground City of Derinkuyu
In the spirit of DIY we managed to solicit an old turkish guy hanging around outside, who spoke a bit of english, to give us a tour. (Why not!? There are many fake tour guides in Turkey, so at least I knew he wasn’t legitimate!). He was very enthusiastic (I’m guessing hanging outside the gates, chatting to other tour guides over turkish cay must’ve given him some info on the city!) and quite funny. He led us through the caves for free showing us the highlights and proudly chatting to the other turkish guides.What an amazing settlement, we ventured 75m underground (beware claustrophobes) and goes for over 50km, joining another underground city, Kaymakli, via an 8km tunnel. However, only part of this is open to tourists because of the risk of getting lost!
You descend via a tunnel that slowly shrinks until one person has to double over to walk through. Then it has cleverly designed large round rock disc doors that roll shut in case of invasion, there are around 3 as you descend before getting to the city. As you venture down, you see rooms for livestock first, school rooms, winemaking areas, sleeping quarters and more. A fantastic design, they disguised the air vents as deep water wells so any invading force would not realise and come looking for them.
*Amazingly whilst we were here National Geographic ran a story of a newly discovered underground city at Nevsehir, which is larger and holds even more secrets!
Jade & Greg x
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