Linds and I spent four days in beautiful Cappadocia, in central Turkey. I’d heard from many people how unique and naturally beautiful it was, but like many of the experiences on our trip, I didn’t truly appreciate it until we arrived. Cappadocia was formed many millions of years ago (the range we were given was 4-10MM .. semantics at a certain point) by volcanic deposits that created astounding shapes out of the soft rock. The inhabitants of Goreme (where we were staying) once inhabited carved houses, monasteries and churches made out of the rock – the landscape was an integral part of their daily lives. We only saw a few remaining cave dwellings, and a few caves that were used as farm buildings.

Cave Dwelling

Panorama of the Surrounding Area

More Cave Dwellings – you could actually hike up to these and walk around inside. Sadly Cappadocia, contrary to popular belief, was not the filming location for the original Star Wars. It was actually shot in Tunisia.

One of the highlights of our time in Cappadocia was a balloon ride. You rise before the sun, have breakfast with a bunch of strangers – then they take you to the launching place, where you actually watch the myriad balloons being inflated:

Then taking off:

The baskets are actually quite full (I had illusions of a romantic sunrise ride with just the two of us .. not so much); there are about 20 people per small basket – we were sharing our cozy compartment with a Japanese man and a Brazilian couple. The ride itself was about an hour long, and was navigated by an exceptionally skilled operator. More than once, I was convinced that we were going to slam into rock faces, or get tangled in the trees, but he handily navigated us out of harm’s way each time. The views were augmented, not impeded, by the many other balloons taking their daily sunrise voyage (you are lucky to spot one balloon in the sky for the remainder of the day – it appears to be a one shot deal). We have hundreds of photos of the ride, here is a sampling:

At the end, after deftly dodging power lines and skillfully landing on a truck bed, we were given glasses of Turkish sparkling wine, and certificates of accomplishment – I’m really not sure what it is that we accomplished, other than shelling out some cash, getting up at 5:30 a.m. on vacation and not vomiting on the innocent citizens of Goreme below, nonetheless it was certainly a proud day for Wendy Fravis and Lindsat Wat.

We had a number of other memorable excursions in Cappadocia. One was a trip to Derinkuyu underground city, about 40km from Goreme. There are actually hundreds of underground cities in the area, likely created during Hittite times, but used until approximately the 14th century by various groups escaping various other groups plundering Central Anatolia at any given time (the Christians hid from the Romans, the Phrygians from the Assyrians, etc.). This particular city was complete with eight levels, a church, a stable (on the 1st floor), very steep vertical staircases, and temporary burying places. It is unlikely that people lived in these cities permanently, but it is thought that hundreds of people would live there for months at a time.

Another interesting trip was to Uchisar Castle, the highest point in Cappadocia. You can hike to the top for amazing views of Fairy Chimneys and the Pigeon Valley.

The castle itself, carved from rock, with the town below (it’s really pretty incredible)

View from the top of the castle

The Pigeon Valley, where we spent an afternoon hiking

Fairy Chimneys

The Pigeon Valley is so-named for the hundreds of dovecotes (like these ones, the tiny holes in the rock), where pigeons (not doves) would nest, and villagers would go in once or twice a year to collect eggs and dung. Progress is good.

Trails aren’t marked in Cappadoccia, so we spent a long time wandering around the valley, confronted with a number of very steep cliff faces from time to time. It was a fine example of international competition, as together with an Australian women, a French family and an American couple, we managed to find the trail.

Finally, we spent some time in the Ihlara Valley – where we went on a beautiful walk by the stream, enjoying the autumn colours (which we particularly appreciated after being in places where autumn doesn’t really exist), and to Selime, which contained one of the most impressive rock churches that we’d seen thus far.

The Selime Cathedral from the outside

The Selime Cathedral from the inside

We’ve been in Turkey for about ten days, but I feel like we’ve just scratched the surface. We’ll need to return one day. Now we’re off to Berlin, where we’re going to spend a month before heading home to Canada via London for the holidays. The frenetically paced portion of our journey is drawing to a close, but I look forward to sharing some stories and pictures from Europe, as well as some over-arching thoughts about our trip.