18 September - Cappadocia

We left a rainy Sabina Gochen Airport on the east of the city before sun rise, our destination Kayseri, Cappadocia. As we are quickly learning there are more than one way to spell street names, towns, cities and even provinces. Cappadocia is no exception, its spelt Kapodokya in Turkish. This makes navigating rather difficult, especially as our GPS is Turkish and our Lonely Planet guidebook is not. All part of the fun I suppose.

Cappadocia is more or less in the centre of Turkey approximately 1300m above sea level. The area surrounding Goreme, Urgup and Uchisar lie on volcanic ash that has been eroded over time into amazing shapes, best described as a ‘Flintstones village’.

The Byzantines excavated and sculpted the rock into an underground world. The Unesco World Heritage site just outside Goreme consists of a number of 11th and early 12^th century underground churches cut into the rock. These have been decorated with richly colored 

frescoes.

 

Richly colored frescoes decorate the church interiors.

Ornately carved exteriors of the churches

Uchisar castle is a tall volcanic rock outcrop that has been hollowed out like a Swiss cheese and can be seen for miles around.

We hiked the Rose and Red valley trails which meander through the strange landscape. As usual we managed to end up on the more strenuous and a lot longer path than planned. The path meanders through the valley with some unbelievable long and steep section.

Until relatively recently the area was a community of farmers scratching out a living in the dry, dusty earth.

Pigeons were kept in, you guessed it, rock carved caves. Their droppings being harvested for fertiliser.

Un-trellised vines and apricots are still grown today and the area is known for a variety of pumpkin seeds, which are harvested at the end of summer. These round mottled yellow squash look like a large variety of Tsama melon and are grown only for their seeds. The seeds are roasted over a wood fire that gives them a smoky flavor. I am typing this while munching on a kg of them:)

Hot air ballooning is big in Cappadocia and we had a reason to celebrate, as it was our 31^st wedding anniversary. What an amazing experience it is to float gently in silence, admiring the gnarled landscape as the morning sun paints in shades of pink.












 

We got upgraded to the deluxe trip, which was nearly 2 hours long and ended with us sipping champagne while the crew folded the massive balloon. What a way to start the day, never mind the 32^nd year…………

Note the carved pigeon lofts