Sheker Byram
(Sugar Holiday)

Cappadocia

"The name “Cappadocia” dates back to Persian times, when the region was called as “katpatukya” meaning “Land of beautiful horses”. Since that time Cappadocia has seen the rise and fall of many different civilizations. It is a land of vast plains, rolling hills, rugged mountains and extinct volcanoes. It is a veritable treasury of historical relics from the Chalcolithic era to the Seljuk Turks period.

In recent times, Cappadocia is best known for its unique landscape of valleys and rock formations, known as fairy chimneys. The formation of the this strange landscape began during the third geological period, when three volcanoes on the edges of this region began erupting frequently. The deposits of volcanoes ash, lava and basalt laid the foundations for today's landscape. Earthquakes and ongoing effects of erosion formed the valleys and fairy chimneys that can be seen today.

As the rock below the top layer of basalt is extremely soft, it can be easily carved. Communities took advantage of this to make their home in the rock pillars and under the ground. Today, examples of homes, churches and whole cities abound in Cappadocia. "

Adapted from: http://www.ezairballoons.com/cappadocia.html

On Wednesday evening we edged back into the massive metropolis along with the rest of the holiday traffic.

As we pushed toward the centre, the intensity increased - the people, the noise, the music, the sirens; until we were in the heart of the vortex.

The closer we got, the more I felt the relaxation slipping away and the tension return. Its claws creeping up my spine like some dark yet invisible beast.
We were home.

It all began on Saturday morning. We rose before the sun and met the rest of our party - Claire and Seb. We piled ourselves and bags into the 1991 Rover Montago station wagon (a British right hand drive) and got a jump start on the rest of the city for the mass exsodus.

We did pretty well. Istanbul petered out into suburbs, then industrial estates and eventually gave way to grass, cows and trees. There was one hold up at Bolu due to an accident but the journey was made all the swifter by all the toll booths (of which there are many) being closed. This made it considerabley cheaper and quicker.

I wonder where else in the world you would get the road tolls closed down for a public holiday?

By lunch we had passed the massive round about that is Ankara - Turkey's capital for those who don't know. We had not desire to stop there.

I took up the wheel, my first time driving on the wrong side, the right side, of the road. I think I did pretty well, it's like driving in the fast lane all the time. It gets a bit confusing when you have to turn however. The less said about Turkish driving the better.

By nightfall we were almost there. A short cut between highways was meant to save time but instead gave us a veiw into the country's rural life - geese, donkeys and mud brick houses.

It was good to arrive in Goreme in darkness. The tall narrow rocks, lit from the inside gave the place a surreal quality that was carried through to the daylight and the rest of our trip.

We checked into a cave room, had dinner on the strip and crashed.

Sunday

The alarm was set for the latest oppertunity for us to get the breakfast included in the price of the room / cave. I peeked out the window. Wow!

There is no point me describing it, that is why I have a camera. Just check out the photos page.

In the morning we wandered out to the Open Air Museum. This area has been sealed off as it has the most amazing caves and dug out churches in the area with some well preserved frescos on the insides.

After lunch we decided to head off the track and go overland to Goreme via Love Valley. This area gets its name from the phallic rock formations.

We made it down the hill and back up the other side with a lot of clambering up ridges. There were a couple of time we almost lost grip and slide down, but eventually we made it to the top.

The top turned out to be right above our cave room and gave a spectacular view of the valley. It also turned out to be right next to a terrace bar where we could enjoy a cold beer and watch the sunset after the afternoons exertions.

That night we ate at Goreme Restaurant. Although unimaginitively named, it was great. Ottoman style cushions on the floor around low tables facing an elderly musican who played all evening on different instruments. The food, wine and ambiance were all superlative.

Monday

First stop Uchisar, the highest point in the region and thus a castle. We wandered up and got a spectacular view of the whole area. Very impressive.

From there we headed down the motorway to Derinkuyu and the largest of the many underground cities in the area. These were built as refuge from barbarian hordes who would come to rape and pilliage.

My knees took a battering as I crouch walked down the low-ceilinged passages. Vast chambers, whole churches and cripts are burried deep within the ground. Who knows how many months the whole city waited for the peril to pass. Better than being slaughtered I suppose, but not much.

From there it was cross country to Urgup and the wineries. We took the back roads and got a taste of contempory rural life. Mud brick houses with satellite dishes, donkey carts and mopeds, boys in tired looking suits; men in even more tired looking suits.

We finally made it to Urgup to find a modern tourist metropolis. Turasan, the winery, was notable for the great line of tour buses parked out the front. The place was a mad house, we did not stay long.

Instead we headed back to Uchisar and enjoyed the peace, quiet and hospitality of Kocabaa winery - we bought a lot more wine from them.

That night we signed up for the "Turkish Nights Show". This peice of touristy kitch is something that I would scoff at back home in Istanbul, but seens as we were on holiday and no one I knew would be there, Why not?

Meal, drink and entertainment included. The meal was hideous, the drink was bearable and the entertainment was... interesting.

It started badly with an interpretation of the Whirling Dervishes. Agreed there were men in dresses spinning around but that was the only apprent similarity to the Mevlevi Order.

From there it improved sightly. There were folk singers and folk dancers with a small band and they manage to pump out three hours of entertainment for the whole family.

The whole family was there too, enjoying the end of Ramazan and getting on the booze. The Turkish girls got up and gave the professionals a run for there money.

Eventually there was the belly dancer. I never really think of belly dancers as being blonde, this one was the exception.

You would never guess who was called up to make a fool of himself...
(video available on request)

It was an entertaining evening none the less.

Tuesday

A late start. Too much cheap wine.
We wondered into town and did some shopping.
In the afternoon we thought it might be nice to take the bus out to Uchisar and walk back to Goreme.

We thought we might start at Pidgeon Valley. Here they put in dovecotes and decorated them. They used the dung for building.

It was great weather and we had found a track along the valley floor than was lush and green with a river running though, autumnal leaves and bursting with life.

For a good 45 minutes we enjoyed the sedate path through the trees until all of a sudden the land dropped about 100 metres. An old, hermit man sat and smoked in his camp on the other side.

We smiled, said hello and walked around to the other side and continued down the path. Within 50 metres the path seemed impassable, clinging to the side of the hill with a steep drop on one side. Bugger that.

Another hiker came along and joined the end of our party - Ruben from Mexico.

We went back to ask the old man if he knew a safer route. He did and the five of us followed, up the track and along until we came to a steep section of white crumbley rock. Luckily there were footholds, although they were barely noticeable.

The old man went first, managing the path he knew well with ease. Claire and Seb followed. From Claire's expression when she got to the top, I realised that this was not going to be easy.
"What the hell are we going here?" I think were the words used.
The old man guided her across the top of the ridge.

A couple of times on the way up I thought I was going to slip back down the slope. When I reached the top, I realised what all the fuss was about. The path was about ten metres long but only about six inches wide with what seemed like a couple of hundred metres drop on either side.

This is not my element. I belly crawled across and we all made it to the other side. Shaken not stired. We slipped the old man a few Lyra and he bargained for more, this was obviously his living.

Soon we were walking through farm land, the track broadened and we were back among the pansiyons and cafes of Goreme. We went and had a beer and relived our adventures across the abyss with the new addition to our party.

The next day we piled into the station wagon and headed back to the Big Smoke.