The Cappadocian Moonscape

No - we didn't actually go to the moon, but if somehow we had been whisked to the moon in our sleep, we would hardly be able to tell the difference between the lunar surface and the funky rock formations of Cappadocia (Persian for "land of beautiful horses" since people used to raise horses there) in southern-central Turkey. Cappadocia was once an active volcanic region, with massive eruptions that left lava up to 100m thick. Erosion over thousands and thousands of years eroded the "tufa," resulting in cone-shaped rock formations (often called "fairy chimneys"). People lived in caves (some still do!) and even entire underground cities. Canyons reveal ribbons of color that are like pale rainbows (see photo!), and the sculpted cones appear soft due to their consistent light color and smoothly eroded contours.

We took the night bus to the town Goreme in Cappadocia from Bodrum, which wasn't too bad--there were regular stops during the night to accommodate those who were fasting during the daytime for Ramadan ("Ramazan" they say here). We arrived in Goreme around 7:00 a.m. The sky was brightening and it was filled with hot air balloons. Ballooning is a popular attraction in this part of Turkey--it's a great way to take in the scenery. We had a balloon ride scheduled for the next morning, so it was pleasantly teasing to see the balloons in the air that morning. We arrived at our hotel one hour before the reception desk opened. They must be accustomed to dealing with visitors arriving on the various night buses from all sides of Turkey because they had a special "luggage" room open for use by people just like us. The room was a cave carved into the rock, fully decked out with kilims, carpets and pillows, and even a big bed. We crawled in and slept for about four hours! During that time, Lesley enjoyed a long, detailed, colorful and happy dream about making friends and living in the magical terrain of Cappadocia--an auspicious beginning to our time there.

We checked in and were disappointed that we didn't get an actual cave room. The power was off when we arrived as well. We learned that the original power grid to Goreme is no longer sufficient to meet the power demands created by tourism to the area. The power often goes off for a few hours a day (whether planned or unplanned, we don't know--we got contradicting answers to that question from different sources!). Later on, our shower flooded and took over an hour to drain, so we ended up checking out of Hotel Kelebek and moved to Canyon View, an absolutely marvelous place with a friendly, very hospitable proprietor (but more on that later). Lonely Planet gushed about Kelebek, which left us sort of nonplussed. We've dropped a line to Lonely Planet to let them know about Canyon View, which is a newer establishment (just opened in 2003) and therefore less well known.

It was as much of a calm pleasure to explore the town of Goreme as it was to explore the quiet, eccentric natural surroundings. It was so quiet. We could hear the clucking of chickens and the swish-swish of a broom down the street with intense clarity. To be removed from the all-too-familiar sounds of life in the urban center was joyful. While exploring the town we found Sultan Carpet, a shop recommended to us by two New Zealanders on a night train from Prague to Vienna. We walked right into the dragon's lair--Salih, our salesperson, didn't even have to lure us in. We were quick to tell him that they came highly recommended specifically for having very fair prices. We spent hours there with Salih and Mehmet, the owner of the shop, as they rolled out kilim after kilim and carpet after carpet (and gave us some tea). Being travelers on a budget when surrounded by an almost endless variety of beautiful Turkish rugs was tricky indeed. It took a while to make selections that suited our tastes and our budgets. You never really know whether you've paid an objectively fair price in Turkey. In this land, it's all about perceived value... In the end, we feel we paid a fair price, and we appreciated having our purchases shipped back to the U.S. for free (because we purchased enough...) We enjoyed the time we spent with Salih and Mehmet, too. They will be in the U.S. over the winter months to sell carpets. They do "house parties:" first, they display their offerings at a gathering and then they bring selected carpets to the homes of the prospective buyers so they can see them in their own homes before making a purchase decision. They'll be in Seattle and San Francisco, so we might try to organize one of these gatherings for them. (If any of you think you might be interested in hosting, or attending, please post a comment to this blog!)

Goreme also offered up delicious, inexpensive Turkish food. We were able to have a decent dinner and a beer for under ten US dollars. Both of us loved the lentil soup (a local specialty) which we ordered with almost every meal. We avoided chicken due to the bird flu virus concerns here. At one adventurous meal, Russ ordered a meat stew that was cooked inside a clay plot. The lid on the clay pot sticks to the base of the pot while it cooks, and a small hammer is used to tap around the seal of the lid. After much difficulty breaking the seal, the pottery started to crack and then crumbled open, which resulted in special crunchy treats in the stew... Needless to say he never tried that again. Many restaurants and nargile (water pipe) establishments would leave a backgammon board laying around so we practiced backgammon and think we might even be ready to challenge the Turks ;)

Hot Air Ballooning in Goreme

Taking a hot air balloon ride at sunrise was definitely one of the highlights of our stay in Cappadocia. The one downside with a sunrise balloon ride is getting up BEFORE the sun rises. It was especially difficult because it gets COLD at night here in the middle of the country, and there was no heat in our accommodation... not even the beautiful embroidered kilim on the floor could keep our toes warm. We were picked up in front of our hotel and taken to the launch site. We enjoyed tea and nibbles with about 20 or 30 other people who were also waiting for balloon rides, most of whom were Japanese or Korean. We listened to the fiery hiss-hiss of several massive balloons being raised from their sides to stand at attention above the baskets. A friendly guy named Suwat offered Lesley a 'shake up wake up.' She said "ok!" and he didn't quite know what to do because he said she was the first person to ever take him up on it. He put his hands on her shoulders and rattled her around while shouting "wake up! wake up!" in her face--much to the amusement of the other ballooners. It wasn't long before we were in the balloon and floating upward, viewing the incredible Cappadocian landscape. Our ballon floated up, down, to the left, and to the right as our seasoned pilot (with ghastly scars on his hands to prove his many years of pushing propane) took us through and over some of the unique valleys and rock formations around Goreme. The sky was filled with around ten balloons at the same time. Since the balloons are at the mercy of the wind they can actually bump into other balloons--like ours did. After our successful landing an employee of the balloon company opened a bottle of champagne and poured a glass for everyone. What a great way to start the day!

Seyit, the owner and manager of our hotel (Canyon View) was incredibly hospitable and generous. His name means "leader" and he was a wonderful guide for us as we discovered the history and beauty Goreme and its residents. He took us on a small private tour to see the famous fairy chimney rock formations and old cave churches with frescoes painted in them from around the 9-11th centuries. We also toured a fine ceramics manufacturer in nearby Avanos, where we saw the clay being thrown and very detailed Hittite and other styles of pottery painting being done by artists. His friend Mustafa at the potter offered us a very nice deal on pottery since we came with Seyit (we found out later just how sweet the deal was when we discovered what the participants of package tours are offered as a discount). We learned a lot from Seyit and feel we have a friend in Goreme!

There is so much more to say but alas we're already in Thailand and want to catch you up to where we are. To wrap it up quickly (can you believe it? Didn't think so ;) We oohed and aahed over frescoes of both Christian figures and Byzantine geometrical art from around the 10th century, and learned that red ochre, indigo and walnuts used for color, while pigeon eggs were used to create white layer for frescoes when they weren't painted straight on the rock. We saw a sema by whirling dervishes. On tour, saw underground cities. Used in war times when Christians were being persecuted. 5,000 people lived underground, had 8 levels or more down. We went on a great tour for just 40 lira each that provided a grand tour of the area and its history, including a hike in a massive canyon (where we ate fresh pistachios off the tree--peeling off the outer layer smells like sweet lemonade!), explored the Derinkuyu underground city (used by Christians in times of war and persecution), stopped at the Agzikarahan Caravanserai (a caravan stop along the Silk Road--there was one every 50km from China to Rome), among other things. In a nutshell (preferably one of those yummy lemony pistachio ones), we absolutely loved Goreme and the Cappadocia region. Go there!!