Read more of our trip to Cappadocia after the break
With Katie working shift, the plus side is always that we get some long periods of time off. So, never wanting to waste a few days when they come up, we ventured to a part of Turkey we had yet to explore, Cappadocia!!!
The name "Cappadocia" is a general term for the area in Turkey known as central Anatolia. It is so special because of the unique geology and the history that goes with it. The rocks you see above are known as "fairy chimney's", a phenomena that sometimes occurs around a volcanic area.
When the volcanoes were active, they flowed over the rocks, forming the pillars of smooth rock
Settlers of the ancient world actually dug into these rock formations (where the rock was much softer on the lower part of the spires) forming homes out of caves, a practice that still takes place to this day.
Our hotel room was even in a cave
Another tidbit of history that kept being thrust upon us was that a lot of the tiny holes that were cut into the rock were for pigeons to poop in. This apparently made it easier to collect the droppings and use it as fertilizer. And now I have shared this knowledge with you (paying it forward)
A shot of these Pigeon holes
Because portions of the rock was "softer", it was actually possible to dig deep enough that you could have entire cities underground. So after getting a good look at what Cappadocia looked like top side, we got to explore an underground city.
These cities were built primarily for storage and protection. They were used a lot when crusades and wars were being fought. Depending on how many levels there were, you could fit thousands of people down there. The largest one found is said to have been able to fit twenty-thousand people. The one we went through could only hold a mere three thousand. So far more then forty of these cities have been found, and there are certainly more to be uncovered.
After exploring the underground city, we stopped briefly by a gemstone art gallery.
It was kind of cool to see how to grind down the rocks in order to make impressive display pieces.
But this of course just made us want to take a hike through the Red Rose Valley, to see the rocks in their natural habitat.
It was a glorious few kilometers hike, where you got to walk down, through, and around the rocks.
This hike reminded us of hiking through the trails at Turkey Run, just with a lot more mountains around us.
Our day wasn't finished after this, though. That night we had dinner inside of a cave and saw some traditional dancing with authentic cuisine and music.
Live music and a lot of people just looking to have a good time
Best part was after the regular show was over, and dessert was served, the light show kicked in, and a disco broke out on the dance floor. People over here love their discos.
That brought our first day to a close. But just a few hours later, around 4am actually, we had another early rise for a flight. Just this time it was for a balloon, not a plane.
The thing Cappadocia is known for more then their rock formations are their balloon rides. Being able to see the sun rise from the air on the horizon of such a beautiful country side is just simply incredible.
The ride may of only been a little over an hour, but I know that we will remember this flight for the rest of our lives. One of the greatest highlights of Turkey, and certainly of the year so far. I have a lot more pictures of this flight, but those will be for a separate post.
After some breakfast, with the balloon ride still fresh in our minds, we went to a park like area with open access to the rocks.
The unique part of this place was that you could just climb around to your heart's content.
And suddenly we were kids again, just trying to see what trouble we could get into.
This turned out to be much more fun then we could have possibly expected. If it hadn't started raining we probably would of spent a lot more time there.
After that we got to see some rock formations that with some imagination looked like fingers, ducks, and camels.
Camel
Kissing ducks
From there, we were told we were going to see some local pottery makers. Turns out this man who looks like a Turkish Einstein is a quirky genius when it comes to the old art form. The more that was explained to us about him though, the more we realized that we'd actually seen him on T.V. years ago....just for the fact he also has a human hair museum. I present to you, Galip. The TripAdvisor page
We didn't go to the actual hair museum just his pottery shop, but yeah...
The thing about people like Galip, who are eccentric beyond all measure, is that it usually comes with being kind of brilliant in a particular field. His just happens to be pottery.
For months we had been looking for a fancy set of Turkish tea cups to take home as a keepsake, but it was hard to find the right set. Here with Galip, we finally found them.
These things are soo cool!
Galip chases after us as we leave, clearly wanting some of our hair...
....actually he was very nice and it was a lot of fun meeting him
Capping off our trip in Cappadocia we checked out the Uchisar castle, the highest point in the area of Cappadocia.
That night we caught a plane back to Istanbul, thus completing our two days in Cappdocia. And it really was some of the most fun we'd had in Turkey. From going way underground to 800 meters into the sky, we made memories and stories that will last forever.
Leave a comment if you like this post, always more coming.
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