Cappadocia

17th & 18th June 2010

Today was the day none of us were really looking forward to. A 12-hour bus journey into central Turkey, the region of Cappadocia. It was another early morning and lots of movies on the bus, as well as lots of stops with lunch at a big shopping centre so we finally had a bit of choice as to what we were going to eat for lunch. Dan and I chose a yummy Turkish pizza. It was a 'point at the non English menu and hope for the best' type job. Worked out fine for us, minced meat, and fresh tomatoes.

As we started to enter the region, around 4.30pm, we stopped at a very small local village, where lots of caves had been carved into the sandy cliffs. 3 small boys met us at the bus, maybe 12 years old. Osman was the ringleader who apparently meets the groups every week, just to say hi. When we all got off the bus Kev gave the other two boys a big bag of chocolate and lollies, and Osman got nothing, he was most disappointed. After we'd all taken our photos and got back on the bus, Osman got on and into the microphone sung us a couple of Turkish songs. He knew that Kev had just been stirring him up, so after he'd finished singing he got his lollies and a brand new soccer ball which had been promised to them a few weeks ago. Kev told us that some tour groups will want to give the boys money, but in such a poor village that money is useless to them, and they joy they get from small things is much more noticeable. You should've seen their eyes light up when they each got a Mars bar; they're faces nearly exploded when Kev brought out this brand new ball. It was really sweet.

A bit further up the road we stopped in another small, poor, village. It is right at the end of a really long gorge. Up the other end of the gorge is where the pod race from Star Wars is filmed, but it was all pretty similar the whole way up (not that I'd recognise anything from Star Wars. We were met at the top of the gorge by three sisters, ranging in age from about 7 up to 15. They were each given some lollies too and were so happy. They wait for the bus to turn up each week, and always are given some little treat.

About 6pm we arrived at the Underground city. A whole network of houses, tunnels and caves located underground. They were used as hideouts during the crusades. They were complex systems down there, and they go as far as 20 stories below the ground and with tunnels connecting to other underground cities up to 10km away. We only went down as far as 8 stories, but that was far enough for me. It was pretty claustrophobic, crouching through tiny little passageways, and squeezing through small gaps in the walls.They had anything you'd ever want down there, from a church, a morgue, a winery and plenty of space for people to live. Legend has it if you entered the morgue you'd never come out. Dan and I both went in and we both came out so we I suppose you could say that we blew that legend out of the water. It was funny that the biggest room we went into was the winery. There was a pretty impressive ventilation shaft, which ran all the way up to the ground - it was only a small amount of light you could see when you were that far down below.

We arrived at our hotel in Cappadocia around 7pm, and had no problems checking in. Dan and I had been given a lovely room overlooking the pool, with a big corner spa and fancy curtains all around the bed, but we were told that we'd have to move rooms for the following night.We enjoyed another buffet dinner, it was ok, but not the best - getting sick of the sight of olives, tomatoes and cucumbers - but the dessert was pretty good. We were too tight to purchase drinks there so we all snuck glasses of orange juice out of the dispenser that was all covered up until breakfast.

Me and two other girls did a little mission down to the little village near where we were staying to see if we could find an alcohol shop (Tougher than you think in a Muslim country), but we were lucky and found a little cupboard type shop selling cheap beers. We stocked up and gad to get the boys to come out and meet us with backpacks so we could smuggle them in to the hotel.

The evening was spent sitting around the pool, drinking beers and playing Uno - which Dan won!!! We were all excited about having a little sleep in the next morning and not spending all day on the bus!!

The next day we were going to spend the whole day driving around the Cappadocia region, without a mammoth bus ride, thankfully! The first stop was looking at the family of 'fairy chimneys' (A set of three that could be interpreted as Mother, Father and Child.) The Fairy Chimneys are stone formations made over hundreds of years of erosion. They are tall standing sand rocks with appear to have sideways hats placed on them. You'll have to see the photos to understand what I'm talking about.

We drove through a place called 'Imagination Valley'. Aptly named because you could use your imagination to make out shapes of the sandstone formations. The most popular one is the one that looks like a camel.

We drove around a number of more scenic spots checking out more rock caves (Many houses and hotels are now built into them). Another stop found us at a site that Kev thinks all the Aussies love. It was a fairy chimney but the hat was remarkably similar to the shape of Australia. It was close. At that same spot we climbed up a small hill to have a nice view of the rock formations over the valley. On the walk we found some little creatures burrowing into the ground that came up to say hello. We weren't too sure of what they were, but Kev thinks they might have been miniature moles. At this same spot we climbed up a few ladders to get into the caves, one being a church. It wasn't very big, but it was nice and cool insife.

We also made a stop at the Goreme Open Air Museum. This is more rock and cave formations, but very well preserved. We were able to get into 3 or so churches there which all had their frescos well preserved and full of colour. We found homes with big kitchens, still complete with carved tables and chairs.

Later in the afternoon we stopped at Pigeon Valley and took some fantastic photos of the views over the gorge and nearby village. We also made a quick stop at the Rock Castle, a very impressive looking castle carved entirely into the sideof a big mountain.

By the afternoon we were getting a little tired of looking at all the rocks, although incredibly beautiful, so Kev took us to a proper Turkish Rug factory. We had a guide that showed us into the rooms where they're all made. There were about 6 women on little stools just knotting the fabric away. I had a go at on one of the rugs they were making. The hardest part was getting into the little seat without bringing the whole frame crashing down. We also got to see the process of getting the silk out of the cocoons and playing around with those machines. After the tour we were taken into the showroom where they gave us some beer and Turkish Pizza for lunch. Then they started the sales pitches and laying out the most beautiful rugs. They must've laid out about 100 rugs, ranging in price from the smallest one being around $A400 up to about $A15000. The boys were a little bored by the end of the presentation so they thought it would be more fun to roll each other up in the rugs. Lots of fun, but I'm not sure how impressed the sales people were that they were rolling around in rugs worth thousands of dollars. No one was tempted to purchase, although they were magnificent, they were trying to sell carpet to a bunch of Aussie/Kiwi Backpackers - not going to happen!

After lunch we were back on the bus, the final stop was going to be at a local pottery factory. Again, we walked in, shown a demonstration of making a plate and then a small pot and they called for volunteers to have a go. It seemed easy enough and everyone else looked a little scared about getting dirty, so I put my hand up. First you had to crack the wheel with your foot till it was spinning fast enough, then you had to shape the clay very gently. Gently is not in my vocabulary, so after making what looked like a penis, the guy gave me a little help, and I was able to produce a circular lump which would've struggled to pass as a pot. I cleaned myself off and then the rest of the group and I were shown into their show room. Lots of beautifully hand painted pieces, this time I was very tempted to purchase, but knowing that it would have to be carried in a backpack for 8 weeks, I put my sensible brainon and decided to walk out empty handed.

We got back to the hotel late in the afternoon and had a bit of time to chill out in the pool and have dinner before the evenings activity. We were all pushed onto the bus at 8.30 and taken to a local restaurant for a Traditional Turkish Evening. It didn't cost us that much, maybe $A30 each, and we were allowed all you can drink alcohol for 2 hours, and treated to an excellent show. It started with some guys spinning around for a bit, part of a religious ceremony (Whirling Dervishes or something?? - we weren't allowed to speak or drink during this, then as soon as they were done, bottles of Raki, Vodka, Wine and Beer were laden onto the tables. The rest of the show was a Turkish Dance troop, which did lots of dancing and got everyone up for a wedding type dancing thing. We were all led out to the back and danced around a fire for a bit before coming back in to find a suitor for their 'bride'. Dan was pulled out to dance to see if that impressed her, she turned him down!

Later they brought out the belly dancer who put on a bit of a show. Todd from our group was pulled out of the crowd to have a wiggle, and he put on a very good performance - he was much younger and more agile than the other men she got from the audience. A few drinks helped his movement too! After our 2 and a bit of hour of free grog we had to get back to the hotel as the bus driver needed some sleep. A few of us thought the night was still young, so we decided to check out the hotels disco. In hindsight that was a really dumb move. The beers were really expensive, the 12 or so of us in there were the only people, and the 'DJ' only had Justin Timberlake, Ricky Martin and the Vengaboys CDs. He wouldn't let us plug in an iPod either. So after hearing "The Vengabus is coming" about 5 times we moved the party outside. I think it was about 2am when we finally called it a night!