Monday, July 4, 2011 – Cappadocia

So, we left Ankara and started on our road trip leg of our time in Turkey.  There is no actually town or providence in Turkey with the actual name of Cappadocia, but yet this is what the region is and has been always called.  It includes many, many cities, villages, and towns that I can’t possible remember – so I will lump them all into the area of Cappadocia. 

On the way to the Cappadocia region, we stopped at the second largest lake in Turkey called Salt Lake.  We enjoyed a little pit stop and were able to walk around in the salt.  It was a lot of fun and a nice break from the bus.

It was sort of like walking through rock salt.  The trick we learned was to darn your feet through the salt so it didn't hurt so bad.  Can you see my foot in this one?

Here is Katie in the "showers" washing the salt off before heading back on the road again.

Our first stop in the Cappadocia region was one of the Kaymakli Underground Cities (there are 37 underground cities opened in the area, but archeologists know are more at least 100 in the area.  These underground dwellings were discovered in 1965 and archeologists believe they date back to the 6^th and 7^th century.  The caves were built under dwellings and contain mazes of tunnels  that connect rooms craved out the earth.  They were built as security measure where early Christians hide from various Persian and Arabic armies that we attempting to reach and conquer Constantinople (now Istanbul).   There are 8 layers of tunnels and rooms in Kaymalki, but only 4 of the levels are open to the public.  Some of these underground cities held up to an estimated 10,000 people, and the one we visited was estimated to hold around 3000.  It is believed that the community could spend up to 4 months down in the underground cities if necessary and they had everything they needed down there. 

This is a huge stone door that they would release to roll if/when they needed to lock themselves in the underground cities when enemy grounds were passing by.  It was a stroke of pure genius and early engineering design.

The entranance into these two tunnels caught my eye because of the heart-shaped look.

Here I am before going into a tunnel.  We had to do a lot of squatting and duck walking around here.

Our lunch stop was one of the most amazing meals I have ever had in my life.  If you ever go to Cappadocia, you have to visit Bizem Ev.  I wish I would have taken pictures of every course, but pictures could never capture the smell or the mouthwatering taste!

This was the main course - a sort of beef stew.  It was cooked with raw dough on the top in a clay oven.  When they brought them out to us, the top of the dough was on fire, they put it out, cut off the dough, and then served it to us in these clay pots.  Heaven.

Our next stop was to Uchisar to see an amazing panoramic view of the three major volcanic rock formations the Cappadocia region called 1) rock dwellings, 2) soft ice cream, and 3) fairy chimneys.  Here is what our Lonely Planet travel book says about the fairy chimneys.  “The fairy chimneys were formed when erosion wiped out the lava covering the tuff (consolidated volcanic ash), leaving behind isolated pinnacles.  They can reach a height of up to 40m, have conical shapes and are topped by caps of harder rock resting on pillars of softer rock.”  They were beyond breathtaking and are truly one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen in my life.

Richard, Susan, and Melissa enjoying a cup of Turkish coffee.  Me - not so much.

It looks and tastes like mud in my opinion, but then again, I don't like coffee, period, and my toungue is still burnt a week later from my one sip earlier in the trip.  Some of my travelmates are craving the stuff each day!  I'll stick to my cola light, thank you.

Next we drove to a small cave theater to witness a Dervish religious ceremony called Sema.  The whirling dervishes are known for their whirling as a form of worship and praise to God.  While they whirl their right hands are directed toward the sky and their left hand is facing down toward the earth to show how they receive God’s love and then share it with the world.  There were no pictures allowed during the 60 minute ceremony, but the dervishes came out for about 4 minutes at the end in order for us to get pictures.  The ceremony was very peaceful and calming.

We got to the hotel about 12 hours after leaving Ankara and after a quick buffet meal (with a special 4^th of July cake with two sparklers coming out of it from our Fulbright hosts), several of us went out for an evening program of traditional Turkish music and dance.  I unfortunately do not have a single picture of the amazing 2 hour performance because it was in a circular cave restaurant and the lighting was not agreeing with any of my camera settings.   The music was amazing and the dancing was spectacular.  One woman in particular was quite stunning.  First she came out and did some Egyptian whirling in a colorful, full dress and then later she came out and did the most mind-blowing belly dancing I have ever seen in my life.

We got back to the hotel around midnight and then I had to be up at 4:00 am for my first HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE!!!