Tag: Turkey

As already mentioned, balloon flights here are big business and when the weather doesn’t play ball, there can be a couple of days of cancelled flights.

On our third morning, I woke early again – 05.30 – and seeing balloons, I knew I wouldn’t go back to sleep. Chris loves taking photos, but early mornings just aren’t his thing. I’m dressed almost before he’s opened his eyes and I’m not sure he’s up for another early start. The plan is just to look from the courtyard, but the door is still locked, so I left the hotel by the other door and started walking to see if I could get a good view. Before I knew it I was almost in town – should I go back up the hill to the hotel and see if Chris wants to explore or just go on … I followed the balloons, a 20 minute walk at a smart pace, to some open ground on a bit of a hill … and took some snaps!

This area is very popular with Chinese visitors, and not only are there several Chinese restaurants in town …

… but a Chinese company has bought up quite a few of the balloon companies, no doubt to ensure their visitors can more easily ensure a flight, and their advertising is hard to miss.

When I got back, Chris had been out and about too, but stayed closer to the hotel. We both agreed to get the best shots you had to go get them and hopefully we would get another chance.

The wind was too strong for the next two mornings, and Chris was silently worried he’d missed his chance.

Our last morning, and were expecting balloons so set the alarm, just in case. When we looked out of the window we couldn’t see any and all was very quiet. Chris was determined to check so we dressed and walked into town. Still no balloons.

On the other days, balloons had been in the air by now and I thought we were wasting our time, then we saw a balloon truck and hoped we might be in luck after all.

Then we saw one …

… and Chris thinks his first snap, actually taken on his phone might be a winner!

From higher ground we took more and an hour walked the mile back to the hotel for breakfast.

And yes readers, we were both there!

We had planned a kind of circular route which began by walking from Göreme through Pigeon Valley which we had seen from the Panorama the day before. It was green and tranquil and we only met a few walkers and a group of cyclists along the way.

We passed a tea-garden, but it was too soon after breakfast to stop …

… wild flowers …

… and even some pigeons!

This brought us in sight of Uchisar Castle, and we walked up through the town until we reached it.

We climbed to the top and got a great view in every direction.

We bought some snacks to keep us going – fried corn kernels and roasted apricot seeds – then set off for the return. We followed the signs for Love Valley and after walking for a while came across a chap in the middle of nowhere, with a stall selling freshly squeezed orange juice and a selection of jewellery.

We purchased juice and he told us the path descended through White Valley first and you can see where it got its name.

The valley was filled with birdsong as we walked through …

The same applies to Love Valley as you can see …

By the time we got to the end of the path at the main road, we were both exhausted. It might only have been eight miles or so but there had been a lot of up and down. We had a choice – 15 minute walk further away from Göreme to Cavusin and catch a bus back or a 40 minute walk to Göreme. We took the second option and just as we were wondering if there was a chance we could hitch a lift, a car pulled up beside us and took us back to town, driven by a very nice Turkish man who spoke very little English.  We had ice-cream on the way to the hotel and then a nap to recover … from the walk, not the ice-cream!

Dinner at Dibek, was definitely Turkish style with cushions on the floor and low tables.  We ate traditional local food like yogurt with mint, pickles, stewed beans and okra with tomatoes finishing with sun dried apricots with grape molasses and tahini … delicious.

Next day dawned and not a balloon in the sky, so I turned over and slept some more. At breakfast we found out the balloons had been cancelled as the wind was too strong. We decided to have an easier day and decided on a visit to the smaller Open Air Museum in Zelve combined with a walk afterwards. We tried to get the bus to Zelve, but information was vague and while we thought there was an hourly bus, we had no idea when to expect it so took a taxi instead. Zelve may not have great frescos, but it had lots of buildings one could explore and was very popular with local visitors rather than tour groups.

Interestingly, it comprised three valleys, two occupied by Christians with churches …

… and one by Muslims with a mosque.

I spotted a couple of hoopoe birds flying around.

Leaving Zelve, the sky was starting to darken, but we continued to Paşabağ which means “Pasha’s Vineyard”. We got a picture from above …

… then walked down to the entrance. It contained some of the most striking fairy chimneys with twin and triple caps looking a bit like mushrooms. It was much smaller than I expected, and had a holiday atmosphere with camel and horse rides available as well as ice-cream and snacks and many locals were out walking.

The sky darkened.

Just as we were finished, raindrops began, and before we knew it, there was a deluge. We took refuge in a cafe with a taxi sign and they called us a cab which returned us to town. We returned to Firin Express for dinner, where we had already eaten pide, but this time went for the testi kebabs, stews in pottery pots which are opened by cracking the lid off with a knife! We both had a go opening our pots and the contents was delicious. Chris has taken a liking for Ayran, a salty yogurt drink that you either love or hate … but which is very popular here.

Another day dawned with no balloons, and Chris was starting to worry he’d missed his photo op … maybe tomorrow! After breakfast we took a taxi to Sunset Point and walked from here into Red Valley. We chose the higher path, which ran round the edge of the valley and got some great photos.

Then we descended which was a little treacherous …

… made our way through vines and fruit trees …

… but then found we had to go up again … even more treacherous!

The ascent achieved, we continued .

A little way further and the sky way getting ominously dark.

Then we saw the Hacli Church cut into a fairy chimney with frescos that were very colourful and surprisingly preserved considering their location.

Just beside was a small tea garden where we stopped for freshly squeezed orange and coffee, pleased to take a rest.

As we drank the sky got darker and thunder started rumbling round the valley. Then the muezzin started the call for lunchtime prayers and the sound carried from Göreme. The thunder got louder, lightening flashed and the rain started pounding on the roof of the shelter.

Ten minutes later  the sky brightened, the rain reduced to the odd drip and the storm had passed. Time to move on …

We headed down to the floor of the valley and made our way back to town … almost in time to miss the rain … which then poured for hours.

Our final dinner here and we chose Top Deck Cave Restaurant, which delivered one of the best meals we’ve had so far with a plate of mixed mezze including one with red cabbage and walnut and some amazing hummus, followed by beef stew and veggie stew – both fab, and a very reasonably priced bottle of local red wine.

Tomorrow we set off on the next leg of our journey – by bus to Konya.

Here we are in Cappadocia, which means “Land of Beautiful Horses” in Persian and where the landscape is often described as moonlike, with dramatic expanses of soft volcanic rock, shaped by erosion into towers, cones, valleys, and caves. In addition, people have shaped the soft stone further, leaving cave dwellings, rock-cut churches and even underground cities.

A short flight has brought us to the small town of Göreme, which means “Invisible City” for the way it nestles in the valley, blending with the landscape. It is also home to some 250 boutique hotels catering to the huge numbers of visitors each year. We chose the Taskonak Hotel, with a great view over the town from the rooftop courtyard and a very cute room.

We just had time for a little wander round town to get our bearing before having pide and salad for dinner.

One of the main attractions here is to take a hot-air balloon flight over the valleys, but we have both been in a hot-air balloon and were more interested in photographing other people in balloons! Flights had been cancelled for the next day as the forecast was too windy, so for our first morning there would be a lie-in.

Breakfast on the rooftop was a delight, and fortified, we set off by foot to the Open Air Museum in Göreme.

During early Christianity, many of the first followers settled in Cappadocia to hide from the soldiers of Roman Empire. By the C4th, Cappadocia was known as the Land of the Three Church Fathers for St Basil the Great, St Gregory of Nazianzus and St Gregory of Nyssa who helped establish religious communities like Göreme.

Göreme is the best preserved, with more than 30 churches dating from C9-11th, containing amazing frescos. Equipped with an audio-guide, we worked our way round the site, dodging the tour groups.

All the buildings are small and no photos are allowed inside, probably as it would be totally unmanageable with the number of visitors, but we did manage a couple of the less important rooms like this refectory with stone table and benches …

… and this unnamed chapel.

The frescos vary in design according to date and some are better preserved than others. The best by far were in the Dark Church …

… and here are a couple of images from the internet.

Having spent a good couple of hours here, we walked back towards town, stopping at the Zemi Valley for a detour. We walked along the path, passing various allotments growing fruit trees and vines often used to make grape molasses before we realised we were maybe not on the right path! We retraced our steps and took a side turn towards Al Nazar Church, where we paid 5 Turkish Lira each (£1) and were given a guided tour. The frescos may be a bit damaged, but we were allowed to take pictures.

From there we walked on through the valley which we had all to ourselves, just us and a collection of fairy chimneys …

… and Uçhisar Castle in the distance, which we will be visiting soon.

We made our way back and had an early dinner so Chris could catch the match, Liverpool winning 4:2 against Roma to reach the final of the Champion’s League.

Next day I woke early, just before 6am, moved the curtain and saw the sky filled with balloons!

We both got up and went to take a closer look. Those wanting a ride need to be up early with one flight going up in time for sunrise at 5.45 and the other a little later. Apparently there are around 150 balloons each taking either 16 or 24 people per basket at around €160 per person for an hour … big business!

After breakfast we were collected for a day out. There were a couple of places we wanted to visit, difficult to achieve by local bus, but conveniently packaged into the Green Tour, which we had booked in advance. We shared a 16 seater minibus with a friendly bunch from Madrid, Frankfurt, Lebanon, Ukraine and Indonesia.

Our first stop was the panorama of the town, looking down Pigeon Valley. The whole of Cappadocia raised pigeons in great numbers for eating and sending messages and their poop was used for fertiliser and even gunpowder and pigeon roosts can be seen everywhere. In the background is the ghostly presence of snow-capped Mount Erciyes, the tallest volcanic peak in Cappadocia at 3916m.

Next we visited Derinkuyu, the largest of many underground settlements in the area, occupying 1500 square metres.  These troglodyte cave-cities were excavated as early as Hittite times, and expanded over the centuries as various marauding armies traversed Central Anatolia in search of captives and plunder. There are many tunnels to the surface hidden in the courtyards of houses and the city is some 55m deep, containing stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, churches and wineries. There is a well, ventilation ducts and communication network, a place to store dead bodies, however no bathrooms. Waste was put into jars and sealed with mud and straw until it could be disposed of.

These cities were probably not intended for permanent dwelling, or even long stays but were clearly built to withstand attack and could support large numbers of people and their domestic animals, for extended periods of time. The access tunnels were narrow and near the entrance they had a low ceiling to put attackers at a disadvantage. There were also carefully balanced moving stone doors, resembling mill stones, to quickly block the corridors in the event of an attack.

We found all this fascinating as we entered and descended to the lowest level, where there was a church and a pillared hall where punishments were given. It was hard to appreciate the huge endeavour it must have taken to excavate such a huge network underground.

In modern times, these cities are still used for storage by local people as the constant temperature of 16-18° in a region that can vary from -5° to over 40° is perfect, and only part of Derinkuyu is open to the public.

Selime was our next stop, a huge rock-cut edifice that was not only a monastery where clergy were trained but also a military base and strategic watchtower which patrolled one of the branches of the Silk Road which passed by. It was also used as a caravanserai for traders, and we entered through a tunnel used by camels to bring goods inside to keep them safe for the night.

After our lunch stop, we visited the Ihlara Valley, a canyon cut into the rock by the Melendiz river, extending 15kms. It is thought the valley once had over 4000 dwellings, 100 churches and a population of 80,000. That was hard to imagine as we wandered 3kms along the peaceful river, stopping at Jacinth Church on the way.

Our final stop was a quick look at Nar Gölü, a crater lake that was formed when a volcano blew its top some time in the not too distant geological past. Hot sulfurous water still bubbles up and  is meant to be good for curing skin problems but we didn’t get close enough to find out!

The tour at an end, it had been a long day but it was good to have been out seeing some of the generally flat Anatolian countryside, together with Mount Hasan, a distinctive snow-capped, twin-peaked inactive stratovolcano!