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Exploring beautiful Cappadocia
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Tuesday (Oct 23)
The overnight bus trip went surprisingly well, I was actually able to get some sleep. I did have the Turkish man sitting next to me try and have a conversation with me in Turkish, and with my newly acquired Turkish phrasebook (I lost my last one) we were able to have a very primitive conversation. If I interpreted correctly I think he was trying to tell me that half the cities I was going in the east of turkey were "bad", lets hope the meaning of bad in Turkish is different to what it means in English! There were a number of other Aussies and Kiwis on the bus so when we arrived in Goreme at about in the morning I decided to ditch my accommodation plans and just tag along with them as I then knew for sure there would be other people staying where I was staying (unlike some other places I had stayed previously). I got the type of room I had been wanting in Goreme - a cave! It sounds crazy but have a look at the photos.... Most of the accommodation in Goreme is in caves which date back hundreds and hundreds of years, which is one of the most unique and special things about this region.
Surprisingly I wasn't buggered from the overnight bus and had some energy and awakedness (is that a word?... Mýcrosoft Word says no) so I decided to check out one of the star attractions of the Cappadocia region, the Goreme Open Air Museum. I arrived early as Lonely Planet suggested to "beat the crowds", but there were already 10 busloads of package tourists there by the time I got there only 15 minutes after the place opened. Anyway the site a collection of Byzantine churches, chapels and monasteries built into the cliffs and mountains. The churches date from between the 7th to the 11th century AD. Many of the churches are exquisitely decorated with frescoes (paintings depicting biblical scenes or events). It was unfortunately difficult to get photos of some of the churches as a tour group of 20 people often blocks the doorway of the small churches and hence the light diminishes.
On the way walking back to hostel I got incredibly lost and it took me about an hour to find my hostel in a town of 2000 people.... I think I saw the whole town before finding it! After a fantastic cheap pide (Turkish pizza) I caught a bus to the nearby town of Uchisar, which can be seen from miles around thanks to its rock cut fortress, which, as you can tell by the name, is a fortress cut into a tall lone-standing rock. The climb up was really fun, you pretty much circle your way around inside the mountain then emerge near the top. On top of the castle the views were terrific, however the wind was very strong and I was careful not to go too close to the edge - last year a European photographer died from falling off the edge trying to take a photo! In Turkey there seems to be no such thing as public liability which I love because at so many sites you can explore them at your own will regardless of how dangerous they might be.
Back at the hostel that night I bumped into a guy I met in Istanbul over a month ago who was from Adelaide - crazy! Anyway a group of 6 of us (4 Aussies, 2 Italians) got dinner from a traditional Ottoman restaurant which was in a building over 450 years old - it was a great experience. I got some sort of white bean eggplant thing which was really nice. After dinner we all went to a wine bar which was packed out with a lot of Americans and more Australians. They had obviously got a huge head start on us with the drinking as they were so loud (even by American standards). Anyway after a couple of hours of drinking the Americans were leaving and one of the American guys paid for everyones drinks for the whole night... I felt bad about it as I didn't even know the guys name yet it was good not to spend a cent for 2 hours of drinking - that guy is going to freak out when he is sober and sees his credit card statement.
A number of us form the hostel kicked on for a while after the Americans left and the owner was nice enough to offer for himself and his son to play us some traditional Turkish music, his son on some weird guitar and the father on the... wooden spoons! Anyway he dragged his son in who was sooo stoned he could barely open his eyes but they managed to crank out some really nice tunes, the father was really good on the spoons (I'm assuming there's some skill to it!). After the show it was back to the hostel for some much needed sleep. More thumbnails ...
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| 18. | Exploring beautiful Cappadocia - Goreme, Turkey Oct 23, 2007 (  65 ) |
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