Hot Air Ballooning, Goreme, Zelve and Avanos
Trip Start
Oct 25, 2007
1
7
13
Trip End
Nov 06, 2007
Cappadocia, Turkey
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Julie and I are up, dressed and down in the lobby at 4:25 we're supposed to leave at 4:30. But two passengers aren't here yet.
So, it's out to the minibus where we wait. After ten minutes, Julie tells the driver to go back in the hotel and if they aren't there, we're leaving without them. The driver is looking confused as if he doesn't know what he should be doing about the two strays.
Julie jumps up and goes in the hotel. They aren't there and she is back in the mini bus saying "it's past time to go." As small as Julie is, she can move a mountain if she wants to.
And this is her first balloon ride, so she is going to move anything that gets in her way
Ballooning
. The driver looks at her determined face and we're pulling out of the parking lot.The balloon company office is a short drive away. In the early morning shadows, we can see some of the cave houses. We pull in the parking lot, and Julie is looking for our balloon. I tell her we will take a van to the launch site. She looks a little dissapointed.
Inside the office is hot coffee, cocoa and cookies. This a really nice start to our day. We register at the back counter and then with time to kill, walk around outside.
I didn't know we would be ballooning, so I came to Turkey with a jogging suit in my suitcase. This is as warm as I can get. I layered another pair of long pants underneath, and an additional long sleeve shirt on, then topped it off with a windbreaker. I've been up when it was downright COLD. And I'm hoping that the weather in the higer altitudes will be warmer than what I am expecting right now.
I show Julie the "footing" for getting up in the balloon. Being a small person, I know balloon baskets can be intimadating
Ballooning
. The basket sometimes is as high as your shoulders.I can see the "look" on Julie's face, and assure her getting in is real easy. Our driver says it's time to go, and we're in the minivans with huge smiles on our faces. We pull into the field, called the "ranch" where the balloons are being inflated.
WOW. This is almost as good as the Albequerque Balloon Festival. Lots of ballons are in the process of being inflated. We continue driving past these balloons to another field. Still more balloons, and some are already in the air. I know I'm going to love this, and for Julie's first time, this is something that she'll never experience again.
This is unlike anywhere I have ballooned. The basket is bigger than I would like, 16 passengers, 4 sections, plus the pilots area. BUT there are less of us.
This is good. Julie climbs in, and I am SO proud of her. My section, is Vivian and I, since the pilot needed to distributed weight, Julie and I are seperated .
I am claiming the front area, since Vivian is tall and can see everything over my head
Ballooning
. Julie has one of the corner areas with two other passengers. They ask her to go into my section so they can have the side and front view. Julie and I say NO immediately. Julie holds her position beside me. Good girl.
After some brief instructions and some photos from the ground crew, we lift off.
Julie's face is priceless. I wish I had taken the photo when she realized she was no longer earth bound.
Soon we're gently floating over a fantasy landscape on our one hour adventure. Instead of following the currents far above the ground, we are dipping down into Cappadocia's inacessible valleys and are eye level with caves and fairy chimneys. Looking into the "Pigeon holes," floating above some of the world's most dramatic geological formations, and are in awe.
Balloons are above us, and below. Julie and I just don't know where to look next. We skim over tops of hillsides, so close we could touch the ground, then descend into another valley to get a closer look of a water filled cave
Balloon
. Or ascend high for a once in a lifetime view of multiple houses carved into the porus rock. The scenery keeps changing, along with the rock formations. Some areas seem to be ocean waves, frozen in time. Some are multiple colors, stacked like a rainbow.
The hour goes way to fast and we are looking for a landing spot. Which is not accessible. We keep looking, and I'm hoping that he doesn't find it for another hour. But too soon.. there it is. We have to give the chase cars time to catch up with us, so we're just floating. Still more rock formations, and suddenly the sun is coming out!
This changes the atmoshpere of the valley we are now in. Darn, but there is the chase cars. Too soon, we are landing. Soft. No bumps.A fruit and champagne toast is awaitng us. Julie is still "up in the air." This is an experience neither of us will forget.
Back at the hotel we change clothes before grabbing a quick breakfast then meeting the rest of the group in the lobby.
Our first stop is at a authentic carpet factory. Yuksel Hali is a certified carpet maker thru the local government. This is important, because all purchases are guaranteeed. A photo of the carpet, the and information about the purchase is listed on the Certificate of Guaranty.
I don't plan to puchase a carpet, but it's interesting to see how they are made
Balloon
. Our first stop is in the weaving area. Local women sit on the floor in front of a frame. Artwork of the carpet is above them. Somehow (and I know it was mentioned how long the training is to weave carpets, but I forgot) the women can look at the artwork, and use the colored theads to weave these highly intricate patterns. The pay is low. Most Turkish girls learn to weave at home, the two carpets they make before they get married will be sold to pay for some of their wedding expenses. Handmade carpet weaving is no longer the only job that a Turksih woman is qualified for, with the increase in quaility education. Within ten to fifteen years, carpet weavers will almost extinct. Men do not weave carpets. During the winter when their farming chores are completed, they are potters.
After seeing the weaving process we visit the silk worm. This little mulburry eating worm is responsible for the carpet threads. We're shown how the threads come out of the cacoon. Turkey "claims" the finest silk threads, over China.
Now it's into the showroom to view some vintage to newly made carpets. And a beverage is offered, so I glady accept that non-turkish drink, hot apple tea
Balloon
. The showroom has hundreds of rolled carpets standing against the wall. Only a few are on the large floor area. THEN, the demonstration begins. The owner is explaing quality, thread count, age, and pattern. Soo four male assistants enter the room. And like Alladin and his flying carpets, the carpets are being simoltaniously rolled out on the floor before our eyes.
New carpets with different thread counts and silk ratios, old carpets that we are told are lower price and will last forever. Over these carpets are new layers of carpets, all beautiful and eye catching. Then more and more until your head spins. Woven carpets are Kilim. Knotted carpets are Hali.
What I got out of this informative and fast paced demonstration is the closer and tighter the knots, the stronger and more expensive the carpet. Pure silk is more expensive than a silk/cotton weave. Carpets origins can be determined by the colors and the design, as each area has their own. The dominant color in Turksih carpets is Red for Wealth. Blue for grandeur and Green symbolises paradise. Yellow for protection and black....problems.
Carpets should be walked on and used
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. A fine Turkish carpet in a house can last more than a hundred years. Some of the older carpets, due to their silk density and quality of design are more expensive than newer carpets. Some nice older carpets are lower in cost than the new ones. We're invited to come sit on the carpets. My butt just happens to land on softest carpet I have ever felt. It's too good to be in my price range. I look at Julie and hope she's not encouraging me to buy this baby. It's about 6 by 8 feet and would really be a wonderful addition to my living room. I tell Julie you HAVE to feel this. She says it's like velvet. Yep. I really like it. And my fingers just wont stop touching the baby.
Julie gives me that look. The one that says are you really crazy? That's enough to snap me out of carpet nirvana. We hustle out of the showroom before I do anything I will regret later.
A few in our group are making purchases. Elena has found a carpet for her house. Michele bought a small prayer rug. Elena's is being packaged in a leather suitcase. She doesn't want to ship it, even though the shipping is free for purchases above $300. Michele's is small enough to fit in her luggage
Balloon
. We look at their Certificates, which have photos of their carpets we are back on the bus. They each got two "carpets" for the price of one.
It's onto Goreme Open Air Museum. Having flown over some of these areas this morning, we are anxious to walk thru them.
This is a landscape that can only be described as a cross of Lunar meets the Hollywood special effets department in a mix of fantasy combined with Roman history. After the eruption of Mount Erciyes 2000 years ago, Goreme was covered with ash, which hardend over time and became tufa, soft rock. Add some water and wind to the tufa,and you have Goreme's famous unusal rock formation, the fairy chimneys.
The first Christian settlers, escaping Roman perseccution discovered that these soft rock mountains and formations could be easily "carved out" for homes, churches and monasteries. Gorme was a monastic center between 300 to 1200 AD.
Over 30 rock-carved churches and chapels were completed
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. Many contain beatutiful frescoes painted in the Byzantine sytle during the ninth to the eleventh centuries. Many have a central dome. Most of the church's floor plans are in the shape of a cross. The outsides of the buildings are very plain. Some have carvings above the doorways.Flash photo is prohibited in all buildings.
To say this is one of the highlites would be an understatement again. We only saw the interiors of five buildings. The artwork and frescos had us staring. The Elmali is one of the three columned churches and contains beautiful frescos depicting Biblical scenes.
It amazes me that out in the middle of a windblown landscape of porus rock these frescos remain for future generations.
I won't say that there wasn't a few signs of graffitti. But the Turkish government has stepped in, and hopefully these historic and unreplaceable builidngs will last for centuries.
Unfortunetly, Mufasta says we have to move on
Balloon
. There is still more to see today. It's lunch time. And going in we're going in a historic old building thru a hanging carpet. I'm really liking the atmosphere here. It's nice to sit down and relax over wonderful Turkish food. I don't know what I'm eating again, but Art says I'll like it. He asks if I saw Pedro. "No. Where was he?"He says back near Goreme. I ask him how I missed Pedro. He tells me I was talking to Julie. Well next time he better tell me to get my camera ready, cause I'm getting Pedro again.That wonderful smooth Turkish flan is for desert. Yummy! I know I should cut down on the food. The girls somehow have me eating soup. Never liked it at home, but it's really good in Turkey. We're guessing what's in the soup - but we don't care. It gets eaten. My clothes are getting a little tight around the waist, but I've decided you only live once, and this type of food only comes around once also.
We don't have time for the small shop, so it's a bathroom break (another Lira) and back on the bus. I'm on my soapbox today on bathroom costs. For a measly Lira, I get a very clean bathroom.
In the United States, especially on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the bathrooms are free. BUT you wade thru who knows what to get to the toilet seat. Once you see it, you turn around and stall-hop until you find a clean one. Time is money. And I hate dirty and wet toilet seats. I'm happy to pay the tip to the attendent who has to clean up after slobs. I sure wouldn't want the dirty job.
Unfortunetly, there are a few on our bus who refuse to pay for the service and rush right in without tipping
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. Then brag about it. It so grates on my nerves, and I'm trying not to tell them that they are making us look like the UGLY AMERICANS. So ends my soap box speech for the day.Next we're on to a Pottery in Avanos. I LOVE everything pottery. My family started the first redware pottery in East Liverpool Ohio, then one in Pittsburgh, before moving to Baltimore, where they were the first to make opaque porcelain. They exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and had an exhibit in the Smithstonian in DC a few years ago.
I respect the talent of potters. I've taken a couple of classes, and what should have been a round bowl, ended up being almost five sided. To say I have no artistic talent would be correct. But I do have a talent for Pottery Appreciation.
I'm rushing to get a front seat for the kick-wheel demonstration. We're sitting in another cave!
The building is a series of caves which display the Galip's pottery. This has been a family business for six generations.
Chez Galip sits at the potter's wheel and starts kicking his feet to get it moving. His hands soon soon have formed a shape out of the lump of clay. Looks like this may be a tea pot. Then a quick stroke of the paint brush. Add on the ceramic spount, make a lid. And in minutes the work is completed.
Maybe if I lived here for a year and he was gracious enough to give me lessons, I could make a round bowl
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. Next we walk to another area in the cave that is for decorating the finished dried pottery.It's full of deocrative pottery, china ware and tiles.But no house number tiles for Kary and John. Darn.We're watching the fine detail painting. I do admire anyone that can paint within the lines. It was never one of my fortes. Then onto some shopping, where I hope I will find those darn house numbers. No luck. I think Julie found something. Michele is heading out the door for fresh air, and I'm right beside her. I spotted a huge pile of old pots outside that said "take a photo of me."It's not long before the rest of the group starts out.
Back on the bus, we're headed for the "fairy chimneys" in Zelve valley.
We get a little hiking time so I'm happy. The formations are interesting to say the least. It's best to take a right and go up the hillside for a better view. So Elena and I head for the high path.
I found a new canine friend along the way. Named him "Fetcher." You throw it he fetches it. He also loved my rolled up blue windbreaker. Tried to take it from quite a few times. He's also protective. Another dog came strolling along and Fetcher just didn't like any attention going to any other canine.
Elena and I got the "whistle" from Mustafa. That means he's ready to go, so we're scampering down the hill along with Fetcher, who really wants to go with us
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.But Mustafa says "no." Sorry boy!
Our next stop is just up the road at Develi Camel Valley. We get a couple minutes to get out of the bus and look for the camel - that one's hard to miss, and the Madona and child. Got the photo of this one also. This would be another hiking highlight - but that's for the next trip back.
Less that 20 minutes later, we're pulling into Pigeon Valley. There's some shopping and crafts, quad rentals and hiking. Down through the valley are more of the cave houses. I've been attracted to those Turkish blue evil eyes, Boncuk sounds like "bon-dschuk", and found a tree full of them.
Too soon it's time to head to the hotel for dinner. Darn, this is a cool playground.It's an early night, having been up over 17 hours. But this is a day I'm going to remember for a long time. And I have the photos to jog my memory of this perfect day.
