Ohh La La! Cappadocia!

Trip Start Jul 06, 2008
1
8
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Trip End Aug 18, 2008


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Flag of Turkey  , Cappadocia,
Sunday, July 13, 2008

Arriving in Cappadocia early in the morning was something to see.  We entered the town of Goreme with fantastic landscapes and rock formationgs shooting up out of the ground around us. They are so difficult to explain, but some do look similar to hoodoos that we have in Alberta.  Cappadocia was home to troglodytes who settled within the lunar-like landscape and burrowed their houses and churches into stone cliffs and their cities underground.  Some villagers still live in these cave-dwellings today.  It was incredible to see these cave-type structures even from the bus.  Some of them date back to the 4th century. 

When we piled out of the bus at an open little bus stop with a couple of tour booths set up, a friendly man was there to meet us all in his own little 'accommodation' booth.  He was very helpful in finding hostels and making phone calls for us. 

After some looking around, and gazing at the scenery of cones, pinnacles and volacanic tuff, we settled on KOSE pension - primarily for it's swimming pool, but also for how clean it was and how friendly the owner was.   Once we got our room organized, we headed to the Open Air Museum.  This is an area that was heavily populated with churches carved into the rock.  The large cluster of rock-cut Byzantine churches, chapels and monasteries took us over 2 hours to check out.  We were able to look and wander in a Nun's convent, and many chapels and churches with incredibly old frescoes (paintings) on the inside walls, ceilings and archways.  There were even kitchens and a refectory.  The refectory  had a long dinding table and benches cut from the rock.  At the end of the table, there was a hollowed out area that we read was probably for pressing grapes.  It had a little trough and opening at the bottom of it that must have allowed the juice to flow out.  There were even storage shelves carved into the walls of the kitchen area.  (We tried to guess what might have been stored there - but were told that it is more likely there were candles and wooden dishes and not  a micowave or long-screen TV.  (They would have fit well enough!)  Each of these 'buildings' also had ventilation holes somewhere in their rock surface as well. 

We had been at the Open Air Museum for nearly 4 hours, and since we were in the sun and it was +35, we were more than ready to jump into the refreshing pool at our Pension.  It is hard to even write about it without sighing.  (ahhhhhh).  

In the end, the night bus won the war.  We threw up the white flag and were in bed before 7:00pm.  We did not wake until 7:00am. 





  Pictures to come!!!. 01. Cappadocia
01. Cappadocia
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