October 28 – Nov 2
A Frontier Town
We arrived at Cappadocia in a shuttle from the Kayseri airport. Our first impression of the town wasn’t what we’d expected.
Cappadocia is a huge tourist draw. It’s the second most popular tourist destination in all of Turkey (second only to the incredible Roman ruins at Ephesus near Selcuk).
The Cappadocia region is famous for its unique, jaw-dropping terrain formed over 60 million years ago, and the hundreds of hot air balloons that dot the sky every morning to get the best views.
I expected a very polished town, a tourist town, ready to greet tourists from near and far, or at least a town with paved streets. I didn’t expect to enter a Frontier Town, with dirt streets in disarray. And that’s being kind.
On Our Way
We rode in a 16 passenger van from the airport to Cappadocia. Cappadocia is a landlocked semi-arid region in central Turkey, very far from the towns along the Mediterranean we’d been enjoying for the past few weeks.
The ride was lovely. We drove on modern, uncongested freeways, but when we arrived in Cappadocia it was a very different story.
The Streets of Cappadocia
Driving straight up a steep, narrow, and winding dirt road, full of potholes, ruts and loose gravel, in a large passenger van leaves a lasting impression.
The van rocked and almost rolled, bounced, leaned, then would regain its composure and start all over again. I’d find myself holding my breath, only to realize and let it go in one slow, long exhale, in an effort to calm myself.
Our van proceeded to wind up the steep hills, dropping off other arriving tourists, like us. We felt like we should have been driving an ATV or a four-wheel vehicle in these conditions. The roads were really beat up. Thankfully the driver did seem to know what he was doing, so we were (mostly) able to sit back and enjoy our roller-coaster ride.
The Cave-Hotel
We watched as, one by one, the van emptied. Most of the hotels in Cappadocia are “Cave-Hotels”, including ours. After all, if you’re in a region known for its incredible rock & cave formations, you’ve got to stay in a cave.
I had booked the most budget level cave in a highly rated cave hotel, the Arif Cave Hotel. Our reserved cave had no windows, which is why it was so affordable. We’d be hob-knobbing with people paying two and three times our rate, but heck, at least we’d reap the benefits of a first-tier hotel with our best Turkish breakfasts yet, even if we don’t have windows.
On the bright side (excuse the pun), there’d be no need for me to wear my eye mask at night. No worries about too much light flooding the room in the morning. It’d be like being in, well, a cave.
Much to my delight, when we arrived, the owner gave us a free upgrade. So we did have a window, actually two windows, after all.
When booking a cave hotel room, I’d pictured a rough interior, like caves I’ve been in, but these were luxury caves. The cave-rock is very soft and easy to dig and mold, but once exposed to air, hardens quickly.
Our room had beautiful, textured walls and all kinds of decorative carvings throughout, beautiful lighting, a nice bathroom, and a sitting area.
The Town
The heart of town is flat with lots of shops, cafes, restaurants, tour agencies, carpet shops, and a bus station. The town is small. The downtown is easy to walk, and has a definite charm about it.
Of course, the most striking feature of the town are the cave rock formations that jet straight up two or three stories high. It looks like a made-for-Disneyland set, but it’s real.
The Rutted Roads
The vast majority of the hotels are up the steep lanes that wind up the hill. The streets, in both the flat area and hillside hotel areas, are a mix and mess of dry, powdery dirt (sometimes an inch deep), a little gravel, deep, jagged ruts, with an occasional paver. There’s also a fair amount of mud and puddles due to the city spraying water in an attempt to keep the dust down.
Because of the street conditions, walking around requires a keen eye and quick feet. It’s a game of extremes, puddles, mud, and muck versus extremely dry, powdery dirt and gravel.
We’d set out, ready at any moment to jump a puddle, steer clear of mud, or be forced to walk in tiny, exacting steps going down the steep hill caked in powdery dirt. It’s a deliberate process where focus is paramount.
Slipping & Sliding
We’ve both slipped a few times already on the steep descent from our cave-hotel to the town below. The powdery dirt provides a perfect equation for slippage, resulting in that feeling of not quite knowing when the slide will end.
Your stomach lurches just a bit, and your arms jet out to the side to give yourself balance. It’s hard not to look around to see if anyone is watching you flail.
Yes, the descent to town is a bit anxiety-provoking. I ask Steve to walk ahead of me, so if I go into an uncontrolled slide he will (hopefully) stop my fall, or at least cushion it a bit. So far, so good.
Turns out, as we learned on almost our last day, the city is putting in gas lines & internet cable. They’ve ripped up 95% of the pavers that once made the town drivable and walkable (and cuter too). You know, like a modern-day town.
The residents and tourists alike have lived with the paver-less streets for over a year. Sounds like it will be another couple of years (at least) until the streets are paved again. I am so relieved to learn that Cappadocia is not a forever Frontier Town. Yee-haw.
Images Say It Best
If there’s any place in Turkey that can be best represented in photographs, it’s Cappadocia. The wonder of the terrain, along with the hundreds of early morning balloons across the expansive skyline is hard to describe in words. So yes, pictures say it best.
Blogworthy Pictures
Talk about an impossible task. Just going through the thousands of pictures I took in Cappadocia and trying to select the best was daunting. In my first run through, where I try to select the most blogworthy pictures, I ended up with 250 photos. That’s a bit too many for any blog post. Yeah, it’s hard to pare these beauties down.
The View from Arif Cave Hotel
Our cave hotel, that I’ve already mentioned, was one of the highest on the hill overlooking town. The hotel was, in fact, directly below the pay-to-enter viewpoint on the ridge. It was the perfect location for views of everything, complete with Ottoman style couches to lounge on and several levels of viewing decks.
Early Morning Wonder
Every morning, weather permitting, there’s a spectacular morning display of hundreds of balloons dotting the sky. The balloons launch every morning at dawn and put on a show like no other.
Our mornings were crisp, clear, and cold, in the high 20’s (Fahrenheit).
In the early morning darkness we were thrilled to witness dozens of brightly colored balloons getting ready to launch, still on the ground. It was like a magical light show as the balloons blinked brightly aglow in quick succession, on and off, on and off, igniting their flames to fill in preparation for take-off.
The scene changes minute by minute with the changes in lighting as the sun rises. The balloons move slowly, mixing and matching in various configurations, coming and going, high and low. The balloons are a mesmerizing orchestra of color and graceful movement.
The Main Event
I’d seen the pictures of the spectacle and knew what to expect, but being there, in person on the hillside, was so much more amazing than I could have imagined.
Our position high up on the hill gave us the opportunity to feel like we were amongst the balloons, floating right along with them.
A balloon would pass right in front of us, or even beneath us, skimming the town below. We shouted our hellos to those passing by in their giant baskets holding anywhere from 16 to 32 people, suspended in the sky.
Some balloons passed so close that we could see the burner, which injects a flame into the balloon, heating the air within. The flame would make a deafening roar as it blasted upwards into the balloon, taking the balloon higher and higher, and away from our gaze.
The Magic Land of Cappadocia
Fairy Chimneys, gnome houses, cave dwellings, underground cities, cave churches, and more are all part of the Goreme valley magic. The soft volcanic rock formations, many several stories high, are all over the valley and are a wonder to behold.
The fascinating topography began over 60 million years ago and can be seen in various stages even today. Wind, climate, rain, snow, and rivers caused and continue to cause erosion, giving Cappadocia its unusual and unique rock formations.
For thousands of years humans have carved incredible chambers and tunnel complexes into the soft rock.
A Place of Refuge
The area has a very long history, but of particular interest is that the early Christians, fleeing persecution from the Romans in the 4th Century onwards, took refuge in the caves of Cappadocia. It was the perfect hiding place.
When visiting Goreme Open Air Museum, we were able to enter several of the churches the Christians had carved into the existing caves. Many have well preserved cave paintings.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to take any pictures inside the cave churches, but I’ve included some pictures from one church we visited, the “Dark Church”, that I found on the internet.
We were so impressed with the quality of the paintings and their longevity. Standing in the Dark Church, so beautifully decorated with the detailed paintings enveloping us, was truly a marvel.
Love Valley
After touring Goreme Open Air Museum, full of cave churches and Christian lore, we entered Love Valley, which was quite a contrast. We had no idea why it was called Love Valley, until we walked to the viewpoint and looked out at the expansive view of what looked like giant penises sprouting up out of the ground.
It’s a bit uncomfortable gazing out at the large formations with a lot of international strangers. No one is saying it out loud, but we all are thinking the same thing (but maybe in different languages).
Whatever those formations resemble, no one can deny they are very impressive, like all the unique and magical formations found in this unique valley.
An Abrupt End
We were scheduled to finish up Cappadocia after a five day stay and head to our final destination, Istanbul, for 12 nights. That was not to be.
The Turkey trip was brought to an unexpected end because our dog suddenly got very sick. After a long night of phone calls with our Veterinarian (the 10-hour time difference was a b*tch), we knew we had to get home to help our dog in her final days.
Next came a whirlwind of arranging new fights to Istanbul and ultimately home, cancelling our Istanbul reservations, and cutting our Cappadocia stay short.
It was very sad to leave Turkey so abruptly. But, there was no question, we knew it was the only thing we could do. We had to be with Bailey. Thankfully we did make it home in time to spend a couple of quality days with Bailey before she succumbed to her cancer.
This should probably be at the end of my post, but I just couldn’t end on such a depressing note, so instead I’ll continue with our carpet tale in Cappadocia.
Turkish Carpets
I really wanted to buy a Turkish carpet in Turkey, but frankly it’s a bit intimidating. I’m a novice rug-buyer in a land of experienced scammers selling machine-made rugs at hand-made rug prices.
Thankfully we were able to spend a carefree day (before we knew how serious things were with our dog) in a Turkish carpet shop with Ali.
Sultan Carpets
Ali owns Sultan Carpets, in the heart of Cappadocia, a shop full of beautiful hand-made Turkish carpets.
I instantly liked Ali. He’d been in the Turkish carpet business for 25 years. In fact, we came to find out that he had lived in Kirkland, Washington (a stone’s throw from our home) selling Turkish carpets for about 5 years, 15 years ago. He spoke perfect English, and seemed like a sincere, experienced, knowledgeable carpet seller.
Of course, you never know. I had read someone’s experience of carpet buying in Turkey before our trip, and something they said had really stuck with me.
There’s always a chance that your expensive carpet isn’t authentic. That’s just a chance you take. But when you look back, the thing to value the most is the whole ritual of picking out the carpet (this takes hours!).
It’s the memory and the enjoyment of seeing that carpet every day that matters the most. So, that was my mantra.
Wins
Experiencing the unique and magical terrain of Cappadocia and staying in a cave!
Finally finding, and buying, two Ottoman stools (I was obsessed with finding) after a long day of traveling to two different towns to hunt them down!
Watching the early morning balloon display in the freezing clear, crisp, and cold of Cappadocia!
The whole carpet buying experience! Meeting Ali and enjoying his Turkish generosity and hospitality!
Having one last bowl of Manti (like tortellini), the best of the entire trip!
Cappadocia was a unique and fun adventure through and through.
Losses
Of course Bailey was a huge loss. 🙁
We missed Istanbul. We were only in Istanbul for two overnights while waiting for a plane to elsewhere, but definitely plan to visit Istanbul another time. Now we can make another adventure out of our missed opportunity and pair up Istanbul with perhaps Bulgaria and Albania. I can’t wait!
All the losses don’t hold a candle to all the wins. We’re so glad we got to explore and experience Cappadocia!