Cappadocia

As Ace mentioned, our time in Cappadocia was gorgeous. Getting there was frustrating (see Ace’s previous comment on going to the wrong airport and a very expensive cab ride- other highlights of the short trip included a non-existent shuttle pickup and several more expensive cab rides) but as soon as the terrain outside the bus changed from normal, dry hills into the exquisite, weird, beautiful rock spires, layered, multicolored valleys, and fairy chimneys, all of our tension melted away. We just felt overjoyed and incredibly fortunate to be in on of the most beautiful and interesting places on Earth. I really wish I had words to describe it, but I can’t- you’ll just have to look at the pictures.
We stayed in a lovely little village, Goreme. As it wasn’t tourist season yet, we had the place almost entirely to ourselves. We stayed in the Kelebek Pension, a cave hotel perched on the side of a mountain, with a terrace with a stunning view of the village. Come to think of it, pretty much all of the views in the entire region are stunning. We adored Kelebek- I don’t know how I’ll ever go back to dirty, cheap hostels now that I’ve stayed in a cave room carved out of solid rock in a fairy chimney that was still luxurious. Our room was awesome- windows, shelves and closets carved out of solid rock, Turkish carpets on the floor, and our own piping hot shower. The staff was lovely, and the main area was great- free apple tea, board games, a fireplace, and, in the mornings, the best hotel breakfast I’ve encountered. Ace and I stuffed ourselves with the cheeses, olives, veggies, breads, olives, dried fruits, and baguette French toast each morning. YUM! The stray dogs and cats in Goreme seem to have a very happy relationship with the locals, and happy, healthy dogs and cats roamed the terraces waiting for loving and snacks from visitors. Ace and I were only there for two whole days and nights (we got to our hotel about 10:30 Wednesday, and left at 6:00 a.m. on Friday) but we managed to pack a lot into our time there.
On Wednesday, we got settled, then headed out to nearby Uchisar for some hiking in the famous valleys. We clambered around on Uchisar castle, a huge, cave-riddled stone chimney which is the highest point in Cappadocia. Next, with the help of about a million helpful locals, we finally found the unlabeled Pigeon valley, which we could hike through until it returned us to Goreme. We enjoyed a very rugged, 2-hour-or-so hike through the valleys, which were riddled with ancient dwellings carved out of the rock. Most of them had little cubbies carved into the walls, which we later learned were pigeon houses- keeping pigeons and using their droppings for fertilizer was one of the most common ways of earning money there before good ‘ol tourism kicked in.
On Thursday-the most perfect day I can ever remember having- we got up at the crack of down to a van pick-up for our hot-air balloon ride. Cappadocia has a unique terrain that makes it very balloon-friendly- there’s very little wind- and hot air balloon tours are a popular way to enjoy the breathtaking views. I was obviously THRILLED, as I’ve been dreaming about hot air balloons constantly since I first went up in a tethered one with my brownie troop in elementary school. We rode about 30 minutes outside of the village, where we saw our inflating balloon peeking over the ridges. We got there just as it was filling up, and hopped into our cozy little basket with a few other tourists. The balloon lifted a few inches off the ground and cruised right over the very steep edge of the valley, and we were off. I was surprised at how steady the basket felt, and thoroughly enjoyed dangling my arms over the edge and snapping pictures. Watching the 20 or so other balloons in the air at the same time as us, while floating over such stunning, unique terrain, made it the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen. It was AWESOME! After we’d been in the air for about 45 minutes, our pilot announced that we were over a valley nicknamed “love valley”- and that’s when Ace proposed!  He asked me to marry him, and of course I said yes. I was pretty shocked, as I wasn’t expecting that any time remotely soon. We returned to the ground very shortly after, a very happy engaged couple.
After our lovely balloon ride, we took several buses to a different area in the Cappadocia region- Kaymakli. It’s another small village, home to one of two major underground cities in the region. The first three floors were probably carved out by Hittites about 2000 B.C., and were later used and enlarged by early Christians who hid in them for months at a time to escape persecution. The city was pretty awesome- 4 stories underground of stables, churches, living rooms, wineries, etc. carved out of solid rock and connected by narrow, winding, sloping tunnels. While a tourist route was clearly market and well lit, Ace and I found ourselves wishing we had a flashlight so we could explore the numerous pitch-black tunnels that sloped off of the main drag. We loved seeing the place, but ceilings so low that at times we were crawling made me thankful that I’m not claustrophobic.
We returned to Goreme, and after a delicious lunch, we took a 1 kilometer walk on a small road towards the Goreme open air museum. We got distracted on the way by the stunning cliffs, caves, and valleys off the road, and took about a 2 hour detour from the road to climb up rock outcroppings, snap photos, explore caves and scoot down the steep valley walls. We felt like little kids on a giant, gorgeous playground. The most amazing thing is that the entire region is like that- the opportunities for awesome exploring and adventuring are virtually endless. We finally made it to the open-air museum, and checked out some really cool cave churches first used between the 300’s to 500’s. You could see different layers of decoration on the walls- really ancient red die in geometric patterns revealed where the “newer” frescoes had peeled off.
After such an eventful day, we were exhausted, so we headed back to a restaurant in the village to recline on huge cushions while we enjoyed an amazing dinner, orange tea, apple hookah, and Turkish rice pudding- perfect. We returned to Kelebek, played a few games of backgammon ( a very enthusiastic staff member helped us figure out the rules) and collapsed in bed.
The following morning, we returned to Istanbul to enjoy our last full day in Turkey.
The only thing left to mention is that Ace and I are now looking for teaching jobs in Istanbul. Needless to say, we absolutely loved the city. We were planning on spending another year in Korea, but the more we thought about it, the more excited we got about the prospect of experiencing another (totally different) country and culture. The city is gorgeous and fascinating, the people are really nice, the arts scene is great, and the history is just incredible. I would love to finally live in the same city as my dear friend again, too. Ace is particularly excited about the culinary prospects (surprise surprise ). Ace managed to squeeze in an interview at Malynda’s school on Friday, which he really enjoyed, and I’ve been scouring the internet for a decent language school ever since we returned to Daegu. Wish us luck!
Lots of love,
Kait