Cappadocia (Bedrock)

I’m sure Fred and Wilma and Pebbles are going to appear around the next corner soon….

We took an overnight bus to Cappadocia and made it after 14 hours. We had a lovely Mercedes bus with screens. It was a long journey with very little sleep, and an over zealous bus boy. We wondered if he was ex-military! However we did get to see the sunset near Istanbul and sunrise at Nevisher.

We booked into our Cave Hotel – which is rather lovely. Our room is partially a cave,and very warm and cosy. The whole area is built around the remains of 3 major earthquakes, and there are all these ‘structures’ that protrude from the ground, and some form natural caves. They have been used to good efffect when the town of Goreme was built. They have been integrated whenever possible.

We slept for some of Tuesday and then went on a sunset valley tour. It was quite amazing to walk up the valley and see what nature dishes out. The structures are made of tufa and are quite crumbly, but some of the top surfaces are really hard. It has all been effected by rain, sun and wind – so they are forever changing. It has been like this for millions of years.

Yesterday we took a mini bus tour further afield and looked at the surrounding district. This included an underground city that housed 20,000 people in it’s hey day. Quite amazing to be underneath the ground looking at homes of people that were in use centuries ago. We also visited cave monasteries and churches. We enjoyed the company of some interesting people on the tour, and observed  traits of different nationalities! It was a very informative tour. Richard has posted some of the photos, above.

One of the best parts of this tourist town is the early morning display of hot air balloons. They take tours out before sunrise and there are loads of balloons in the air before 6am. We have enjoyed watching these from our hotel deck. The rides are hugely expensive – so are off our list. We spoke to people who have been on them and they said it was quite a magical, but very cold experience. You can see up the valleys and over the township. The rides last for 1 hour. They look amazing as they rise and fall amongst the unique landscape here.

The mornings have been clear – but once again where the Hogg’s travel spring has been unusual!! Yesterday we had snow for the afternoon and evening. But it was very light and hasn’t lasted. It was very hazy returning from our tour yesterday. This morning is clear and frosty. We are hoping to stay a few more days here – it is really interesting. We hope to explore some more of the valleys – probably on our own. You can hire bikes and scooters, so we will probably get a map and get on our bikes! Most people rush in and out after a couple of the organised tours. The countryside is quite like Waiouru – flat and desert like with a couple of mountains at the side. There is also a prison a little way from town.