niniane

9-17-19

Got on the 6:15 flight to Kyseri just to find that, of course when we arrived, Budget didn't have the requested auto or the GPS (just a manual transmission). So I'll be driving the whole time. Great. (Lindsey wanted to argue, but I was tired, the man's English wasn't great, and I doubted they could will an automatic into existing. She may have been right in retrospect, but who knows? TIRED, MAN, TIRED.)

We took off for Cappadocia and we made it in about an hour. Our first stop was the Zevre open air museum, a bunch of 11^th century churches carved into the stone walls. The scenery was a lot of hoodoos – very pretty, but not as pretty as Bryce Canyon – but the wineries and chapels was definitely really cool. For the first part, we were completely alone. But then when we entered a different wing, there were a ton of women in wedding dresses doing photoshoots. Which was okay, but also a bit annoying as it's hard to walk around photoshoots without disturbing them. (And most of the women would get irritated that we might step in front of them, even though, come on now, we have as much a right to be here as you and do have to get by eventually.)

A hoodoo or where old Christian cults hung out and got wasted on wine? You be the judge!

An ancient chapel. It's not super fancy, but when you've got wine...

There's an entire city of this.

After that, we made it to another group of pretty hoodoos that was absolutely swarmed with tourists, to the extent that it was very annoying. (Fairy Chimneys) From there, we went to Imagination Valley, that was also swarmed, but was made a bit better by being a place where you could walk a few blocks to escape the insanity.

Goreme is also quite spectacular.

We found another fairy chimney park, then went back to the hostel to check in and rest. I wandered off and picked up a book on the area. Then we went off for lunch, which involved manti (a local dumpling drenched in a spicy yogurt sauce). Then we rested for a bit and took off for Goreme open air museum.

Along the way, we also saw an evil eye tree.

The open air museum is impressive, in that it's a bunch of 11^th century chapels that were carved from the stone and elaborately painted. Amazingly, most of the lifelike paintings still survive! Unfortunately, it's mobbed, so much of the visit involved pushing past other tourists or waiting in long lines to look at the paintings before leaving and moving onto the next.

You can't take pictures inside the open air museum, but this is the outside. It's...better from the inside, I guess?

By the end, we were quite ready for a break. We went to a local hamam (Urugurp public baths) that had been running for ages. Unusually, it serves men and women simultaneously. It is also quite inexpensive. We bathed and hung out in a large common room (all made from marble), then went into an individual room to be scrubbed down and massaged. The whole process took a bit over an hour, even with waiting for the people before us to be scrubbed and massaged. Then we went for a lovely dinner at a wine cafe which involved a lentil soup and a number of messes as well as local wine. (Which was okay. Not bad, but not something to write home about, either.)

Now I'm writing this on the top floor of my hostel (Stay in Peace), which serves a homemade wine that I like rather better than the far more expensive wine at the wine bar. Go figure. But the local wine is fun, as are the cats on the bar and the very welcoming bar tender who also happens to be the wine maker.

9-17-19

Woke up at 5:30 am and drove down to Love Valley to watch the balloons launch. Love Valley is so named in that there are a number of suggestive rocks sticking up from the ground. A number of couples were doing wedding photos there, which kind of amused me.

Cappadocia is known for its ballooning.

MOAR balloons!

I think you're supposed to share this seat with your sweet heart. But as we all know, I am always alone. So my sweetheart is me.

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The sun rises...with balloons!

Balloon close up.

As it gets light enough to see the valley...

I've seen more phallic.

The balloons have the skies!

The balloons went up around sunset and were quite scenic. Mostly it's just cool seeing the sky filled with hundreds of balloons. I think I'll go out again!

After that, we drove off to Ilhara Valley. Ilhara valley is a 100 meter deep gorge that has a pretty river running through it and a number of chapels from the 10^th and 11^th centuries with churches carved into the stone. Some of these are also vibrantly painted. So it's kind of like a far less crowded, more picturesque version of the Open Air Museum. (Just with longer walks between the churches.) It was cool in that almost no one was there, so it was quite peaceful and serene, other than the Open Air Museum, where I felt like I was constantly jostling for space. I can see why people love this area and often mark it as their favorite part of the trip!

This is like....1000 years old! It's crazy!

It's all held up super well!

Along the way, we found an adorable cafe with little tents with cushions in them assembled in the river. (There were also some tables with logs where you could sit in the river and get your feet wet. Very nice on hot days, I'd imagine!) We had some tasty pomegranate juice there before heading back.

It's so cute! do you see my feet dangling into the water as I rest on an adorable log? Do you see the adorable table? CUTE!

And I lounge like a Circassian concubine because it's so pretty and scenic!

Next on the list was the Deriyaku underground city. Apparently about a thousand years ago, people carved out cities underground to hide in when raiders appeared. These cities grew until some (including this one) were large enough to hold as many as 30,000 people. They were booby trapped, had rocks you could use to seal off doors, wells, etc. It's quite impressive, but also rather claustrophobic. (I could barely squeeze through some passages that were only a few feet wide and maybe 3 feet tall. I felt like they needed a box outside where they were like, “If you can't fit through this, please don't go into the caves.” Because I can totally see someone getting stuck down there.) Of course, Lindsey being small was having a great time. I was lamenting how tiny everything was, although it was cool to see.

After that, we had lunch at a nice little restaurant down the street that cost about $3 US a piece for kebab with pita bread. Then we went over to Uisher castle, a huge formation that has caves carved up and down it. It looks like some weird hive thing that mutant insects will emerge from at any time. We walked up to the top, where there was a pretty cool view, then drove down the street next to it that had a whole city of miniature beehive strange formations.

Uischer castle. It's weird, man.

It was still fairly early (and hot) so we went back to the hostel and had a glass of homemade wine at the cafe. There were a number of cats begging for food (which I refused to give them – no bad habits, cats!). The owner came by and talked to us for a bit, then gave us both a “taste” of more wine (which turned out to be a full glass a piece) on the house.

We then drove to Rose Valley, another picturesque area that was infested with ATVs. (They must have been doing a sunset tour?) It was kind of obnoxious as the drivers weren't being at all careful. We hiked around for a bit, then went off to dinner.

Of course there were more bridal wedding shots taking place, though...

I got my picture taken, too, as what is life without vanity?

We did our fancy meal of the trip at Dere Suites. Lindsey had more manti (a tasty ravioli), while I had testi kebab. Testi kabob involves cooking meat in a sealed clay pot for 4-5 hours to get it super tender. It came out with a huge flame, a chef, and sides. The chef cut the pot, then carefully poured it into a dish (it still had some pot shards in it). It was tasty, but not exceptionally so. Still, the presentation was fun, the owner was friendly, and we had a nice glass of locally made wine. The whole meal (at a fancy restaurant) worked out to $18/person. Not too terrible, for the expensive meal! Although I am now very full.

The restaurant's view alone was probably mostly worth it.

And hey, that night view!

9-17-19

I woke up early to see the balloons rise at Sunrise point. They were, as usual, quite pretty and Sunrise Point had the additional advantage of being on top of a hill overlooking Uischer castle and Goreme. So it was all quite lovely. Once the sun had risen, I returned to the hostel and ate our complimentary breakfast (egg, cheese, bread, tea, cucumbers, tomato, a piece of sausage), then set out for El Nazar.

I sunrise like a champ.

No make up, no shower, just sunrise.

It is very scenic, though.

Uischer in the daylight.

This is how most of those Instagram photoshoots look. Note that there are at least four going on that I can see. IN THIS AREA ALONE.

So yes...El Nazar....

El Nazar is yet another cave church, this one privately owned. It's owner (a little old man), took us into the church which has frescos as impressive as any at Ilhara valley (and only slightly less impressive than some of the ones in the open air museum). He also showed us the old winery for the monastery, which had been converted into a pigeon home. Then he served us tea – all for 7 TL (around $1.30 USD – not a bad deal!)

El Nazar frescos. As much worth it for the friendly service as the amazing paintings, but the second isn't bad, either!

I hope to look so good in a thousand years.

Seriously, these are sublime!

From there we went up to St. John the Baptist church, the earliest complex in the area dating from the 5^th century AD (I think). It was still recognizable as a church, although it had none of the frescos remaining. You could climb into it for free, but it was a bit of a climb, so we chose not to.

Still...a 1500 year old monastic complex....

Next we headed out to the hanging bridge, a picturesque park with a huge swinging bridge in the center. I got an ice cream from a man who asked for American money (he collects it), so I gave him a quarter, nickle, dime and penny as a gift. (The ice cream was only 5 TL – less than a dollar – so the extra amount seemed trivial).

It was only about 10:30, so we went next to the pottery museum at Avanos. There was an older section, with pots dating back to 3000 BCE (still beautifully preserved) all the way to Iznik tiles from fairly recently. Then another wing showcased the very modern pottery being made by artists in the area now. Finally there was a modern art gallery with paintings, a few of which were for sale.

Then there was a museum gift shop that was maybe 2xs larger than the museum. (It was enormous!) I kind of got the feeling that the museum existed as a reason to sell more pottery..but it was a nice museum and fairly inexpensive, so it was hard to mind much.

We headed back to Kyseri, had lunch, then went to the Suljit museum. The Suljits were a group of Muslim conquerors who controlled this area from around 1000 AD to 1400 AD (when the Ottomans took over). The museum was lovely and modern, although almost all in Turkish, so I didn't really understand much. It showcased pottery, metalwork, musical instruments, dishes, coins, rugs, and other miscellaneous stuff. It was all quite informative and had a lovely music wing where the lights were low and music from the period was played over the sound of bubbling water.

After that, we returned to the airport, brought the car back, and now are seated in the waiting room. 6-7 Which means my trip is nearly over, alas.