Cappadoccia

About two months ago in early September, the kids had a week off of school (Ramadan) and we took the opportunity to migrate south for a few days. We packed up the car and road tripped it to a little town (Urgup) built on top of a hill, in the middle of the magical region of Turkey known as Cappadoccia.

Years ago (and I mean millions), 3 volcanoes in the region erupted over a period of time, leaving layers and layers of dried lava rock for wind & foul weather to do a number on. Over time the most interesting land formations were created. Civilizations found the temperate climate here to be ideal for living, but more importantly, they found the rock to be soft enough to carve homes/caves out of for dwelling. During the fledgeling years of Christendom, many Christians took to Cappoddocia for respite from persecution. As a result many caves were not only carved out of rock as habitations, but also as churches. We had been told by many not to miss the opportunity to explore this part of Turkey...and were we ever glad we made the trip!

Day 1

After 8 hours in the car and some deliberation over which cave carved into the mountainside was ours for the sleeping, we unpacked and ventured out...we were hungry for some HIKING! In Istanbul and surrounding areas there really isn't a lot of green space...at all...and we have been missing the green of Seattle and all of the hiking we were able to do. Our cave manager marked a map up for us and pointed us in the direction of Rose Valley. In no time't all we were piling out of the car and running for the trail head!

Rose Valley highlights: stumbling upon somebody's personal cave dwelling/church/vineyard. As we hiked down into this lovely valley we happened upon a couples little cave-home. They live here with their baby during the summer and grow the most beautiful garden and vineyard. They owned a church that sat on their property that had been used hundreds of years ago, still with well preserved ceiling frescoes. As I looked around, I started salivating over their lovely garden and life of simplicity. They gave us some fresh juice to drink, we bought some of their home-grown honey and were on our way.

On this hike we also hit the sunset at just the right time. We watched the sun sink over the Cappadoccian landscape as the kids played and stumbled around. The mountainsides were beautiful; they had the appearance of someone having taken a paintbrush dipped in rose-colored paint and then swiped the mountainside back and forth with the brush a few times. We wandered to cliffs edges and peered across to other cliffs where caves had been built...on sheer faces of the mountain side. They must have had ladders to lower them down; we could not believe how inaccessible some seemed. Ryan and the kids found secret pleasure in getting as close to cliffs edge as possible, just to see how far down I'd bite my nails.

Ryan took a bunch of pics that evening from his phone, including the one of the kids at the top of our blog.

Day 2

Woke up in our cozy cave, ate our yummy breakfast and let the kids play around in the gardens for a few minutes...until the owners gave us "the look" when Jake started singing "The Song that Never Ends" just a few decibals too high. We scooted on out and headed out for some more hiking. Not exactly sure where we found ourselves, but really enjoyed our hike in and around the area they call Zelve, and then "Love Valley" (a fitting name for it's phallic-like rock formations...though Jake thought the rocks looked like mushrooms). We don't really rely on tour guides so much when we venture out, for better or worse. When we get lost, we figure sometimes it's for the better. As we were driving through the mountains, we found a man out in the middle of nowhere selling juice and drinks. He suggested we drive to the town of Uchisar, which we did. We found a "castle" at the top of this little hilltop village
that resembled more of a hunk of swiss cheese than a castle. The kids enjoyed exploring and climbing to the top, where we had great views of valleys and mountains. We wandered around the village a bit; fun shops, plenty of charm, and gozleme for lunch.

We made our way back to our hotel in time to meet up with cousins David, Tiffany and Andrew, who had come all the way from Saudi to party with us for a few days. We walked down the hill from our hotel and into Urgup for dinner. I remember sitting there chatting with them, eating our yummy Turkish dinner and listening to the call of prayer sound in the late evening night air. I remember thinking how strange it was to be there (here), in a little town in Turkey with my kids and with cousins...in a town I had never before heard of and I place I never planned to see in my lifetime. I walked home a few minutes early with a tired and grumpy Josie, but enjoyed the lovely night air, walking past all of the old buildings and caves turned hotel and feeling lucky to have such a singular experience.

Day 3

On this morning our fellow cave-inhabitors had quite the time finding a quiet table away from our party turned 9. We all enjoyed the morning and outside breakfast so much that I'm suprised we even left the hotel! We finally set out and made our way to the underground city of Derinkuyu.

Derinkuyu was indeed a city built underground, 7 stories (possibly more) down into the earth. We could hardly believe we were navigating the tunnels and dwellings of people who took to the subterranean life hundreds of years ago. We descended down, down...walking hunchbacked through tunnels that branched off here and there, in and out of dwellings, kitchens, "barns" (their animals were brought down!), churches, etc. We couldn't imagine being so desperate for safety that we would carve an existence for ourselves down into the earth...crazy! This was truly fascinating and the kids had a hey-day exploring. We got a kick out of seeing David fall back into a grave in the "cemetary" (imagine building a cemetary...underground?!). We have great memories of this adventure...the pictures don't quite do it justice.

Made our way back through the "backroads" (a bit lost again) into Uchisar, on our way to Goreme and Urgup. Happened upon the most stunning picture of Pigeon Valley below the Uchisar Castle; what a magical place! We stopped in Goreme (a UNESCO World Heritage Cite: home of many caves turned churches) during the heat of the day. The kids wanted little to do with exploring the churches at that point, and with the pressing crowds we encountered there, so we made our stop as short and sweet as we could. But so worth the stop. We caught a glimpse here and a peek there of many stunning frescoes painted inside of the sanctuaries and churches. Our kids would say, however, that their favorite part was the lemon ice cream at the end of the museum walk. And, it was tasty!

Had a relaxing evening and nice dinner with David & Tiffany that night. Tried to make it back in good time in order to be up EARLY for our balloon ride the next morning.!

Day 4

Rolled out of bed, bundled up and dragged ourselves out to meet our 6:00 a.m. Butterfly Balloon shuttle that would take us to the top of Rose Valley, where our hot air balloon was being prepped for an early morning flight. The only bummer about our balloon ride was that they wouldn't let Tiffany and baby Andrew join us, on account of Andrew being still an infant. We piled into our balloon box and regrettably left them down on the ground. Wow, what an exhilerating experience...to feel yourself weightless and rising high up into the sunrise with 40 or 50 other balloons around you! Our amazing pilot, Mike, gave the kids paper to make paper airlplanes while we were in the air. He let them launch them from the balloon; the kids thought it was fun to watch them for a while, soaring, floating, never in a hurry to make their way down. Mike guided our balloon in and out of narrows and valleys...even through tree tops and past caves built into cliff-sides. We finally landed in a big wheat field where all members of our party ended with cake and a champagne (or juice) toast. Good times!

We had to go back to the cave to crash for a few hours...

That afternoon we drove to a nearby town called Avenos where they make a lot of the pottery you see sold throughout Turkey. We visited a factory where the kids watched artists painting the pottery, and where they let us try our hand at throwing a few pots. Unfortunately, little Mia had a kid-migraine that afternoon and we had to find a couch/bench to lay her on for part of the outing...she felt so crummy.

We ended our evening with some standard Turkish grub and some pretty tired little peeps...

Day 5

On the morning of Sunday, September 12th 2010 you would have found the 6 of us casually hanging out in our cave hotel in Urgup, Turkey with the cousins: David, Tiffany & baby Andrew. It was SO NICE vacationing together with them. We held our own church service together that morning, and wrapped up a fun-filled 5 days of cave exploring, rock climbing, underground excavating, balloon flying and in general all-out partying. We said our goodbyes (although we would see them in a few short days in Istanbul!) and headed north for home.

We visited a pottery studio/threw a few pots

Stayed in a cave

And did plenty of hiking.

We kept finding Ry in the strangest of places

Jake called this Mushroomland

But is also known as Love Valley

Goreme is an amazing UNESCO cite!

We traveled to Derinkuyu

To see what living in an underground city

Might have been like.

Horizon at Night: Uchisar Castle

Our balloon ride was definitely a highlight!

Thys over Rose Valley at Twilight