Cappodocia
Today we went on a whirlwind group tour of some of the major sights in the area.
It was fascinating! It went a little too quickly through some of it, but we got to see lots of stuff, and each stop was more incredible than the next.
The main highlights were the Underground Cities — literally long cities made of large rooms carved 8 stories deep into the ground. The locals would each have a tunnel from their house into the city, and would escape down when raiders came by. The many air shafts to keep the cities ventilated look like wells from the top, and apparently the cities were in use for hundreds of years.
We also saw the Pigeon Valley, where tiny holes in the tufa mounds were made to keep pigeons; the Ilhara Valley, which was caused when an earthquake ripped the land apart– a river flows there now, and it is cool, with excellent trout; many cave churches and cave monastaries and the infamous “love valley” where the volcanic rock and tufa has eroded into, um, how shall we say, “unique” shapes. Pictures to follow!
I’m feeling sleepy so any major Cappodocia update will have to wait ’till later… Going to take a day off of travel & major sight-seeing tomorrow — just lounge around the pool and figure out where to go next. I will stop into the next town over, Ugurp (at least I think that’s what it is called) and check out the old back streets and sample local wines at their winery. (I have already learned the Turkish word for wine, it is Sarap. Now I need to learn the word for “dry”…)
I think it’s an early night for me tonight… Lots of hot sun today. For a change.
More tomorrow!