This is the second installment about Chistina and my trip to Turkey and Egypt that we discussed over a year ago. Our first stop in Turkey was in Istanbul, we then flew to Kayseri in the area of Cappadocia (or Kapadokya) in interior Turkey. Our flight was pretty uneventful but we were pleasantly surprised that for interal Turkish flights they don’t seem to care if you bring liquids on the plane. Of course we didn’t really realize that until after we had dumped out our water bottle.
Cappadocia is a rural desert like place very similar (in my opinion) to Drumheller Alberta, known for its topography including fairy chimneys and ancient cave dwellings. Because it is quite far inland Christina and I didn’t face the incrediable humidity that exists in Istanbul although it is still very hot (but it is a dry heat). Apparently, they get snow in the winter.
The entire region of Cappadocia is full of rock formations called fairy chimneys (Albertan’s would porbably call them hoodoos after those in Drumheller). The fairy chimneys vary from simple rock spires to those with shapes that resemble animals (like the Camel below) or even Napoleon (Bonaparte not Dynamite) with his hat.
Adam with a Camel Shaped Fairy Chimney in the backgroundValley of Fairy Chimneys
The other thing that Cappadocia is known for is its caves. Early Christians (and other people) lived in the naturally occuring caves that occur throughout this region. They were also known to build massive underground tunnels which could be lived in for many months or years. Much of our time in Cappadocia was spent touring these cave dwellings and underground passages. Many of the caves (like the ones below) contain early Christian artwork on the walls that has remained very well preserved. Unfortunately, photos were not permitted inside the caves.
I was astonished at the level of access tourists are given to walk around these stone caves and monuments. In Canada, I’m sure that access to these ancient monuments would be strictly controlled. Some of the higher caves that you can climb to have shear drops and it would be relatively easy for someone to get hurt. This certainly wouldn’t exist like this at a Canadian tourist attraction. All that I could think of was how AWESOME it would have been to play in these caves as a boy.
Early Christian Cave Dwellings
Most hotels in Cappadocia have cave rooms available for their guests. Unfortunately, Christina and I were too cheap to get one of those rooms and we had to suffer for two nights in a basic room with no airconditioning. I mentioned in the early post about how the Turkish seem to use air conditioning sparingly, this fact became painfully obvious to us in Cappadocia.
We also got our first real taste of Turkish cuisine in Cappadocia. The Turkish eat a lot of meat and vegitable skewers (meat on a stick) which both Christina and I love. Traditionally they will also cook meat and vegitables in a pottery for many hours (kind of like a crock pot). They then break the pottery open and serve the very tendor meat and vegitables inside.
We were also introduced to the concept of ‘The Evil Eye’. Many cultures believe that a person can be cursed by someone’s malevolent stare. The Turkish have these blue talismans to ward off the Evil Eye and they are sold everywhere in Turkey and many vehicles have them hanging from their mirrors. Below is a photo of Christina with a tree covered with talismans.
Christina and the Evil Eye Talisman
After two days and nights in Cappadocia we boarded an overnight bus to take us to Pamukkale. This overnight bus trip was probably the worst part of our vacation. It was even worse than an overnight bus trip sounds and I will describe it in my next travel blog post.
