Finally I can get this post out. We have been busier than a 1 legged man in a butt kicking competition so I have fallen miles behind. So far behind in fact that hopefully I’ll be able to get a couple more posts out in quick succession so keep checking.
Anyway I start this blog with about 10 shots from our travels in the car. By the way if you’re thinking of travelling to Turkey apart from the huge cities (Istanbul, Ankara etc) driving here is a breeze and not expensive. So hire a car.
Once you get to the pix of the cute little guy who was the son of the family who owned our accomodation you will see 18 shots of our underground cave room. Besides inside the cave I have included photos from the rooftop terrace and a photo showing my joy at another Turkish breakfast. I finish that lot with our multi-legged guest in our room. (Forunately we didn’t see it untill we were starting to lug our bags upstairs to leave for our next stop.)
The majority of the remaining gallery is Kayasehir Fort. We were driving around town when we spied it from the road below. After guessing our way through the backstreets we got to the carpark and then climbed the rest of the way on foot to the top. The views of Nevsehir township were spectacular. One hour and a heap of photos later we descended in the car to find the city produce market. It so very much reminded me of the Paddies Markets in Sydney so many years ago. And I will add here that the quality of the fresh produce including the fruits is first class. The final few photos are what we thought were ruins atop a ridge on our way to Cappadocia. Turns out after some detective work it is an art installation by an Aussie named Andrew Rogers. Apparently he has done these things in several countries and they are worth a look on google if it interests you.
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Now this next gallery is the one that has kept me from posting. We took so many photo and had such a great time that culling pictures for the blog was a killer. I slaved over these pictures far more than any others before.
Cappadocia should be in the top 10 bucket list of every serious traveller. We stayed at Nevsihir in a cave house as mentioned above and started our ‘cappa’ adventure with a balloon flight. But this is no ordinary balloon flight. On our morning there were an estimated 100 balloons aloft to catch the sunrise. We were informed that in peak season that number can climb to around 250 balloons! So if I sound excited and I have doubled up on photos then forgive me as Shane and I were both so overwhelmed we just clicked away on our cameras non-stop. I have tried to put the pix into some sort of order but I eventually gave up and so you’ll have to check them out yourself. (Hint: If you roll your mouse pointer over the picture it ‘should’ expose a tag with a title to help identify the picture.)
The last photo of the balloon flight is where we are sharing bubbly (a flying tradition they told us). The photos after that are of the most spectacular ‘houses’ we have ever seen. When the Christians were persecuted to the point of leaving their homeland they came to Cappadocia. Here they found these enormous, naturally cone shaped rocks into which they proceeded to carve caves to make into safe homes. They call them fairy castles and it is just like a fairy land. Together they make up the world’s largest outdoor museum and it is truly fascinating. The only sad part is that visitors are not allowed to photograph the artwork that so beautifully decorates the rock cavern churches. Much of this artwork is over a thousand years old and mind blowing. I so wish I could have taken some photos but every ‘church’ has a guard and they are efficient at their job.
In any case Cappadocia (and indeed all of Turkey) is really a fantastic place to visit. There is more to come of Turkey so keep checking the blog.
Bye for now
Garry and Shane.