Wondrous Cappadocia - Day 1

Now that I am on the cruise ship, I am planning to catch up my blog and, as a start, post a couple more about my time in Cappadocia.  I think I have mentioned that this is a region I had never heard of prior to about March when I started planning this trip.  Now, I am in love with it and would really like to return some day and see more of it.  What really helped was having a private guide who tailored our days to meet my interests and physical ability.  Sadly, I am not as able to the extent I would like to do long, steep walks or navigate uneven ground.  However, that didn't hold me back much and certainly saw more than enough to appreciate the special nature of this region.  So, to backtrack.  I arrived in Cappadocia on a Saturday to the airport in Keyseri where Ata, my guide, met me.  We stayed for three nights in Goreme at a cave hotel there called Roma Suite Hotel.  It was a perfect location because the town gave us lots of restaurant choices each night.  That first afternoon, I rested as I was exhausted from the long journey here.  

The next morning, I was presented with one of the most massive breakfasts I have ever seen.  I managed to get through some of it but certainly not the olives, the cheese and meat platter and the big basket of buns.  

After breakfast, we started touring the area.  I have already posted some general information about Cappadocia as well as my accommodation.  In this blog, I hope to describe the various sites we visited and give a sense of what it is like here.

Our first stop was the Zelve Monastery.  This is a Byzantine-era monastery that was carved into the rock.  Here there are not the rich frescoes that you may find in some of the other caves in this area.  The complex contains innumerable rooms and passages.  There are also the famous “fairy chimneys” here.  The valley was a monastic retreat between the 9^th and 13^th centuries.  The area contains houses, a mill, a wine cellar, a small mosque and many dovecotes.  There is also a Christian church.  Christians moved to Zelve during the Persian and Arab invasions.  The site was inhabited until 1952 when villagers were relocated for safety concerns. 

Next we went to Pasa Baglan, also known as the "village of mushroom rocks" where there were more impressive rock formations.  This is a small open air museum with magnificent rock formations and you can discover the churches and places that people used to live in. It was, however, very crowded given that it was a Sunday on a long weekend.  I basically just took some photos of the rock formations that looked interesting (they looked like mushrooms and well, you can figure out the other!).  Ata told me some of the first Star Wars movies were filmed here. 

After visiting that valley, we drove through the countryside which gave me plenty of opportunity to take photos of the unique rock formations.  At one point, we stopped to watch a herd of goats and a donkey traversing the landscape.

Our next stop that first day, was at ceramic factory.  While tourism compromises a significant part of the economy here, the area is also known for its ceramics.  I got a demonstration of how the wine vases are made.  It was interesting but I wasn’t tempted to buy anything.

Back in Goreme, we had a light lunch at a pida restaurant; this is the Turkish version of pizza and it was very tasty. 

After that we went walked back to our hotel.  Later, around 6 pm, Ata drove me to a place to watch a whirling dervish ceremony (more about that in a later blog).  That ceremony lasted about 45 minutes.  Then, we went back to Goreme to a lovely rooftop restaurant for a traditional Turkish clay pot dinner.  The view from the restaurant over the town was lovely - as was the food.

So, the first full day of my time in Cappadocia was done and I have to say I was very impressed but also exhausted!