Day 5: We spent the night on the bus, as it was an
11 hours journey from Istanbul to Goreme (Cappadocia). The bus stopped a few
times along the way and the bus even had an entertainment system for every
passenger at the back of each seat. You also get a bottle of water and a sliced
cake. It’s good enough right for a bus journey. I know it was better than the
bus in Malaysia.
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| The bus with entertainment system |
We arrived at Goreme at 8am in the morning. We
went to our accommodation; Yasin’s Place Cave Hotel, freshened up in the common
toilet (as we can only check in after 1pm) and left our bags at the hotel. Then
we head out to Goreme Open Air Museum, which was about 1.2km away from our
hotel. The entrance fee to this place is 15TL. This place was consists of
rock-cut churches with beautiful frescoes from the 10th, 11th
and 12th century.
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| our ride |
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| Hello to the town of Goreme |
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| Isn't it beautiful? The scenery on our way to Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Yes, we're in Goreme |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Frescoes on a church ceiling |
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| Things that we saw inside the church/chapel/house at Goreme Open Air Museum |
After that, we walked through Kiriklar Valley
(Opposite Goreme Open Air Museum) where there is evidence of human settlement.
Later on we walked through Honey Valley to see more fairy chimneys and come
back down to Goreme town on the other side. We had lunch from a kebab stall in
town and head back to our accommodation to rest. We were supposed to go out that
night but all of us fell asleep and only woke up at midnight. What a waste as
it was our only night in Cappadocia.
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| Evidence of settlement at Kiriklar Valley |
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| A glimpse of inside the house |
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| The view from Kiriklar Valley |
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| Entrance to Honey Valley |
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| Fairy chimneys |
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| More fairy chimneys |
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| Goreme from the top of Honey Valley |
Day 6: We woke up and head to the top of Honey
Valley to see hot air balloons in the air. We cannot afford to get on one as it
costs at least 100 euro per person for the hot air balloon experience and can
go up to 180 and sometimes 200 euro depending on the number of people in the
basket.
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| Morning sky filled with Hot Air Balloons |
For today we booked a tour from the same travel
agent at Sultanahmet that we bought our bus ticket. The tour costs 80TL per
person including lunch. First, we went for a walk at Rose Valley. The
name came from Roseberry, where the flower looks like a rose. Here, we saw
poplar trees, the tree that people in the olden days use it as stairs to get to
their home. We also passed by a few tunnels that was dug out by people and they
used it to connect to the neighboring valley and to hide from enemies. There’s
also evidence of settlement in this valley that dated back to the year 1214.
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| Heading towards Rose Valley |
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| Mt Aktepe. Made from 11 volcano eruptions. |
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| Poplar trees |
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| Tunnel dug out by people |
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| Chapel in Rose Valley |
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| The house dated back to 1214 with MasyaAllah written on the right hand side of the pigeon hole. |
Next, we went to three sisters fairy chimneys
near Urgup. According to the tour guide, these rock formation represents three
women in troy’s life, his wife, daughter and sister. Their names are Athena,
Hera and Aphrodite. The scenery for this lookout was very beautiful. After
that, we went to a Gemstone factory (can’t remember the name) where they showed
us how to differentiate turquoise stones. Besides turquoise, they also sell
various types of gemstones. We also had lunch at a cave restaurant within the
vicinity of the gemstone factory.
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| The three sisters |
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| Panoramic view around the three sisters |
After lunch, we went to Kaymakli Underground
City. It is the largest underground city in the region and one of the 13
underground cities that can be visited. About 5000 people used to live here.
there's 8 storey altogether but only 4 can be visited. I can’t imagine that
people used to live here as it’s very dark and the corridors are very small and
narrow.
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| Inside the underground city |
Then we went to Pigeon Valley and as the name
suggested, there was a lot of pigeons there. You can see Uchisar Castle from
here.
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| Pigeon Valley |
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| Uchisar Castle from Pigeon Valley |
Finally, we watched demonstration of marbling
art, an underwater painting that started during Ottoman period. We even experienced
the marbling art process by sprinkling colourful paints onto water where a
cloth was laid gently on top of the water to absorb the colour and pattern; and
the result was amazing.
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| The outcome |
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| Hands on experience making a scarf |
Then the guide dropped us off at Urgup Bus
Station for us to catch our bus back to Istanbul.
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| Saying goodbye to our new friends |
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| With the younger generations of the group |
That's all for Cappadocia. Will finalize my Turkey trip soon.
Till then~
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