It's pretty hard to land in a place after a 35-hour trip and five-hour time change and try to adjust your body clock so that you can immediately jump into high gear. Although we went to bed at midnight local time, I didn't drift off until 5:00AM, such was the jetlag effect. Equipped with one hour of sleep (Pam slept all night, I should note!), we were up early and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Our tour guide, a young Muslim woman named Mensure, and our driver, showed up at 9:45AM. There was only one other person on the tour, which made things more personalized and efficient.
Our first stop was the Monastery Village of Goreme (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), essentially a village built into the rock formations - which the locals call "fairy chimneys". The village is filled with tiny churches with carved ceilings and frescoes.
From there, we visited a vista offering a beautiful panoramic view of the valley.
Next it was on to Uchisar, known for a massive structure called the rock-castle of Uchisar. Inside it's a labyrinth of tunnels and caves that were used to ward off attacks from enemies waaaay back when. 
Our fourth stop was truly the highlight for us: Pasabag. These rock formations are best described as mushrooms, and the pictures will show why. Not since our visit to Petra in Jordan have we seen anything so unique and impressive.
Our last stop on the geological portion of the tour was Derbent. The structures there have shapes that have been identified as camels, dolphins, even the Virgin Mary. If you ever tire of finding identifiable shapes in the clouds, Derbent provides lots of similar fun with rock formations. 
Almost every organized tour you purchase in this part of the world ultimately forces you into an end-of-day visit to a carpet cooperative, a pottery factory, or an onyx shop, where you are forced to hear about the trade and then are subjected to high pressure sales tactics. We were taken to a carpet cooperative. A 45-minute lesson on spinning silk fibers, double knots, and everything about the handmade carpet industry, left us nodding off. Fortunately the other guy on the tour with us was a doctor from Chicago who had just bought a new house and was looking to drop a few thousand on a fancy rug. So he took the sales heat and we slipped out. 
Two quirky notes from today. First, the name of this small market amidst the souvenir stands in Derbent.... 
Second, the common presence of these blue charms ("nazars") used to ward off the "Evil Eye", as demonstrated by this tree decorated with them. 
Back at our hotel by 4:15PM, we had a snooze, made some tea, and had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Our taxi arrives at 4:30AM to take us to the Kayseri airport for our flight back to Istanbul and on to Cyprus. So from Cappadocia, which means "land of the beautiful horses", we bid you good night.
Thanks for the great photos and history lesson, fascinating rock formations/villages for sure!! Have Fun! :-)
ReplyDeleteEarl