It's Kapadokya, not Cappadocia
We arrived midday in Cappadocia but at an airport an hour from our hotel surrounded by snowcapped mountains and the town of Uchisar. We got our rental car and drove across the countryside. The closer we got to our hotel the more the landscape changed from wide open expanses to multicolored plateaus and pinnacles of rock. We checked into our smokey hotel room and asked them to help us schedule a hot air balloon ride. After confirming someone would be by later to take payment for the ride, we headed off to an UNDERGROUND CITY. I wasn’t sure what to expect but we paid 150 lira and headed down a tunnel. I thought the city was just going to be an exaggerated term they used to attract tourist but it was a legitimate city. There were dozens of rooms, kitchen areas, wineries and even a church below ground. It was amazing how they managed to dig out the rock and keep track of where they were as to avoid breaking through one wall into someone’s living room. We spent about 30 minutes there before we had to head back to town for our dinner reservations.
Leeah had booked a table at a restaurant called “Dream Spot” and the name did not disappoint. We were only a small valley away from Uchisar Castle and all the hillside residences carved out of the rock walls. It was picturesque and beautiful and the food was also excellent. Not to mention the cute stray dogs that kept sneaking their way onto the patio and planting themselves beside a table with customers (including us).
From there we jumped back in the car to head to the closer airport to pick up my sister, Lisa. We picked her up with ease and after many hugs we were off to the hotel. We were all pretty tired and Lisa had been on 4 flights to get here from MSP, but we wanted to celebrate with a drink at the hotel! So, on the way we stopped at a liquor store and got some wine. I went in alone and walked through the hanging plastic flaps that you typically see in a walk-in freezer, but instead of cold air, the flaps were holding in the cigarette smoke of 6 guys all smoking behind the counter. Being a redhead, I stand out pretty much anywhere in the world, but especially in rural Turkey. I said good evening in Turkish and in unison all six guys responded back with “good evening”. I grabbed a bottle of wine and paid. As I left, I said goodbye in Turkish and again in unison they all responded back the same. I know they got a kick out of this interaction and so did I so to put a cherry on top, I added a “see you” and as I walked out I could hear them all laughing. We got back and drank our wine on the terrace before all crashing hard in our beds.
4AM wake up call the next morning was less than pleasant. BUT we were going on a hot air balloon ride so none of us complained. We got picked up and scooted off to Love Valley where they were already starting to fill our balloon! The baskets were much larger than I imagined and could fit around 20 people. We drank coffee while we watched our balloon, and others, get inflated all before the sunrise. We were directed into the basket, given a brief safety and landing tutorial and soon we were lifting off the ground. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear. We floated over beautiful rock formations, nearly bumping into other balloons, and ultimately, we lifted up high enough to see the sunrise over the plateau. There are 100 balloons that take off at once and another 50 thirty minutes later. I was just laughing the whole time about how less than 12 hours after checking into our hotel, we were floating over Cappadocia in a hot air balloon. It was magical. After an hour we started to descend, and they parked the basket on a trailer. They are very skilled at this. We got to celebrate with sparking juice after landing and then headed back to the hotel. We went back to bed until it was time for breakfast at the hotel. I almost wish I hadn’t because it felt like a dream when I woke up. Only after looking at photos did I feel like it actually happened.
After breakfast, we headed to an open air museum of a city built in the rocky walls of three adjacent valleys. We wandered around wondering what life was like living in these dugout walls, reading about the facts that they could piece together from this ancient city. It had been a refuge for Christians after the main religion and ruling party switched to Islam. After the Zelve open air museum, we drove down the road 1 km to the Pasabag area where there were “fairy chimneys”. They are large pillars that have been formed over thousands of years by wind and rain, some of which had been hollowed out for rooms. We were still quite tired so after this we decided to head back for some rest at the hotel.
That night we toured the Uchisar Castle, Lisa took a photo that incidentally included a mob boss (assuming) and we went to dinner in a cave restaurant owned by a very sweet family. The food was excellent and when we arrived the father of this family was planting seeds in the garden.
First things first the next day we headed to the Evil Eye tree. Oops. The first one was a fraud, onto the next one!
After that, we hiked Pigeon Valley and after a few wrong (but beautiful) turns, we found Goreme. We ate lunch at Kosebasi and it was also amazingly delicious. Leeah was feeling a little sick from allergies so we dropped her off to rest and Lisa and I went to another underground city. This one was larger than the first that Leeah and I saw. Lisa was in awe and so was I. There were so many rooms and tunnels and we had to crouch and squat and crawl. It was so much fun.
That night we decided we would restaurant hop and get food and drinks at 4 or 5 places. They were all kind of strange and all near the Uchisar Castle, but we had a great time. The last place had just opened two weeks prior, they were so disorganized, didn’t have any of the ingredients for their specialty cocktails but the staff was so kind and the food was excellent. I hope they get more customers and that they succeed.
The next morning we headed to the airport, with not enough sleep and heads still heavy of the fog of alcohol. We had an excellent, yet sleep deprived time in Cappadocia, but every moment was worth it, and we fell in love with that part of Turkey.
