leaving this land of unusual rocks and caves

It's our last day, well actually it's our last few moments in Cappadocia. I think of all the wonderful places in the world, I've been, this one had me gasping the most. The combination of ancient civilizations ingenuity and the incredible geology makes for a great combination in my book.

Yesterday was a full day. We wandered around on the motorbike driving through small villages and hiking along some paths. Steven loves to go offroad on the motorbike and I love adventures so it was quite fun, as we explored the countryside. We made our way to an unassuming village. In a quiet corner of the town lay an underground city. It is called Kaymakli. We decided to hire a guide for this underground labrynith. It is said, this city began to be built 4000 years ago as a place for the Hittites as a place to hide from their enemies. It was abandoned during peace time and many others followed in their footsteps eventually ending with the Crusaders in the 12th century. The Crusaders made it into what it is today. A city that can hold 5000 people for 6 months.. all underground and completely unseen above ground. There are tunnels and communication holes, bathing areas, small living quarters, a place to make wine, churches and booby traps, a communal kitchen and blocked entries for the enemies.... I LOVED IT and loved imagining what it was like living in there. It is not for the claustophobic, that is for sure.

From there we tried to go to another town, but a storm came in so we decided to go back to our cave and hang for the afternoon. it was a wonderful few hours of rest before we went into town to see a whirling dervish performance, have a lovely meal and then watch another amazing performance from two local muscians...

We are on to Istanbul in a few moments and I can't wait.

badlands on crack!!

The cave is raining on me... raining little pieces of limestone.. I love it..

Cappadocia is like the Badlands, Bryce Canyon, Mesa Verde and Petra on steriods!! It is really quite unbelievable. We rented a motorbike and rode around yesterday, I couldn't stop taking pictures. Really it is quite inspiring.The combination of geology and ancient traditional living. It makes my heart go wild just thinking about ancient civilizations and what they accomplished and how they lived. Steven and I were in awe the whole day and I couldn't stop talking about it. He said he was feeling really inspired too..

We went to a place called Zelve yesterday, it was a living place until 1950 when the government decided it was too unsafe (because of erosion) to keep on livi, the people were moved to another location. It was a cave fantasy land of tunnels and monasteries and mosques and living quarters. One of my favorite things is the pigeon houses. the photo with the little squares carved out. There was a mill and all sorts of other amazing things.

Today we are going to explore an Huge (8 stories deep) underground city that was living thousands of years ago.. I can't wait...

Badlands on crack!!

The cave is raining on me... raining little pieces of limestone.. I love it..

Cappadocia is like the Badlands, Bryce Canyon, Mesa Verde and Petra on steriods!! It is really quite unbelievable. We rented a motorbike and rode around yesterday, I couldn't stop taking pictures. Really it is quite inspiring.The combination of geology and ancient traditional living. It makes my heart go wild just thinking about ancient civilizations and what they accomplished and how they lived. Steven and I were in awe the whole day and I couldn't stop talking about it. He said he was feeling really inspired too..

We went to a place called Zelve yesterday, it was a living place until 1950 when the government decided it was too unsafe (because of erosion) to keep on livi, the people were moved to another location. It was a cave fantasy land of tunnels and monasteries and mosques and living quarters. One of my favorite things is the pigeon houses. the photo with the little squares carved out. There was a mill and all sorts of other amazing things.

Today we are going to explore an Huge (8 stories deep) underground city that was living thousands of years ago.. I can't wait...

Rumi, and fariy tales

Unexpectedly we left the coast late Saturday night... It was the only bus ticket we could get and as awesome as the beach is, Steven was ready to get out of there and move on. So, we got the midnight bus to Konya and arrived at 5:30 in the morning. We decided to check our bags at the bus station and spend the day wandering around Konya, the place where Rumi died and is enshrined.. It was a lovely day of wandering and his memorial and tomb were quite powerful. Over 1.5 million visitors (mostly Turkish) visit this site every year.

The stop was a middle point for our journey to Cappadocia. An amazing place of caves and towers of limestone which doubled as castles at one point in history. We hopped on the 2:30 bus out of Konya and made it to Urgup by 6:00. We now have our amazing private cave room overlooking the vast landscape of beauty..

I am loving Turkey!! the people are so very very kind and the food is amazing (especially the deserts). The place where we are now is other worldly and we have decided to stay here and rest for a few days. we will rent a motorbike today and tomorrow to see it by two wheels. i'm quite excited...