We woke up this morning in our cave room - so strange but fun to say.
Cappadocia (which is a region consisting of many towns) is renown for it geological formations that are a result of prehistoric volcanic ash fall. The many eruptions and subsequent layering of ash over the millennia was later eroded and exposed a stable but malleable rock layer that early inhabitants learned they could carve into. This was capitalized on to create an area of elaborate cave dwellings and entire cave villages. Some of the eroded rock formed tall spires or “chimneys” which now are know as Fairy Chimneys.
Tourism has now turned many generational cave dwellings into unique lodging like the room we are staying in by adding all the modern amenities (power, plumbing, etc.) and often finishing the outside with a more modern but rustic motif.
Since breakfast was included again with our room, we headed to the shared dining/rooftop lounge area to start our day -great view!
We didn’t have any solid plan for the day, so decided to just walk the town and see a couple of the nearby attractions. One place recommended by the hotel staff was the Göreme Open Air Museum a couple kilometers away.
As we walked through the town of Göreme on the way to the museum, we came across this dog that Tammy gave a good petting, and just like that the dog became our tour guide for the day! For the next 3-4 hours this dog walked ahead of us making sure that we were always nearby - so weird but cute :-).
A bit of the scenery on the way to the museum - if you hadn’t guessed, it was in the 90s which explains our “glow”
Camels...and a pony
The museum was essentially a portion of a village that was set aside for preservation and included living spaces, churches and common spaces all carved into the hillsides.
Some common dwellings
A group of tombs with some original remains
Hallway/tunnel
Example of elaborate frescos in many of the church spaces
Another place of worship carved out of the native stone
Our tour guide coming down from one of the high cave areas
Near the end there was another elaborate church area (two stories) and a Turkish volunteer guide(?) motioned us excitedly to come in. Once the other few visitors left he excitedly launched into a broken English explanation about the space and the frescos using a laser pointer and a hushed voice. While odd, it was somewhat captivating and he seemed very much wanting to share.
He went on to share some ideas about what else we needed to see, then took our map and wrote down a phone number and circled some areas saying that his “Taksi friend” would drive us. We thanked him and started to leave, but apparently he didn’t feel like he’d offered enough so made us both tea then proceeded to call his friend and hand the phone to us to set up a time.
Since we didn’t have a car and no firm plans, we went along with setting up a time for the next morning to meet at our hotel. We walked away initially happy to have met this helpful person, then began to wonder what we had done - I guess we’ll see in the morning *gulp*.
With our tour dog still in the lead, we stopped by a couple other attractions on the way back to town, then unceremoniously bid the dog a goodbye and stopped at this place to eat - look at the fancy menu cover!
Tammy has this bean soup dish that was probably enough for three people
When we got back to the cave hotel, we had to change rooms (because of our early planning faux pas). The hotel owner carried our backpacks to our room, which he shared was his parents first bedroom in their home - how charming!
This is our new room:
After a break, we headed out near the end of the day to a place named Sunset Point which we could see from our balcony.
There were many great views to take in before the sun actually set...
...and the sunset wasn’t bad either
After the sunset we walked back through town and had a light meal (although they bring so much free bread and dips that it never seems to stay “light”).
Don decided to try a traditional Turkish dink called Raki. It is served clear in a separate glass with ice and water in another. When ready to drink, the chilled water is poured in the glass with the Raki and it turn like this
Tammy didn’t care for the taste - it wasn‘t strong or harsh, but a smooth licorice flavor.
Then we walked just around the corner to the hotel and fell asleep, dreaming of cave dwellers...and tomorrow’s taxi driver.
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