Goreme Turkey Part 1

Goreme Turkey Part 1


Arrived around 8:30am to the capital city of Ankara after our overnight train ride which was quite comfortable. We had our own private cabin with two berths, a little fridge and a basin with the bathroom down the hall, your choice western or squat. Woke up around 6am to a drier landscape than the one we left.

A view from the train window

From there we took a mini bus to the central part of Turkey to a region called Cappadocia which has a very surreal landscape that was formed 30 million years ago by erupting volcanoes. All over the region there are strange looking rock formations in many valleys. The colors of the landscape looked somewhat like Monument Valley in the American southwest.

 Our first view of the valley

We checked into our cave hotel created out of the many caves in the region which have been there for centuries. It seems that over the history of the place there has been a tradition of living and worshipping in these cave like structures. We took a little walk around the small town of Goreme, quite cute but very touristy as this is a very popular tourist region. Even though it is getting to be the end of the season we saw many large tour buses throughout the area.

The interior of our hotel room

There were lots of carpets for sale

We stopped at a local restaurant which served a local speciality called borek. This meal is a pastry filled with different ingredients depending on your taste. The pasty is something like phyllo, very delicious and served with a thick yogurt sauce and herbed tomato sauce.

Our delicious lunch

Ozan sharing his music while Marsha looks on

In the evening we went to a local cave house in a nearby village for a communal supper where we were served a Turkey wedding soup, warm bread and a stew dish. We also shared their homemade wine and sour cherry juice. Their house is quite unique as the owner is continually trying to restore it as a family home and a little guest house.

How about a rock bathroom?

Our dining table

We were up at 5:45 am as we were going for an early morning hot air balloon ride, however since the weather was rainy we had to wait an hour or so before we lifted off. It was an awesome experience as this was our first time in a hot air balloon and then being able to fly over this otherworldly landscape.

This was one of the balloons we saw fly over our hotel

The balloon is huge and so was the basket as there were 14 of us in there with a pilot and co-pilot. The scariest part was the sound the propane met as the balloon went up and down. The pilot told us that he can only control the height of the flight not the direction as this is controlled by the winds. This is why they only fly in the early morning when the wind currents are the right speed.

There are many balloons up early in the morning

Some of the rocks we sailed over in our balloon

These are called fairy chimneys

A very strange landscape

The Rose Valley

We sailed for an hour or so and when we landed he missed the spot and we landed sideways on a small hill. He is in contact with his ground crew who follow us around to be sure to be there when we land. They immediately grabbed hold of us so we wouldn’t tip. We ended this part of our morning with a champagne and cherry juice cocktail!

The size of the balloon as they try to get it down




 

Cheers to an awesome ride!