Cappadocia - Day 1

Day 1 in Cappadocia.

Although I wrote about traveling alone in my last blog, I'm writing about travel in Cappadocia with my friend who I met in Malta and she is also from Osaka, Japan.

Cappadocia is located in the middle of Turkey.

Map of Turkey - Valley of the Fairy Chimneys is the Cappadocia area.

Its unique land formation is a result of volcanic eruptions, with Mt. Erciyes being the highest peak in the area. Ash and lava created the large plateau, erosion of rain and wind over thousands of years caused the strange, unique rocks we find today.

In the 2nd century B.C, Christians escaped from the Roman Empire and made cave houses and underground cities in Cappadocia.

I’ll skip the history, but it’s really interesting. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia

We arrived to Nevsehir in the early morning and tried to find our free shuttle to Goreme. Each bus company has free shuttles, but finding it is not so easy. We got off the bus and a man said he was from our bus company and the shuttle hadn't came yet so we waited inside.

I doubted if he was official staff from our bus company, but we were too sleepy and tired for good judgement and we just followed him.

That was a misjudgement.

We were waiting for a long, long time but nobody came. We asked him when the shuttle comes and he just said “Soon.” Suddenly, I remembered there are people who claim to be bus staff and then put you on their tour bus, where later you have to pay.

So we went out and found a shuttle, any shuttle, and got on. But it was a different company’s shuttle. The conductor checked our tickets and said it was “Invalid.” He asked, “Where are you going?”

“Goreme.”

“This ticket is not for this company.”

He went to report us to the driver. During the wait, we were scared and worried that they might stop and throw us off the bus. Finally he came back and said, “We bring you to Goreme.”

Yhaaaaapyyyy!

Within one morning, I’d resolved to hate Turkish men, but I discovered there are good guys too. 

At last we got to Goreme.

We stayed in the Traveller's Cave Hotel (http://www.travellerscave.com/travellers_hotel/index.php), which is the best hotel in my backpacker's life. It was on top of the hill so we got a super view and there was a terrace with comfy sofas. 

We had breakfast at the hotel and the owner told us there is a fresh market down the hill. But after a 10 hour bus ride, we weren't in the mood to explore, but we couldn’t check-in yet, so we took a nap on the comfy sofas. Then we planned to visit the fresh market after a short nap.

And the next moment we heard unbelievable words...

"Wake UP! Time for check-in!"

Goodness! We slept for 2 hours!

We gladly checked-in, and oh my goodness, our room was fabulous. It was actually a Cave. It held a pretty fireplace, table, chairs and a beautiful view out the front door.

When we prepared to go out, somebody knocked on our door. A Korean girl we met at breakfast and on the shuttle gave us fresh berries from the market because she knew we slept through the market.

First we went to Goreme Open Air Museum. 
Goreme is known as a monasterial place in 10～12th century and there are over 10 cave churches in the Goreme Open Air Museum and over 30 in Goreme.

At the museum, we walked around the churches. I just couldn't believe they were made by manpower. There was no electronic drill at that time but every room has beautiful curves and even tables and benches are also cut from rocks.

In the cave churches are beautiful frescos. Because the cave environment provides such excellent preservation, the fresco colors are still beautiful and vivid.

To close our first day we joined the sunset tour in Rose Valley with the Korean girl. Rose Valley gets its name from Rose-colored rock. The valley is shaped like streaming curtains, beautiful drapery, and I can see the many layers that natures power has produced over millions of years.

The sunset was just fabulous, changing from orange to pink. It was a pink I've never seen before and the colors changed as the sun went down. No language holds a word for a sunset that fills one’s soul. I propose "Cappadocal." 

This is Day 1 in Cappadocia.

Character Notes:

If you are sending a character to Cappadocia, you can disrupt her happy intentions by putting her on a paid tour shuttle, or have her get kicked off the bus to Goreme and left on the road side in the middle of no where Turkey.

If your character has no hotel, she can criminally sleep on a Cappadocia balcony lounge. They are not to difficult to climb up to and the sofas are fabulous.

A chase scene through the Open Air Museum, with all the caves, churches and places to hide, would be great fun.

As the sun sets, your character, no matter how terrible her day might be, she can pause and have a Cappadocal moment.