Land of the Beautiful Horses

Cappadocia is one of those places that not only is old - it's early history dating back to around 1800 BC and the Hittites - it looks old in an ancient, dinosaurs-may-have-walked-here kind of way.

Fairy Chimney rock formations populate the desert valley

Cappadocia means "land of the beautiful horses" in Persian and the region has a long history for horse breeding.  This arid landscape inhabits the center of Turkey and, while it's only a short plane flight, it feels like a century's distance from Istanbul.  (Of course, if we had gone a little farther southeast, we would have been able to watch the Turkish jets scramble to the Syrian border.)

The Göreme valley was once a blanket of thick volcanic ash, but hundreds of years of erosion have left a landscape of soft rock pillars, mushrooms and chimneys.  Humans have also carved away at the rock, leaving behind cave dwellings and entire underground cities (where early persecuted Christians would hide).  We all slept in cave rooms during our stay!  (No, not air conditioned, but surprisingly cool given the hundred degree temperatures outside).

Aside from the overall setting, here are a few things we particularly recommend:

* Üçhisar Castle

This rock castle once a place for stabling animals and storing food and wine, so it has a series of interconnected rooms carved into the mountain.  The summit is the highest point in the Göreme valley and has an excellent 360 degree view.

* Kaymakli Underground City
This is just one of several cities carved underground the soft rock.  Kaymakli housed as many as 3,000 Christians for several months at a time as they sought to escape persecution by the Hittites.  While the dwelling actually goes several stories down, only the first 4 floors are open to the public.  That's enough though to get a feeling for how incredibly dark and claustrophic it must have been back in the day, even with the well-engineered ventilation shafts and large stores for food and wine.

* Göreme Open Air Museum
This is a UNESCO World Heritage site, notable for its well-preserved Byzantine cave church frescoes.  It is, indeed, amazing how crisp and vibrant the paintings appear.  Medieval orthodox Christian monks created this community as a place for religious education.

* Apricot picking and eating
Of course, you know about Turkish apricots, but how many people get to pick them off the tree!  We pulled off the road to visit with an apricot farmer who let us pick and sample!

Even when the apricots are small and slightly green, they are so so sweet.  There are apricot groves all around and lots of people ready to sell you bags of dried apricots and apricot seeds.


Well, and then there are the hot air balloon rides.  But I will leave that to Sophie.

How about a little Turkish delight?