After the closing ceremonies we finished packing up all the costumes and everyone got their bags packed and such. The flight departing with the main group back to Canada left at 5:50am, so we left the hotel at 3:00am. Thus, most of us stayed up for the night chatting with the other groups and then were off to the airport. After getting the rest of the group all checked in with the costume luggage, Nathan, Kim, and I went to the domestic terminal and checked in for our Turkish Air flight to Nevşehir. We got an hourish of sleep in a terminal chair, then got on the plane and crashed. I woke up at one point when we were already airborne, again for our snack, and again once we were on the ground.
We landed and were in Cappadocia (which means land of the beautiful horses). I had previously arranged an airport transfer, and it was the first time I’ve ever come out of the arrivals area and seen a guy holding a sign with my name on it. We were on a packed minibus, but didn’t see too much of the countryside as sleep took a priority. It was about a half hour trip and we got to our hostel, the Emre Cave House. It is right in the middle of Göreme. We arrived about 9:30, and got all checked in, but our room wouldn’t be ready until about 11:00, so we took a nap on the couches in the common room. We had pre-arranged a cave room; like much of the buildings in the region parts of houses, and individual rooms are hewn out of the rock. This makes it cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. People have been living in caves and cave houses here since Babylonian times. Once our room was ready, it was again taking a nap and getting up at 2:00 to accomplish something. We went out and got a bite to eat and then walked through the town to the Göreme Open Air Museum.
The valleys in the area essentially look like the Drumheller badlands on steroids. The open air museum has a bunch of churches that are carved into the rock and the different rock structures. They were dug in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, then painted with frescoes in the 4th and 5th centuries. During the iconoclasm (I think they said it was the 10th and 11th century) most of the icons were defaced by either scratching off their faces, or just their eyes. There is a very rudimentary painting of them that are under the plaster (that has the frescoes on it), with most of the time, that being all that remains.
They didn’t allow photography of the frescoes (as the flash damages them), so I don’t have any pictures to post; however, I did buy a small book and pack of postcards with pictures of them in it. I might be able to scan and post them once I’m home. There were 6 or 7 churches and a few other cave buildings, at the end we stopped for a quick ice cream and got ready to go do some exploring on our own.
We went and worked up the valley that was opposite of the open air museum. There were some spots that had some challenges, but we checked out a few empty cave dwellings, cliff and rock faces, and some spectacular views. We saw some lizards here and there, and found some little prickly plants (that would jab you through your clothes), and it was a lot of fun.
We were able to work our way down to the road and back into town were we stopped and had a great dinner at a little cafe.
It started with the standard Turkish fare of potato soup and light salad, but then we had chicken that was baked in its own small clay pot, which had to be smashed to pour the food our. It tasted really good. From there it was back to the hostel to plan the rest of our tours and time in Cappadocia.
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