Beautiful Horses

Destination #8: Cappadocia

Ballooning is a must do to really understand the landscape

Cappadocia is one of those “must see” places in Turkey.  We arrived in Goreme with enough daylight to agree that the surroundings (rock formations and cave dwellings) were truly amazing.  Of course, it is also the land of tourist opportunity, so after arriving at a punishing schedule (not only for us but also our guide) we set off to familiarise ourselves with the town.  It really wasn’t that difficult, the town is not that big, but as always acres of tribal carpets, glinting silver jewellery and colourful souvenirs lined every street making it difficult to get our bearings. Well, maybe not the Cap’n…. But make it back to our hotel we must; we had a hot date with a balloon pilot early next morning.

This was a big balloon to fill

Yes, even the ageing Motleys signed up for this opportunity, never having drifted noiselessly through the skies at daybreak.  The experience was amazing!  We were speechless, which is just as well.  Others in our basket held a school reunion of sorts, which let us to wonder how much of this incredible scenery they really took in.  Back on the ground we toasted our flight with Turkish champagne (lemon fizz), posed for photos with the pilot & ground crew then headed back to our hotel in time for breakfast.

Clearly, we were not alone...

Who was nervous?  Just a little chilly up there in the heavens

Back on earth, our next challenge was a walking tour of, the Goreme Open Air Museum, a large collection of rock-cut churches, chapels and monasteries now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  As always, it is best to see these places early before the serious crowd swell sets in.  We initially visited two chapels, St Basil and then Apple Church.  The 11&12 c frescoes were amazing…(have we used amazing enough?).  Monks & hermits (of the Christian variety) inhabited the area as early as the 4 c AD. 

Some of the older cave homes

We then were given some free time to explore this warren of highly decorated caves.  We chose to see the Dark Church, a fairly recent & expensive renovation has revealed some wonderful frescoes – needless to say, no photos allowed. There was time for a quick visit to the Snake Chapel before taking in a pomegranate juice to sustain us as we walked back down to see the larger Buckle Church. 

Taking photos was not allowed inside the churches.
This one of the Dark Church is sourced gratefully from Wiki

Fact File: Dragons. St George features regularly in these artworks and it seems that the snake may have also been a dragon.  Local legend has it that St George slayed the dragon on nearby Mt Erciyes (Mt Argeus – a snow-capped volcano). 

The Open Air Museum is one of those places that you just want to linger but our trusty bus awaited and off to Derinkuyu we sped. 

(By now, you will have noticed that our photos are not up to their usual standard.  Mr Canon was failing and fading fast.  Sadly we didn't realise the extent of his meltdown until we uploaded photos onto the computer (and put our reading glasses on!) at the end of our trip. Just goes to show that a cheap back-up camera is not a bad option. It seems that when digital cameras go, they go fast...  Now, can I just do that 2 week tour again? )