A Real Adventure Day!

Brace yourself, we packed a lot in today…
After a refreshing sleep, hearty Turkish style buffet breakfast (perhaps a cake or two too many) we checked out and were ready for our tour. There are two main tour options for the area, Red and Green, showing different sites, and only having one free day, we opted for a “Mix Tour”.

We learned that the striking valleys were formed by ash from eruptions from the region’s 3 (now inactive) volcanoes thousands of years ago, and consequently made for easily carvable stone (used to construct caves/houses, earning unesco world heritage site status in 1985. The above-ground combinations of basalt and sandstone have been eroded by wind and rain creating the unique formations of our first stop Pasabag (Mushroom shape fairychimenys).

We then took a walk through one of the 3 valleys of Zelve open air museum, the caves of which were inhabited until the 50s, when the rocks were weakened and a landslide caused fatalities and the government declared the site unsafe for residency. The ottoman-built cone shape mosque was a key feature allong with the chapels, demonstrating differing religions living and worshiping together. These were adorned with 800 year old paintings stating the time and “mashallah” (god bless).

Our next stop was Devrent Valley (also known as “imagination valley”, due to the rocks’ resemblance to various animals). I could see the camel shaped fairy chimney, but needed some help to see the shark, kissing ducks and others.

Lunch stop next in Avenos. This larger town has the “red river” running through, named due to clay deposits making it famous for pottery production. Kate ordered the lentil soup and pidet, and for me baked aubergine, and I opted for a funky sounding fermented drink called “Salgam”. This unfortunately tasted like salty old turnips!! I spoke to our guide who advised this is a popular traditional drink, and taste varies between brands, but home made is better.

We were then treated to a pottery demonstration at Aladdin’s, and Kate quite literally got stuck in after a glass of complimentary local wine. Despite the delicious sales tactic, the wares were stunning but sadly out of our price range - 150 to thousands of dollars, for unique pieces created by the “masters”.

As we then drove past paddocks of saddled up horses and rolling vast hills, we agreed it felt like in a western film set. We visited 4 other viewpoints: Love Valley (we saw this from the balloon yesterday, and especially enjoyed seeing one of the volcanoes in the distance), Uchisar castle (the biggest of 3 castles in the region, where we took lovely photos at the entrance to Paradise Valley), Urgup’s “three beauties” fairy chimneys (Kate was all rocked-out by this point but nice to see the volcano in the background again), and the Pigeon Valley and evil-eye trees. Here we saw nesting pigeons and found that pigeon racing is also a sport in Turkey. These animals have more purpose than the UK, their poo often collected and taken to markets for farmers buy as fertiliser (thought to be 25x stronger than standard stuff). Speaking of pigeons, earlier we saw their nesting areas built into the caves, as they were regarded as very important animals for communication and their egg whites and sand used as plaster to repair the cave walls.

The final and most spectacular stop was a tour of one of Cappadocia’s 40 underground castles/cities, named Kaymakli. The labyrinth of tunnels offered ancient inhabitants protection from animals and enemies, with the impressive round doors sealed from the inside only, and network of bedrooms, kitchens, houses, chapels and 54 air shafts! It opened to tourists in 60s, but in scriptures suggest it dates back around 3000 years and housed thousands of people.

Then a quick turnaround back at the hotel, after a shower and freshen up we were on our way back to Keyseri airport for our late flight. All went smoothly (notable eye watering prices for a coffee and wrap and no WiFi). There were some quirky characters on our flight (a hyperactive Irish-Turk, two bemused American ladies, and we also shared the plane with football team Göztepe - Kate was quite excited until she found out they’re the Turkish equivalent to Blackpool, but after researching perhaps more like Watford (whatever that means haha!)

Arrived back in Izmir and jumped in a 25 minute taxi to the hotel (having pre-agreed the price and savvy meter reading avoided being ripped off by the cheeky driver), and finally achieved marshmallow status in bed around 1am!
Certainly an adventure of a day!Lue lisää