Cappadocia

After a much needed sleep, we started our last day in Cappadocia with a morning hike. We were dropped at the starting point and descended into the valley, admiring the natural landscape and mountains which had been shaped by the elements over time. During the walk, Hazal pointed out some of the cave houses. We saw pigeons houses which are small houses (often decorated with drawings or writing) with little windows. The idea is that the pigeons fly into the house and leave their poo in there. After a year, someone would enter the pigeon house and collect all the pigeon poo which may be up to the person's knees. This was used as a natural fertiliser for the ground for growing crops.

We were then picked up at the end of the valley and then drove to a nearby village where we visited a traditional Turkish house. Seeing how the house had been carved and preserved was incredible. This particular house had been in the same family for 4 generations but the family was made to move from the traditional cave houses in the 1980s when UNESCO declared the area protected. We were shown around the house by a member of the family including the kitchen, living, bathroom areas and the pigeon house. We then enjoyed some refreshments on their balcony overlooking the village which was very cool! Today, the house can be visited by tourists and there is a small cafe.

We then made a quick stop for lunch of soup and kofta before making our way to the Derinkuyu underground city. This complex is one of 36 in the area and was starting to be developed in the Bronze Age in 15th century BC with more tunnels being added as time went on such as in 7 AD when the Arabs invaded. People lived temporarily under the ground in these underground cities for protection from invaders.

We descended into the tunnels and explored the different rooms and passageways as we went as deep as 4 stories underground! It was tight in some of the passageways but surprisingly well ventilated and spacious in the rooms. We enjoyed exploring for about an hour before heading up and making our way back to our town. During that time, we saw living rooms, a monastery area, a winery (perfect conditions to keep the wine cool!) and the ventilation shafts.

We stopped at a local winery just down the street from our hotel where we enjoyed a tasting of some locally produced wines with a lovely view over the valley. They were very nice (including the red wine!)

We then went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before heading up to the roof to play some cards and watch sunset over the valley with a group of us from the tour who are the "young ones in the group" (Amy from Australia, Babs from NZ, Marissa from New York and Tommy from the UK).

We capped off a fantastic day with an incredible cultural experience at Turkish night! This was an underground restaurant with live traditional entertainment, including a wedding celebration re-enactment (with a horse parading in the couple), belly dancing, other traditional dancing and a whirling dervish dance with lights. We had lots of fun drinking and dancing and even got to dance around a bon fire outside and a number of large conga lines! After some delicious food (including delicious lamb which fell of the bone), lots of drinks and dancing, we returned back to the hotel for a small after party in our room with some of the others before heading to sleep!En savoir plus