Cappadocia, Turkey

Cappadocia!  This is a destination we have been looking forward to since we started planning the big trip.  It's a region of unique geological and historical features where homes, churches and castles were literally carved into the sides of the strange rocky landscape.  The rock dwellings have been called home by ancient Persians, subjects of Alexander the Great, Christians in exile, and other people throughout history, and many are still inhabited today.  We stayed in the village of Goreme, a great base for excursions like hiking, mountain biking and hot air ballooning (or watching the hot air ballooning from the comfort of the ground).

On the bus en route to Goreme.  The buses in Turkey always supply ample snacks and beverages, like these Twinkie wannabes.  It's Finger Time!

Our hotel in Goreme had cave rooms carved into the rock.  That's our balcony.

Inside our cave room.  Phil and Julia (Ashley's brother and his wife) stayed in this very room 5 years ago on their visit to Cappadocia.

Our room was called the Pigeon Room as it was covered in "pigeon holes" where they would roost pigeons back in the day before they ate them.  We just used them as shelves.

View from the room 

Dibek - great restaurant in Goreme.  The building is over 500 years old. 

Our meal at Dibek.  Typical turkish food consists of tons of fresh bread, stewed meats (chicken and meat.. no pork!), pickled veggies and yogurt or eggplant dips.

Open Air Museum - a vast complex of monasteries placed side-by-side from the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. It contains rock-cut churches, with beautiful Christian frescoes.  It's a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Upon arriving in Cappadocia, we were encouraged to take in a Turkish Nights event - essentially a Turkish dinner theatre.  Here is a Whirling Dervish, performing the traditional spinning dance. This guy was very good, but the most entertaining part was his partner (not pictured) who could not keep step, got winded shortly into the dance and only seemed to accomplish wafting a steady flow of BO in our direction.

Belly dancer at Turkish Nights

We were a good 40 years younger than most people at the show and essentially the only people who were not with a 30+ person tour group.  This was our chauffeur (the father of our hotel owner) Papa Ahmet who joined us after dinner for some Raki drinking.

Our hike through the Rose and Red Valleys

Rose Valley

Our hiking buddy.  He didn't keep up.

Castle in Cavusin village

Red Valley.  For some reason they mark the trail by spray painting on the ancient dwellings.

Our post-hike chill spot.  By the "fire" in our cave.

Since the $400/hr ride didn't fit in to the trip fund, we skipped the hot air balloon ride and got up early to watch them float over the landscape.  Who needs a tripod when you've got a pile of rocks?

After some convincing, Ashley agreed to partake in a mountain biking excursion.  This is the only photo we have of the journey, as shortly thereafter daredevil Ashley took a huge spill tackling a hill far beyond her ability level and smashed her knees in pretty good.

A few days of rest later, we hiked/limped to the castle in Uchisar.

Turkish pide (pizza).

We went to Derinkuyu, an underground city from the 8th century BC that was large enough to fit 20,000 people plus their food and livestock.  Stinky.

The city extends to a depth of 60m, but there are air shafts to help keep things fresh.

Since we had been warned of awful crowds we arrived before 9am and had the place to ourselves... at least until the first Chinese tour bus showed up.

We fled deeper down the dark tunnels and staircases to escape from the Chinese tourists in what felt like a weird Indiana Jones movie.  Unfortunately it seems they didn't have any 6'6" guys on the crew that built the tunnels and Joe got stuck.

On the way down we passed a giant wheel-shaped stone door that the ancient citizens used to block the tunnels from unwanted intruders.

Donning his traditional Derinkuyu robe to summon ancient strength, Joe wheeled the 200kg door into place to seal the tunnel and block out the Chinese invaders.

After that we had the whole place to ourselves!

Not having quenched his thirst for mountain biking, Joe set off for a solo ride through Love Valley.  He charged through the hills with some old Black Keys for pump-up music.

Unfortunately he got a little too pumped up and rode too fast down this steep hill approaching a muddy river bed.  He hit the breaks too hard and too late...

...and went over the handlebars and face first into the mud.

Fortunately, Joe wasn't about to let a little mud stop him from documenting Cappadocia's famous "Fairy Chimneys"  Here are some particularly good examples of the distinctive "chimney" shape.

Yet another large Cappadocian cock

This is just a nice landscape.

Once again proving that tripods are obsolete.

Despite the bumps, bruises and body odor, we had a fantastic time in Cappadocia!  To see the rest of our photos, click here.  We're off on a trek, but when we get back we'll share photos and stories from our trip to the much less visited Eastern regions of Turkey.

Istanbul, Turkey

The Blue Mosque

For the first stop of our journey through Asia we decided to visit Istanbul, a fitting choice since it's historically considered the gateway to the continent. Istanbul is an incredible city full of ancient historical sites, as it served as the capital of both the Byzantine Empire (known to the Romans as Constantinople) and later the Ottoman Empire. It's also a very cosmopolitan city with great food, culture and very friendly people.

The city straddles two continents and we stayed on both the Asian and European sides. Much of the Asian side has a more “authentic” feel from a tourist’s perspective and we felt like the only non-Turks there. The European side is far more developed (and expensive) with a more Westernized vibe and a famous pedestrian shopping strip (the Istiklal Caddesi) that felt like Broadway in Soho.

This was our first accommodation of the trip.  We stayed in Moda, a trendy, high-end area on the Asian side in Istanbul. The neighborhood was incredible – great bakeries, çay & tavla spots (tea and backgammon) and plenty of nightlife.

Turkish coffee

Simit! Our favorite breakfast food – we’d pick these up every morning for 1 lira. Sort of a cross between a Montreal and NYC bagel.

Backgammon and Nargileh.  We tried to play it cool and toss the dice aggressively like the locals, which worked pretty well until Ashley threw the dice across the room.  Everyone in Turkey appears to be a serious chain smoker.  The one night we spent inside at this place we probably took down two packs secondhand.

Spice Bazaar

Suleymaniye Mosque. Shoes off, headscarves on. Fortunately for Ashley she wasn't relegated to the tiny women's prayer area.

Fish sandwiches in Eminonu grilled on boats in the Bosphorous Strait.

Be sure to remove the bones first.

Since Joe was already missing the Russian and Turkish bath house on East 10th street we made a point to spend a day at a Hamam (Turkish bath). The real thing is far less luxurious than the East Village version. We were forced to separate into different buildings for women and men, where we soaked up a little heat in saunas and lying on hot marble slabs before being scrubbed down with a dirty glove. Not exactly a luxury spa, but the marble architecture was very impressive.

Aya Sofya – the first domed structure of its size wowed visitors during its heyday and was unrivaled in architecture for a thousand years. It served as the center of Christianity for the Byzantine Empire and therefore the entire Christian world. It was converted to a mosque when the Turks took over the city in 1453. Now it’s a museum with Islamic script next to baby Jesus - you don’t see that every day.

Inside the Aya Sofya

Aya Sofya

We got the low down on the double-knotted technique to make a high quality Turkish carpet. Since we don’t have a floor to put one on, we got out of the aggressive sales pitch without too much trouble.

How many Turkish men does it take to make string cheese?

Milk pudding covered with chocolate sauce. Tastes a lot better than it looks.

Cats are to Istanbul, as rats are to NYC. A much better arrangement for Turkey.

The Grand Bazaar.  Some say it's the largest bazaar in the world.

Fake chucks

The Cistern. An underground cavern where they stored fresh water for use in the event of a siege. Unfortunately we had the bad luck to show up right before a giant group of kids on a field trip and so were serenaded by children's shrieks echoing through the cavern.

Medusa head in the Cistern. We didn’t turn to stone.

KAY BAP! That’s what all the kebab owners scream as you walk by. It’s worth stopping. These things are so good.































In addition to these photos, you can see more in our complete Istanbul album.

We're now in Kizkalesi on the Mediterranean and we're a little behind on the blog, but more updates are coming soon.  If you sign up at the top of the blog, you'll get notifications every time we post a new entry.. next up, Cappadocia!