Day 164 - Hiking to Uchisar Castle

While exploring Cappadocia for the past few days, I noticed one region in particular in the distance that was a lot higher in altitude than any other areas. I wondered what it was since I wanted to reach the top to get the best panoramic views. It happened to be Uchisar Castle or Landlord's Castle on top of a hill in the city of Uchisar. Zack and I set out around noontime on a hike to get there, since it was only supposed to take about an hour to walk there through Pigeon Valley. There are many hiking trails that tourists could take from Goreme to other areas, and I assumed we'd be able to just find any randomly marked trail to get there.

It ended up taking us around 2 hours to get there, as we walked along the top of a hill and noted that we needed to cross over 2 more hills to get to Uchisar. I guess we were taking the "off-the beaten path" trail to get there. It was a little more strenuous than I expected, but we were able to see some orchards and grape vines along the way, eating some of the sun-ripened grapes from the neglected 2nd harvest. They were perfectly sweet, nothing like what you would find in a raisin box at the grocery store.

It was a challenge to get to Uchisar as we were forced to find the safest paths to cross since there were so many walking paths in all directions, but we finally made it to the city. The tower at the top was an old castle and is the highest point in the vicinity. Again, another stunning sight to behold, enough so that I didn't think it would be worth it spend beaucoup bucks on a hot air balloon ride, since I had 360 degree views of everything right where I was!

Afterwards, we headed back to Goreme, figuring out what the best trail would be the best to take through the valleys while we were on top of the castle. And again, it took way longer than expected to get back. The maps that the tour offices gave us showed only one trail to take through the valleys, so we expected that we wouldn't have to make any choices that would steer us into unknown territory. There were numerous trails that led to different valleys, and again, we ended up in the wrong valley and stuck at a dead end on top of a cliff without any way to move forward. We ended up having to rock climb a little up and over some of the rock formations to get to a valley where we could move towards Goreme. It was still the wrong valley...but luckily it still led us to Goreme right after sunset. Success..., but it took way longer than expected.

Sun-Ripened Grapes/Raisins

Dinner with Zack and Junko at the Top Deck Restaurant

Day 163 - Motorbiking Cappadocia

The nights are cold in Goreme, so it is easy to feel like hibernating through the morning and waking up late. You just feel like curling up inside while the rest of the world continues with their day.

I began my day in the late morning after deciding to stay an additional day in this town, and saving my travels through Eastern Turkey for another trip. I cancelled my flight ticket from Diyarbakir to Istanbul and decided instead, to take another long bus from Goreme back to Istanbul tomorrow night.  I grabbed some lunch with the rest of the couchsurfers before renting motorbikes with Junko, who offered to be my tour guide around some of the cities close to Goreme. She didn't have a drivers license since she is originally from Japan and most of them use the local transportation to get around, so I had to drive for the both of us. It would be the first time I drove with another person behind me, and I must say, it was so much more difficult than driving alone, but I didn't show any fear since I didn't want to scare Junko, who trusted my driving since I had been driving in California since I was 15.

We arrived at the city of Cavusin, and stopped at the Cavusin Church, but decided against paying the entrance fee since there's so much else to explore that was free. The next destination we headed to was Pasabag, which had some unique fairy chimneys scattered throughout. Many of them had huge boulders being balanced on the top. It's interesting to think how these structures have survived over time, but at any moment, they could possibly topple over. I think these caves will all disappear at one point in time because it's easy to chip away at it, and it's continually disintegrating...  These structures definitely wouldn't survive longer than the Grand Canyon, something that Cappadocia reminds me a lot of.

Junko and I stopped by a cashmere store, where we chatted with the store owner. He told us that there was a rock chimney that I could climb in through access in the back, although it would be a little difficult to get to the top because it was steep. I took the challenge and found the structure. It was somewhat difficult to climb through the small holes carved out, but there were steps in the stones that I used to climb directly up from the first and second levels to the second and third levels. Success! Junko took pictures of me from the bottom, and I looked like Rapunzel or some other fairy princess, trapped at the top of a tower with no access to the bottom.

Afterwards, we headed towards Urgrup, and along the way, we stopped by some of the famous rock structures, one of which resembled a camel, and the other called "Three Sisters" because three rocks look very similar to each other. Me not being the sci-fi buff that others are, and not remembering much about the Star Wars series, I learned that George Lucas got inspiration for one of the earlier films in the series from the landscape in this area.

We had doner kebap for lunch before backtracking through Urgrup and heading towards Avanos, a major city known for its pottery. They usually have free pottery-making shows to entice customers to buy things, but we came a little too late, since all the tour buses full of older Japanese people probably arrived earlier in the day. At this time of year, there were droves of Japanese tourists everywhere.

It was getting darker earlier since the they changed times in Turkey a couple weeks before the rest of the world did, and the windchill was strong as we drove on the highway. We decided to head back early to save from freezing as we drove in open air at 50 km/hr. Another fantastic day of sightseeing.

It was Halloween today, and instead of throwing an annual West Hollywood halloween party at my place back home, Zack and I headed to the one restaurant that had signs of Halloween Festivities. The signs said "True Blood tonight" and we assumed they would be showing episodes of the HBO series, but there was American football on the flat screen, a couple of people dressed festively, and a couple black balloons hanging around. I guess that's the extent of Halloween in Turkey!

Camel Rock

Pasabag

Pasabag

Pasabag

Pasabag

Three Sisters

Devrent Valley

Goreme

Day 162 - Goreme and the Open Air Museum

Pictures can't really do justice for what you see with your own eyes. I had seen so many amazing pictures of the rock formations in Cappadocia, Turkey, and that was what really convinced me to visit this place, even before arriving in this country. Little did I know how much in awe I would be when I arrived by bus.

I woke up in the morning on the bus to an almost dream-like, fantastic view of the new city. We were driving high in the mountains near Goreme before heading down to the city center, and in front of me were tens of hot air balloons floating wherever the soft winds took them, with the sun slowly rising above the horizon. Below, the cave city of Goreme slept, with its cave homes and fairy chimneys giving an a sort of archaic atmosphere, as if I stepped back in time, or into another world. It was quite an introduction to this area of Turkey!

Upon arrival, I wasn't as prepared for the cold as I should have been, because it was freezing! We were in Central Anatolia and high in the mountains, so the temperatures sometimes got below 0 degrees at this time of year during the night. I walked around the small touristic city, looking for my couchsurfing hosts' home. She happened to have a friend who was in London at the time who offered to open her house to guests, and I was lucky enough to be able to stay there – in an authentic cave house! I found the place soon after and got situated. The views from the balcony were stellar, overlooking the rest of the city.

After taking a short nap to recover from sleeping on a bus, I decided to wander through the city and the outskits since everywhere around the city were incredible rock formations waiting to be explored and climbed around and over. The weather got warmer and it was an extremely cloudy day, which provided perfect lighting for taking photographs of this wonderland.

I found myself hiking alone in some areas outside of the typical touristic stops, exploring what used to be cave homes for people in the past, but have now been abandoned. I was followed by a dog as I traversed through the terrain, taking time to just sit around, take pictures, and continue to be in awe.

At the top of one of the rocks, I looked far in the distances to see where some tourist buses were and headed in that direction. There, I found the Goreme Open Air Museum and decided to buy an entry ticket. The museum was as described, outside, with numerous rock-cut churches to explore. There were fresco paintings of various religious scenes in each of the churches. The inhabitants of the city used to be mostly Christians before Islam dominated the country. While the museum was interesting, I found it much more fun to explore on my own, without having to stay within the boundaries of a demarcated space or follow the rules of a museum. 

I walked about 3 km north, unsure exactly where I was headed, but determined to get there because I saw a huge rock structure that I deemed worth exploring. When I arrived, I found out it was an old church. It was so huge, probably 7 or 8 stories high! I went in and out of some of the rooms, but wasn't able to reach the top since I couldn't find the entrance or stairs to get to the top.

At the end of the day, my host Junko and the surfers she hosted all had dinner at a restaurant in a cave, where we had typical Turkish Meze dishes, which are small appetizers shared amongst a party. Miwako, a surfer from Japan, had traveled for over 1.5 years and continued to travel. She had already visited China, SE Asia, Central Asia, India, Pakistan, Iran, and was now in Turkey. She plans to travel for another year, visiting more of Europe and some of Africa. Zack, a surfer from Berkeley, California, had been traveling for 6 months, starting in Cuba, and continuing through Asia from Sweden and down to Turkey. He traveled on bicycle the entire European leg of his trip, which is pretty incredible to think about. His last leg includes Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine It's amazing what some people do while traveling, and both of these people have had incredible journeys so far. 

Paintings inside the Open Air Museum

Turkish Meze

Day 161 - Antalya Beach

It was another sunny day in this Mediterranean city and I went to check out the beaches that they offered. I had originally assumed that the last time I would be at a beach was in Fethiye or Kas, and I wanted to get the last remnants of a sunny, crispy day before the winter came, but here I am with another opportunity. This would probably be the final time, as my next destination will be Cappadocia, which is higher in altitude and a lot colder, with temperatures below zero sometimes during the nighttime.

The beaches here were similar to the ones in Oludeniz, with pebbly coasts, and easy access to the water. Even with pebbles and polished stones, it was not uncomfortable to lie down. If anything, it might have been more comfortable than sand, which can easily creep into your shorts and cause all sorts of irritation.

For breakfast, I had a fruit platter which included the best persimmons I have ever tasted! I never actually crave persimmons, and only eat them when my parents cut them for me, but after having a couple slices as part of the fruit platter, I craved them more and more. They were soft, ripe, perfectly sweet and with the consistency of a mango. I'll definitely be in search of these fruits in the near future.

There was a lot of patriotism during my visit to Turkey, with numerous people hanging Turkish flags off their balconies. It reminded me of the months after the September 11 attacks when everyone hung U.S. Flags outside their homes and outside their car windows. There was a dual purpose for this, one, to celebrate Turkey and honor Ataturk, and two, to protest the terrorist attacks that had occurred in the East of Turkey in the recent past. At night, I witnessed a march through the town, with thousands of locals participating. I wasn't sure if it was a celebration or a protest though...

At the end of the night, I planned my next week. I knew my time in Turkey was coming to a close, and I wanted to still visit Gaziantep for its famous Turkish cuisine and baklava and Mardin, known more for its Middle Eastern culture. I ended up deciding on visiting Mardin after seeing magnificent pictures of the old town, and skipping Gaziantep for next time. I booked a flight from Diyarbikar back to Istanbul since a bus ride from East Turkey to Istanbul would have taken way too long. I was already going to Goreme tonight by bus, which would take the entire night. I didn't need another ultra-long bus ride...