Endless Turkish journey. Cappadocia
Return to Cappadocia again
Part 1. An endless Turkish journey. Bodrum
Part 2. An endless Turkish journey. Marmaris
Part 3. An endless Turkish journey. Akyaka, Dalyan and Pamukkale
Part 4. An endless Turkish journey. Kusadasi
Part 5. An endless Turkish journey. Cappadocia
Part 6. An endless Turkish journey. Cesme, Alacati and return to Kusadasi
Everyone had different priorities in the itinerary of this trip, but my main requirement was to visit Cappadocia, even though the second time we were here less than a year ago. Cappadocia for us is the standard of active travel and extraterrestrial natural beauty. What once seemed like such an inaccessible place on the planet is now so dear and easily accessible. I try to agitate as many people as possible to see all this beauty of the valleys and I am glad that this is working out. We got to Cappadocia by internal flight from Izmir to Kayseri, and from there by two buses. While riding the bus, the girl asked me if she was going to Goreme correctly, and if she had done the right thing by choosing this particular city.
She also showed on a piece of paper a list of attractions that she plans to visit. I quickly marked on the map how to get to them and what else you should definitely see. She and the guy quickly made notes on the route. Then another guy came up to me and thanked me, as he also quickly wrote down notes for himself about what I recommended to visit here. The first and most important thing to do before traveling to Cappadocia is to download the offline map Maps me. Without this card, the difficulty of the journey will increase from medium to impossible. In my blog I have a copy of the map on which I plotted our main routes, ideally from this map put similar labels on yourself.
First thing after arriving in Gö reme, we went for a bite to eat with my favorite borek. It's a pity today was not our friend's change.
As they say, times change, but the taste of borek remains. For me, this is the taste of Cappadocia. After checking in, we went to have a full meal in a restaurant, where we often dined on previous trips, and we always occupy the same table. The restaurant treated us like one of their own. "Welcome back friends! " How nice to be back, we are at home! It is a pity, however, that this year the restaurant raised prices so much that the tradition of the same table had to be interrupted.
Surprise bottle
Today we had an important mission. A couple of days ago, somewhere in the valleys, my parents hid a bottle and sent it to a mark on the map from a satellite. We began to record on video our entire hike and search. Then, in the same chronology, he sent a report to his parents. We were able to determine the approximate location by the location of the rocks. We also had a photo of dad with money in his hand. From the bag of chips that lay in the background, we were able to determine a more accurate place, now the long and difficult search began. Directly above us, high in the rock, was a closed door. Did Mom and Dad get in there? While I was looking for how to get there, I discovered a new hard-to-reach cave.
I'm not at all sure that anyone else remembers its existence. The cave was several stories high. But there was no bottle. Dasha and Misha were also deaf. We found a lot of bottles, but they weren't the right ones) Then we found a beautiful metal service. It could be picked up and put in the garage. But since the garage had already been demolished, we left the service in the valley. The search was thorough. And where is the bottle? And everyone hoped to find her first. As a result, Misha became the winner, who suspected that the Brick was moving in the fence and there might be something behind him. And yes, behind one of the stone blocks was buried a bottle with sweets and ten lira! We did it! Now you can celebrate it with a trip to the Saber Valley!
A little about already beloved valleys
The first day we devoted to our favorite valleys. An interesting fact is that even for the third time walking through the valleys is just as interesting and unusual. And every time you discover something new for yourself, which you did not notice before. Here, for example, in the Valley of Sabers, where, as it seemed to me, I know every pebble, a long cave became a big discovery, going through almost half of the valley inside the rock.
This cave was discovered by our godfathers, after which we got excited to check all the dead-end back streets in the valleys. And I also have a golden job, this is when, regardless of the problems of the project, during the holidays you can completely immerse yourself in the journey and not remember about working moments.
So from Cappadocia there was a full return. We needed to find a new restaurant where we would now have our meals at a reasonable price. Fortunately, the restaurant was found quite quickly, it was a restaurant that was recommended to us by a local resident that year just before departure. We then ate once and noted for ourselves as a good place. This time he was our best traveling companion. As we were told that specifically for us they will be open even during the Sunday lockdown, so you don’t have to worry about food.
On the first day, we went around all our favorite places, and ended up in the red rays of the setting sun at the top of the pink valley (this is a beautiful observation deck 8 kilometers from Goreme).
This time we arrived a little early, so we made it before the restaurants closed. Sunset tasted like fruit gozleme, and the owner called a taxi for us.
But for some reason, taxis came for everyone, but not for us. But it was worth the wait, something like a short limousine came for us. Is this really our taxi? The guy nodded. The driver immediately reassured us that we would drive according to a standard meter, he just loves comfort. The only pity is that there was no champagne in the mini-bar. An interesting fact is that a couple of days ago, when the parents needed to return to the hotel.
Mom and dad were worried, because from some places you need to hitchhike. But in Cappadocia, hitchhiking is the first rule of travel and the locals follow this rule well. So it was this taxi that drove up to my mother and offered to bring her to the city for free. Mom and dad could not understand how this was possible. Moreover, the car first drove through them, and then specially returned. But they did not even have time to raise their hand to start catching. I explained to my parents that this is precisely the feature of Cappadocia. If you are in a place where there is no transport or the ability to call a taxi, someone will definitely give you a ride for free. And as it turned out, it can even be a luxury-level taxi. By the time we returned back to Gö reme, it was already quite evening and we had to decide something with the watermelon so as not to violate the challenge “not a day without a watermelon”. The problem is that in 20 minutes the curfew will begin and everything will be closed. To begin with, it was necessary to decide whether the morning cold tea with the taste of watermelon is considered or not. I still felt lucky. If there is a watermelon somewhere, then we will definitely get it! A guy is just running with a melon in his hands, we intercepted the guy “Stop, where did you get the melon? ”. The guy waved his hand in the direction of the shop and ran even faster. We went to the store, a quarter of a watermelon was waiting for us in the refrigerator, the challenge was saved!
We started the morning traditionally with the contemplation of the balls. The number of balls this season varied in the order of a hundred. So the turnover is increasing, and the prices are still the same pleasant. The cost of the balloon in July 2021 is $55. Balls, by the way, on the third visit to Cappadocia are no longer as pleasing to the eye as before, but every morning watching the balls is still an integral part of Cappadocia. The eye may not be so pleasing already, but how beautiful, unusual and atmospheric it is. Now we need to start discovering new places. Let's start, perhaps, with that mountain over there, in which there are a lot of caves.
The ascent began quite promisingly, caves with arches, along which they climbed higher and higher. But the slope began to take on a rather vertical character. We are almost at the top and will soon reach the trail that goes on top. But when there were about ten meters left, we realized that it was rather risky to continue the undertaking with Misha. Since this section may not be possible to overcome, the three of us holding hands. We faced a dilemma - going down was no less risky, because when you climb down, you can’t see where to put your foot in the roots of thickets on a vertical rock.
We fell into some kind of trap and neither up nor down. The whole body is tired of tension, and every step is accompanied by the transfer of Misha from hand to hand. For the future, we have determined by what signs it is necessary to weed out the mountains so as not to fall into a similar situation. In the meantime, we are sitting and considering what to do next, at least take it and call a helicopter with climbers. Once again weighing what is more dangerous, we decided to start the descent down. Centimeter by centimeter. The earth is getting closer, the main thing is that at every moment your hands hold on to something strong, and you clearly understand what you will take on below. But the stump is clear that it could not take everything and go completely smoothly. The ground collapsed under my feet and I hung on the root of a tree. Fortunately, Dasha was already one level lower and was able to coordinate where I should throw my leg. When we finally descended, we called this place the valley of death. We didn't go here anymore.
After breakfast, we went for a walk along the already proven reliable routes of the Pigeon Valley, which stretches from Uchisar.
In the evening program, we had an obligatory point of the trip recorded - to ride quad bikes through the valleys of Cappadocia, this time in a place with godfathers, they also flew in full force to Cappadocia today. Before Sasha, Katya and Nastya (their daughter) had time to rest from the road, they moved from the car to the wheel of ATVs. Riding the valleys of Cappadocia on a quad bike is like being a rover driver on another planet. Moreover, the ticket costs a symbolic 110 lire ($13.2) for two hours per ATV.
Plus, this is an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the best places in the neighboring valleys, where you may not have reached on foot yet. And if they did, it will still be very joyful to ride. The next morning, the godfathers got enough sleep after a long route, but we ourselves chose a hike along the White Valley. I wonder how many times in life you need to walk through the valleys, so that we are tired of them ?? ? It's a pity only this year the hitchhiking was not so fast on the way back to the city, earlier, according to statistics, the first or second car stopped. Now it took 5-10 minutes to vote. And even then, as a result, the taxi stopped)))) Now that our favorite valleys have been re-traversed, we can open new locations!
Derinkuyu
In the afternoon we joined godfathers, they were with the car. Now we will see what the distant Cappadocia hides. Today we arrived in a large underground city. All the posters had a seemingly unrealistically large scheme of underground caves. Until recently, I was sure that this was a marketing ploy, they say, this is how they intended it when they built it. But in fact, the city turned out to be incredibly deep and multi-storey. The experience is chic, we have not been to such cities yet. You can walk and wander here until your legs fall off. One problem, the ancient inhabitants built the city long before the advent of elevators. And the forces must be calculated so that it is easy to rise back. Although, probably, if you do not climb the valleys until nightfall, then it will not be so difficult to go up and down the city)
The size of the city is very, very impressive. And why didn't they build their houses in the rocks, as was customary here? They probably didn't like the heat. We have already found out where the locals used to live, now we need to find out in which restaurants they ate. In the city, the only tourist place is the descent into the underground city. If you move 200 meters away, you already find yourself in the Turkish province, where tourists were seen only in pictures. Here you can find a restaurant with local prices. True, the locals also quickly figured out and began to name prices for dishes that local residents clearly could not afford here. So, you need to look for a restaurant with a written menu. Oh, and here it is, the menu is written right on the wall. Prices are like in a happy fairy tale. The entire staff of the institution was incredibly happy with our visit. In addition to our order, they began to bring us various goodies-compliments, then Dasha, Katya and Nastya were each given a flower. We were told that our visit was a significant event in the history of the restaurant - they were visited by tourists for the first time. Then the manager brought his elderly father, the owner of the restaurant, to meet us personally.
After a dense and tasty meal, we were taken to the terrace with parrots, now we had a tea ceremony at the expense of the institution. Workers We were photographed from all sides. I think that sheikhs do not have such sincere and warm receptions during official visits. The restaurant literally made the day for us all, and we made it for them. After a brotherly goodbye, we drove back to Goreme. At that time, we did not yet know that we were not only the stars of Derinkuyu, but also famous throughout Cappadocia! When the godfathers returned to their hotel in Goreme, the manager of their hotel showed on his phone one of the photos of our company in a restaurant in Derinkuyu. That's why I love Cappadocia, it's somehow homely and everyone knows each other.
Urgup
On the way back, we captured another new town for us - Urgup. It was recommended to me by my colleague Masha. And she was right, I still don’t understand why we didn’t discover this wonderful town in the vicinity of Goreme on our previous trips. The city is very cozy for walking and even has its own fortress to climb. As we found out here, almost every town has its own fortress, you won’t be able to visit everything - you won’t have enough strength. I fell in love with the new city literally from the first step. Now I will definitely recommend including it in my Cappadocia itinerary. Today we didn’t have much time here, so we will return here in a few days for a more detailed study of all the streets. In the meantime, we are moving towards Goreme. The next small discovery we had was three famous pillars - rocks "Three Beauties".
It's practically a local business card that is easy to get to, but we never got around to it. These hat bollards are so significant that the police even ask you to wear masks to look at them. Although we did not observe the mask regime in other parts of the region. It's like it's there, but at the same time it's not there. And then they ask you to wear it. This year, regarding the mask regime, we felt quite calm, since in Turkey at the time of the trip there was already a fairly large percentage of vaccinated people. We met sunset on the top of one of the mountains not far from the valley of sabers.
Every sunrise in Cappadocia is like a permission to finally relax and not climb anywhere else, save up strength before a new day. And here it starts every time steadily at 04:15. And how badly it was impossible to go to bed early here, there are very soulful feasts in the evenings. On the other hand, it seems like missing the takeoff of the balloons is a moral crime. As a result, in a week in Cappadocia, we will bring ourselves to the state that we simply cannot physically get up so early, and it’s a shame that desires and ambitions sometimes exceed the capabilities of the body.
Ihlara Valley
Today's route was even more distant. Before a long journey, we decided to take fresh boreks for a picnic. I stayed in the car, Dasha returned with gift tea from our old friend, today his shifts have finally begun. The guy didn’t know Dasha, but Dasha saw him and said hello from a true fan of his baking, the seller immediately remembered me and poured tea for everyone on the way. Now everything is ready, you can go. The valley is located 80 km from Goreme. The first thing we saw was the valley from the top.
And it really is green as it is described. And yes, it looks impressive. No less impressive is the fact that the entrance to this valley is paid, although I still do not understand why in some countries there are paid forests and similar natural objects.
One could, of course, assume that for 60 lira ($7.2) the Turks are doing something useful, but in fact for this money you get paid toilets in the valley. The valley itself is really chic and radically different from the valleys in the vicinity of Goreme.
You can walk here without exaggeration all day. You will be accompanied by a green river, dragonflies and sunbeams all the time. Particular attention here can be paid to the number of temples inside the rocks. The word many and close does not convey their number. Of the minuses, this is my old enemy - steps.
If you want to see the temple, climb the next set of steps. Temples, by the way, are quite diverse. We definitely mastered 7 pieces, and the godfather set himself the task of not missing a single one! A few kilometers after the entrance, travelers are waiting for our favorite cozy restaurants on the water. Fresh juices and Turkish coffee flowed like water here.
The main thing is that children should not be allergic to so many citrus fruits) A very cozy valley, I wanted to spend ages with geese here. But we need to move on! After about 4 kilometers, tourists end, they climb somewhere up the stairs and then the valley generally becomes only your personal. But no matter how much you want to walk here forever, you need to return to the car. The return route can be carried out along the other bank with other temples.
By the way, there are many interesting bridges in the valley. They look like they're in an old fairy tale. At the very beginning of the valley, where we started, there are many restaurants overlooking the river, you can eat here, but, to be honest, they are designed for tourists who are brought in and taken away by bus at a time.
The service and food here is completely uninteresting. It is better to take plenty of food with you for a picnic in the valley itself and enjoy nature. It was an unexpectedly green day among the golden and red colors of Cappadocia familiar to us. On the way back to Goreme, there are also a number of attractions in the form of a huge fortress - rocks. And a whole field of stone rocks - cones.
In addition to the standard local attractions, we drove into an area where there were many closed giant doors in the rocks. Such as were on the Star Craft maps. What is behind the doors and why are they not on the map? No matter how much we tried to get those doors out of our heads, we passed more and more. And finally, in one of the rocks, we saw an open door. Forward! Admittedly, opinion is somewhat divided. On the one hand, we find out that there is something, on the other hand, everyone had the feeling that helicopters would fly in and they would tie us up. Curiosity has taken over! We went through one of the doors. Now I have a dilemma, on the one hand, I should not write about this in my story, so apparently the owner didn’t mention it on the maps for nothing, but on the other hand, what about the openness and availability of information? Yes, and a virtual journey with us will be incomplete in this case....It was dark outside the doors, chilling coolness came from the depths, through the dark pillars holding the vaults of sinister ceilings. An unprecedented amount of potatoes opened up to our eyes... It looked like they were vegetable warehouses. When we drove further in the car, the thought did not leave me: “What if they really wanted us to think that there were just potatoes? ! And who are they? ” Before that, we thought to walk through the fields to other doors, but there the worker on the combine looked at us so suspiciously that we already didn’t want to go to them....Why was he suspicious? And why did he glare at him suspiciously? Or he wanted us to think so, that he looked suspiciously…”. But this “conspiracy theory” is still in its infancy.
Shortly before the trip, we decided to watch the first episode of the cult Turkish TV series “The Pit”. So there is a special tattoo by which they recognize their own. And then there are the districts of Istanbul, which are kept by an elderly man who can easily “slap on cabbage soup” if you stop by the wrong place. It seems like we watched only one episode of the film, and signs from the film are already following us all over Turkey. This sign looks like vertical three dots in angle brackets. On the way back, we took a slightly wrong turn and drove into a town with very narrow roads. All eyes of the locals were riveted to our car. Somewhere on the wall there was clearly a sign from the “Pit”. But, fortunately, the local contingent consisted mainly of grandmothers, and there was no impudent grandfather, although according to the film, the guys got on a very similar street.
Finally, we saw the far corners of Cappadocia! I would like to draw a conclusion here. The underground city of Derinkuyu and the Ihlara Valley are definitely worth a visit. If you are without a car, then it makes sense to sign up for a “green tour”. This is a universal name in many tour companies. It is important that entrance tickets are included in the price. In fact, you will need to pay 60 lira per person three times (underground city, Ihlara valley and Selime monastery). The cost of the tour we found out was about 100 lira more than the total cost of all entrances and included these entrances.
So, if you want to see Cappadocia up and down, allocate at least 4 full days. We didn’t visit the monastery itself, because we didn’t have the strength and there is a similar one in Uchisar, but we were nearby, it looked beautiful. We also had one unexplained object on the route - Mustafapasha. On the map, it is marked as a landmark, but in the smallest town where this mark is located, no one could explain what it is. We did not find anything of interest nearby.
Continuing our journey through Cappadocia
The vacation of our godfathers was coming to an end, and they flew home the next day. We still have a third of the route ahead of us. We also had one outstanding issue. We had Trabzon planned. This is part of Turkey from the Black Sea, it should be as beautiful as we have in the Carpathians. But the weather got in the way. Over the past few weeks there have been showers almost all the time due to the weather and the dates of our arrival will be no exception. Although, as experience shows, if the rains are predicted to last for weeks, then usually not everything is so bad in reality. The second problem was getting. It would be possible to fly on airplanes making a big detour, which would not be financially justified. The second option we considered was a night bus that goes from Cappadocia directly to Trabzon at about 12 o'clock. We considered this option about a week ago as the most suitable. But Cappadocia is a very physically demanding route, especially when it's just one of the seven locations on a big trip.
We simply did not calculate the forces. The fact that Google drew rain in Trabzon, I would write it down as a plus, since we threw this location out of the route with a calm soul. I remember my phrase “If we have to take the night bus tomorrow, I am afraid that I will die of fatigue. ” No matter how much I would like to please everyone with our endless energy, but, unfortunately, our energy does have a limit, and we comprehended it on this journey. I believe that people who go on long trips around the world need to put up monuments for endurance. By the way, the factor of working in this format of travel plays into the hands, as it slows you down a bit on weekdays, allowing you to take a break from hiking. When we realized that we needed to change the route, we still tried to quickly sketch out a new plan at night, but everything did not work out. In general, we are still staying in Cappadocia, it’s good here anyway, and then we’ll get some sleep and with a clear head we will invent something anew. In the morning it turned out to be really easier to think, and we quickly sketched out a further plan of action for ourselves and threw a couple more days on Cappadocia. In our current hotel, fortunately, there were no vacancies to extend for another couple of nights. Our current hotel was not bad, but they screwed up every time with breakfast. And to get all your breakfast, you need to lose the whole morning. Of course, if our room was still free, it would be easier to stay than to drag things. But here, fortunately, there was a reason to move out.
Our second hotel
A week ago, my mom and dad had a good hotel across the street from ours, at booking he wanted a fairly high price, but I decided to go to them and show miracles of diplomacy. I came to their reception and said that I came to them with a great diplomatic mission, we want to stay in a triple room for two nights and I'm sure that we can agree on a good price, since booking is too expensive. The guy said that of course we will agree, let's 300 lira ($ 36.1) and check in right now. We quickly moved to a new hotel. So, what kind of valleys we have here near the valley have not yet been fully explored?
Red Valley (but not sure)
On previous trips, this valley caused the most questions, as the signs were constantly confused, now it is pink, then red, and indeed the sign is written in blue. We started our difficult route towards Chavushin. We went specifically along the routes of the valley. The valley was distinguished by the fact that it had large elevation differences, then you go somewhere completely below, then you climb onto a mini version of Hoverla.
I was especially pleased with the mark on the map in the spirit of “Very difficult to pass”. And indeed, it was difficult in that place, we went down literally along the recesses in an almost vertical wall. Yes, what do we have after the case when we could not get off, such routes are like the sea knee-deep.
Misha was once again horrified where his parents were dragging him. But at the end of the route, a seller of cold orange juice was waiting for us. So the reward was worth it. The valley itself is as incredibly beautiful as the rest, there are interesting caves and temples with carvings on the ceiling, just the valley is an order of magnitude more complicated than the neighboring ones and a bit dangerous.
There I spotted another route to the top of the mountains, similar to Turkish ice cream, but we’ll explore it somehow in our next trips. In Cavushin, we originally planned to eat at a restaurant where we eat every time, but in a couple of years the restaurant became popular and set such prices that we had to say goodbye to it. In Turkey, I have noticed more than once that it is rare when you enter the same hotel, and now a similar trend is starting with restaurants.
Every year, hundreds of new ones open with good prices, while the old ones raise prices, as they are already known. On the other hand, people mostly come to Cappadocia once, and what is the point in expensive restaurants is not very clear to me. Service and taste of food in any case will be plus or minus the same. So let's eat in the next city.
Avanos
It's already a tradition. On every trip to Cappadocia, be sure to stop by cozy Avanos. Go to a beautiful McDonald's with tasteless coffee and take a walk along the river. This time we just didn’t order coffee at McDonald’s, and in addition to being beautiful, it also became delicious. We hung, by the way, here for a long time. It has a free slot machine for two.
There was a game from a series of fights like Mortal Kombat. We've got a real tournament here. It was fun. Another creative innovation is the models of seated football players. So that during the epidemic they don’t sit close to each other in double places, one is occupied by a full-length cardboard football player) The city itself also pleased us with a cool feature. Here they put a machine that for two lira (0.25 usd) takes a picture of you against the backdrop of a landmark and prints a photo. So we have a commemorative photo from Avanos) Oddly enough, but in Avanos we also have a restaurant where we should traditionally look, there are cozy sofas where you can sit in a reclining state. We have our favorite table. This time we came for coffee with kunefe and katmer. Every year our love for Turkish sweets becomes more and more. I was afraid that I would gain a lot of weight during this trip, but on my return I would be surprised by the loss of three kilograms.
This is probably the first time in the history of our travels when I have lost weight, apparently, the nerves associated with work, all the adventures and physical activity on the route have had such an effect. But there were really a lot of sweets and liters of ayran during this trip, and it was really wonderful. From Avanos we decided to go to Urgup, it seems to be very close here. But for some reason, no matter how much we drove, we were further and further, and further, and further on the map. When we drove past our hotel in Goreme, we suspected something was wrong. Moreover, the driver told us that he was going to Urgup, but he added something else in Turkish to some Turk, and he did not sit down. As a result, we drove through all the main sights of the surroundings and finally got off in Urgup. It looks like the minibus was circular and we just went in the wrong direction initially. But Misha managed to get a good night's sleep while we were driving. I already wrote about how wonderful it was in Urgup a couple of days ago. This time was no less chic, the town is really worth a separate visit. We even had a family joke for this trip. From time to time we said the word “Urgup” to each other simply without any context. At the same time, it was necessary to observe the maximum Turkish accent.
So for us now “Urgup” is a full-fledged sentence during a conversation, which in itself immediately reveals the essence of the question and answers it. We started the next morning with balloons, as we had slept soundly the previous night. Only now the balls were lowered for some reason, but all the people were at the ready. No matter how much we waited on the survey, they did not even try to start taking off. I learned from one of the organizers that now there is a strong wind in the sky and everyone is waiting for changes. By the way, before the flight of balloons, ordinary helium balloons are launched into the sky and they check how the wind carries them. We were most worried about the people who came here on an excursion from different parts of Turkey, and then such a bummer was waiting. But fortunately for everyone, at some point a signal was given and the balls began to prepare for takeoff at the speed of light. We watched as if in a video in rewind. If they can prepare the balls for launch so quickly every time, then why do they do it slowly every time? )))) After the balls, we just went to look for that legendary cave in the Valley of Daggers, which Katya and Sasha discovered. The search was not easy, but we did find it, for which we fell in love with the Valley of Daggers even more. Now you can return to the hotel for breakfast with peace of mind. Dad sent me a message to find the owner of the hotel and say hello to his son, as our parents became friends with the owner and gave his son candy for his birthday. But when we moved in, the owner was not there. And when we sat down for breakfast, a man came up to me and looked at me in bewilderment. I asked if he was Murat)))) This was Murat - the owner of the hotel. When he looked through the records of the hotel guests in the morning, he noticed my last name and first name, which completely coincides with dad. He thought that the tourists who had recently moved out had returned and came to greet them. But when he saw me, he could not understand what was happening. The tourist is clearly similar, but not the same)
Now, after breakfast, you can go to harvest from fruit trees, this time there was a berry and fruit paradise. In the valleys, you didn't have to worry about getting hungry. The sea of mulberries and apricots is always at your service. It is a pity that figs and grapes were not yet in season. Moreover, such trees could be in the most unexpected places. For example, on the map, the path leading 200 meters to a dead end. But in fact there is a tree with ripe fruits waiting for you at the end.
Ortahisar
On this trip, we decided to see all the towns in general that are in the district. I noticed this town on the map last year. The minibus dropped us off somewhere completely on the outskirts, if not for the map, I would never have believed that there is a city nearby. Some fields and steppes. Well, let's go along the highway to look for the city. I had to go well. 20-30 minutes.
In the center of the city, another rock fortress was waiting for us. But unlike the previous ones, this one somehow did not at all evoke a sense of security. There is even a paid entrance, although quite for a symbolic price. We were warned that the upper terrace is now available for a visit, so that we can safely climb.
Part of the ascent was on the outer very steep steps with railings. But here the main thing is to hold on tight, then we climbed inside the rocks and finally we reached the entrance to the upper terrace with a sign “Danger, passage is prohibited”. But we were told that it is possible, probably, it is no longer dangerous. The ascent to the top was quite extreme.
If you have a fear of heights, then you will not rise, if it is not there, then it will definitely appear during the ascent. We climbed to the very top of the cliff. There is a platform five meters by five, along the edges of metal poles with a chain, but at the same time one pole is torn out and hangs in the air.
I thought that after the path of death in China, nothing would frighten me. And it is not clear whether to hold on to these chains, or to squat closer to the center. Then an interesting effect occurred, I began to have a strong pressure drop, there were patterns in my eyes and there was not enough air. Although internally I felt relatively confident. But, apparently, this is the effect of fear of heights. From the fortress we descended a millimeter, each movement was thought out, on the spans where you can sit down, I lay coming to my senses. Why does the body give such misfires, why can't everything be kept under psychological control? Also, thick clouds were gathering, now, as lightning strikes against the rock. We returned to earth, I ate ice cream and I felt good again.
An interesting fact is that ice cream always makes me feel good, especially if it's McDonald's mcflurry. In general, I will summarize, if you want extreme sports in Cappadocia, then this fortress is definitely for you, plus the views from above are really mesmerizing. True, the thought did not leave me that they charge an entrance fee in the form of insurance for those who climb up) Ortahisar itself has its own valleys. We chose not the best. It was certainly beautiful, a lot of green trees, but there was one big minus.
There were sewer collectors and sometimes a wild stench rose that tears came from the eyes. Of course, we are aesthetes, we tried to continue to enjoy the beauty, but at some point the stench was so unbearable that we had to run back trying not to breathe. So the valleys in Cappadocia are not only for any color, but also for any smell. While we were running, I noticed how a dog was standing somewhere at a height and watching us. So I wonder what he was thinking, maybe he was trying to understand why everyone was running from this valley. Now the final result of the city, if the fortress does not seem extreme enough to you, then the stinking valley is at your service. It is interesting that in the valley itself there are empty stalls and even a bridge leading to a closed temple. Once tourism was seething here, and now waste.
Farewell to Cappadocia
Traditionally, on the last night I come to the night view, look at the luminous city, Dasha traditionally stays at the hotel and says that she won’t climb anywhere in the middle of the night. The year before last, we were standing here with Dasha and Olya. I was sad that we were leaving Cappadocia forever. Last year I stood by myself, I was sad that the journey was already over. Now I stand still as the journey continues, just one of its stages has ended. Cappadocia is still as beautiful as the first time, let the flying balloons no longer excite the eyes like the first time, but the valleys and the atmosphere here are still just as beautiful. Even when we started to pass through the valleys for the third time, they were as surprising as for the first time, these unreal colors, these shapes, cave temples. This is truly a wonder of the world. I think that when people fly to other planets, they may be disappointed with simple alien landscapes after visiting Cappadocia. And it is also possible that someday inhabitants of other planets will make space tourism here. If you are reading this story thousands of years later and your home planet is not Earth, then be sure to check out Cappadocia, you will love it! If you like earthy food, then be sure to try the local Turkish coffee with bureks. Well, if suddenly you have a time machine, then look at me in 2021, I'm waiting for you))))
In the morning we booked a shuttle, which was wildly late. We had to go to the Kayseri airport, which is an hour away. The ticket agency was confident that the shuttle would arrive at the airport on time. After they did take us away, we drove around the yards for a long time and gathered people. Dasha and I thought that now we would still be forced to stay here if we didn’t make it on time for the plane. But a miracle happened when the minibus drove onto the track, the driver began to drive at the same speed as the cars in the Fast and the Furious movie during the competition. We just flew through the air. We arrived at the airport on time. I would never have thought that old Turkish minibuses could fly at such a speed. Now we are back on the plane, continuing the route. Outside the porthole, a large Turkish salt marsh flew by.
