Farewell to Bedrock

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After our ballooning, hiking, and then Curtis' makeover the rest of our time in the beautiful town of Goreme was spent renting a scooter for the day on Wednesday and travelling around the countryside. I am pretty sure my newly madeover husband imagined he was driving a Harley but with two of us on board it was hard to get it up to 60km, even going downhill!! We first visited the town of Uchisar where we climbed up the stairs of the huge castle built into the rock. Uchisar is the highest point in Cappodocia. There are many rooms in the rock connected by stairs and tunnels. The panoramic view was amazing as we gazed down upon the land far below. Next we climbed on our little white scooter and headed to Ortahisar. This is a picturesque town with narrow streets and beautiful stone houses. We went up to the rock fortress, climbing narrow sets of steel steps up the side of the rock and then onto stone stairs. Unfortunately we could not get all the way to the top but from this vantage point we were able to admire the geological wonders below. On our way to Urgup we stopped at a lookout that was up a huge white rock and down into the beautiful valley below, full of fairy chimneys. Driving into Urgup and waiting at a corner, a man crossing the street stopped to chat and give us directions. Smiling, he said, "and if you come back later my restaurant is just up the street." Not having had lunch, we opted to eat. The lentil soup was the most flavourful one yet and I tried, Gozleme, a turkish like pancake that was filled with cheese. Curtis tried out the Turkish sauages, little pinkish, red weiners!!! We had a good laugh when they arrived! We continued touring around, stopping at various spots and then decided to take a small dirt path off the road. It went up and down whereupon I hopped off and walked while my daredevil husband scooted up the steep, dusty path as if on a dirt bike. Not my cup of tea for sure. Later, while on another path we came to a large rock formation that rose out of the ground and above it there was a huge white rock with people up on top. We watched how they came down and we then walked up. When we got to the top we were amazed at what we were standing on. It was like standing on a lunar landscape! It was a huge, smooth surface and very windy. We tried to get a picture using our timer but couldn't get the camera to stay up in the high winds and the whole time we were being pelted with small pebbles that were racing across. As we battled the wind we looked below and saw a wonderful area full of rock structures, paths, and people wandering. We got back on the scooter and took the road around to Pasabag Valley. We roamed the paths between the huge rocks and caves. Large boulders seem to be just sitting on top of high cone shaped rocks. It was amazing. We came to a hole in the rock that had a steep incline with small indentations leading up to it. Kids were attempting to run and climb up without luck. A young man beside us handed over his phone to his friend and set off racing. With a great deal of effort and a few grunts he made it up to the hole. You could see the cloud of testosterone that soon filled the air. Not to be outdone, my husband shrugged off his backpack and roared up the stone wall. There were a couple minutes near the top of slight panic as I watched him teeter but the adrenaline/testosterone mix soon had him in the cave! As we left the other guy was scaling the wall...if I didn't get out of there I was pretty sure I was going to grow facial hair! We continued exploring and came to another, less steep but higher wall to climb, which of course my husband did-twice!!! Thrilled that we happened upon this valley we soon set off again.

Our last stop was Cavusin, the town that is very close to Goreme. This small town, also complete with cave houses, is home to the Cavusin Church which was built around 964-965.

We stopped to fill up our tank at a gas station. It never ceases to amaze me how friendly and helpful Turkish people are. As we pulled in, a bit unsure of which pump to go to, a man filling his car motioned to us and soon had us at the correct pump. With a full tank we were soon back in Goreme. We showered after our hot and dusty ride and then hopped back on our scooter and went up to catch one last sunset. The climb was much easier on two wheels! We watched as the sky turned to gold as the sun dipped below the horizon. A glorious sight.

We returned our scooter and began our walk to a restaurant we had scoped out the night before. We enjoyed a nice dinner and a long evening stroll through town before heading back to our room.

Our final day was to be a shopping day!! We first dropped off a large bag of laundry into a small store as we couldn't go one more day without clean clothes and for 20 TL it was a great deal! We wandered in and out of different shops, never being hassled like in Istanbul by shopkeepers. We chose some beautiful cushion covers, a gorgeous leather journal for Curtis and another leather wristband for his arm. We stopped for a complimentary tea at a restaurant and then returned later for lunch where we tried our first Turkish pizza. It was fantastic!

Later we picked up freshly laundered clothing and went back to pack up before heading in for dinner. As we arrived to the restaurant, a Turkish woman stood out front stoking her wood burning stove. She welcomed us warmly and lead us to a table. I finally ordered a dish I had been waiting to try - a Testi (this had nothing to do with the testerone I had absorbed through osmosis yesterday😊. This interesting dish is a delicious chicken stew that is cooked in a clay vase-like vessel. When it is brought out the server hits the scored surface with a knife and off the top pops and inside an aromatic stew is simmering. Complete with rice, bread, and a salad it was wonderful. As we were sitting there, a man came up to us and began chatting, a bit of a character. He was teasing the waitress, saying she was his wife. She just grinned at him and soon we were engaged by his charisma. It turns out he is German, married and moved to the UK for a number of years and has now lived in Turkey for the last 12. He runs a small scooter shop just before the restaurant we were dining in. He kept us entertained with stories of his life. His name is Mustafa but is "Hans" in German! He spoke some German to Curtis and told him that he just has to keep trying to use his Deutsch with people and it will get easier. As we left, the old woman wrapped me in her arms and kissed me warmly on both cheeks. We posed for a picture with her and then wandered through the beautiful streets of Goreme one last time.

We awoke early to catch our shuttle. We got our last glimpse of a balloon filled sky before leaving. Our hotel manager handed us a bag of sandwiches and juice for our journey. We arrived at the airport in Nevsehir, made it through security and boarded our plane bound for Istanbul and then another for Antalya. Another day of flying drug free 😊.

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Photos

Steel Steps Up
Ortahisar Castle

Lunarscape
Pasabag Valley

Friendly Owner
Cappadocian Cuisine Restaurant

Mushroom Rocks
Pasabag Valley