http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Turkey , Central Anatolia , Cappadocia en-us Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:50:19 BST Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:50:19 BST And so onto Cappadocia a region of Turkey famous for its amazing landscape parts of Star Wars were filmed there there will be plenty of pics to follow We travelled along the route of the old Silk Road the trading route that used to exist between Europe and Asia and we got the chance to stop at some of the caravanserais that still stand on the route. These were stopping points every 2030km http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-331854.html Right now Irsquom listening to some Sufjan Stevens music whose lyrics mainly talk about different parts of the Midwest. So Irsquom feeling a little nostalgic and homesick. Irsquod like to describe my few days in Cappadocia but it will be hard. I canrsquot adequately write how amazing and inspiring it was. We were in a small town in the region of Cappadocia. I went with Kate and wit http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-331536.html New pictures October in Istanbul httpwww.facebook.comalbum.phpaid2326884la29c4id10738138Cappadocia httpwww.facebook.comalbum.phpaid2326876le951eid10738138Once again I return from vacation from vacation. Cappadocia was fantastic. I saw more beautiful things than I can describe and more beautiful than I can describe. Even the 14 hour bus rides to and back were nice when it wa http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-331065.html The bus journey to the region of Cappadocia was unfortunate because of my spectacular miscalculation in travel time. I first travelled to the large city of Antalya with its multistory 150 platform bus station but could only get a connecting bus to the village of Greme central in the Cappadocia region at 1600 that afternoon. That seemed feasible and I figured that we should arrive at around http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-330137.html So Ben and I have been in Turkey for three days now and are absolultely loving itOur first day in Istanbul we took a tour through the Topkapi Palace and grounds a huge complex built for the Sultans. While the Palace was exceptional what really caught my attention was the third largest diamond in the world 86 carats on display... when I get married next year after drinking from the spring at http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-329734.html Another great day this time I hired a private driverguide. He was a nice man named Adam at least that is the English version. He spoke pretty good English. I went to the Goreme Open Air Museum first. Lots of walking hiking treking whatever you want to call that exhausting stuff Many steps again and stooping to get into the caves. But mostly worth it. Saw several more churches with the orig http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-326768.html Hi all what a wonderful day today was Took a guided tour to an underground village and to a monastery high on the hillside. Both are in caves that were originally inhabited by the Hittites. The history here is so amazing its hard to comprehend that people lived here in 3000BC The cave city was 7 stories down and we went down down down thru dark passages so narrow many times that you felt th http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-326386.html Finally back on the road for some serious travelling and exploring the country that is the crossroads between Europe and Asia Turkey. First stop on this lavish 5 week odyessy is the middle of the country in Capaddocia land of caves odd rock formations quirky living arrangements and amazing scenery. Left London on Thursday flying the very lavish not Pegasus Air which is Turkey's version o http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-320182.html 18 Aug we have a leisurely breakfast on the train followed by a few hours of watching the Turkish countryside go by. Vast dry sandy nothingness except for the odd small settlement with cows and a minaret. A v relaxing way to spend a Monday morning...work life seems a distant memory already Arrive in the hippy hangout of Goreme in Cappadocia WOW what a place. For those of you in the know http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-320018.html Eine Reise durch ein Land im UmbruchHeute hatten wir eine lange kilometerfressende Reise quer durch die Trkei auf dem Plan. Nachdem wir uns gegen 8 aus dem Bett erhoben haben ging es kurz vor 10 wieder auf die Piste. Zun1606chst wollte wiederum Istanbul berwindet werden. Wir fuhren in der gekonnten Konstellation Stephan am Steuer ich an der Karte denn unser liebes Navigationsger1606t http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-318475.html Sleeping in a bus station was definitely not on my list of things to do whilst in Turkey as adventurous as I would like to be but hopefully last night was the first and the last There was supposed to a connecting bus from Ankara to Cappadocia but when we arrived in Ankara at 3am we were told that there was no bus to Cappadocia until 9am which meant having to wait at the station for 6 hours Tha http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-317185.html Cappadocia http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-316217.html Day 59SundayWell...today 305s really our last day 305n Turkey and the end of stage two of our tr305p. All be305ng well by Monday even305ng we w305ll be 305n Ch305cago. Th305s weekend s305de tr305p to Central Anatol305a has been great. Yet another set of completely d305fferent exper305ences. We are lucky we dec305ded to fly here on Fr305day even305 http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-315609.html We left Istanbul and headed inland to Cappadocia. It's incredible here the landscape is like something from a different planet. There are solid towering cones all over the landscape that were formed from ancient volcanic erosion. The locals call the cone like formations fairy Chimney's. Apparently because they couldn't imagine humans building them so they figured fairies did . The history http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-313129.html The region of Cappadocio has the most spectacular views you can imagine. Enjoy some photos. http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-308451.html We had a tour of a pottery factory. They make 2 k305nds of pottery wh305te clay wh305ch has a h305gh s305l305ca content and red clay wh305ch 305s h305gh 305n 305ron. Both are found locally the wh305te clay from volcan305c so305l wh305ch 305s full of ash and very wh305te the red clay from the r305ver banks. F305rst they showed us http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-308251.html Hi everyone These are pictures from the Cappadoca Kapadokya part of our trp. As you can see we dd a lot of walkng around and lookng at the scenery. And takng pctures of t.The frst pcture shows a typcal landscape structure. The entre area s volcanc ash except a thn top layer whch s somethng harder. So when the top layer fractured t allowed the layers underneath to wash aw http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-308092.html So last n305ght there was an opt305onal even305ng out305ng to a Turk305sh Folklor305c N305ght near our hotel. Everyone was t305red from gett305ng up at 5 th305s morn305ng and there was some debate about go305ng but f305nally 2 of the fam305l305es dec305ded to do 305t. I wanted to go from the beg305nn305ng even though I thought 305t http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-308090.html Today we were 305n Kapadokya. Kapadokya 305s a volcan305c reg305on w305th a lot of ash and volcan305c dust wh305ch 305s very soft. Apparently you can carve yourself a root cellar 305n a matter of a couple of hours and 305n fact at one po305nt we saw a man w305den305ng the road 305n front of h305s home us305ng an electr305c j305gsaw. At var http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-307544.html Balooning in Cappadochia Turkey the photos shall do all the talking this time. http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-303211.html The bus dropped us off in Nev351ehir where we would then need to wait for another shuttle to take us to Greme. While we were waiting for the shuttle of course they had people attacking us with fliers and brochures about the various guided tours we could take around the area. The guy that approached us was really pushing Mikkel hard and I was shocked at how patiently he listened and how g http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-292618.html turkey lost last nite. im a litttle bummed. yes im watching soccer now. you got a problem with that http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-291847.html Cappadocia is a high desert region of central Turkey. It is famous for its astounding landscapes which are decorated with peculiar rock formations. It is an otherworldly place with the strange shapes of the rock towers and pillars rising against the clear desert sky. Canyons of eroded red rock the valley floor green with scrub vegetable plots and trees such as olive walnut apricot and mulbe http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-291258.html It has been about five months now and Rozy and I have experienced discussed and analysed the many differences both subtle and extreme between the transport systems of 6 different countries. Our travels in Turkey bring us closest to some of the most economically developed countries in the world and one would probably expect a jump in the quality of the transport system given this proximity and http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-289171.html Carmen San Diego would be proud.Now who were the Mole People really I mean I know thats a term thrown around in conversation usually jokingly but I actually have no idea who they really were. e.g. What happened to Jerry man Ever since he started dating Sally he's been MIA. Yeah dude he's turned into one of the Mole People... or something. A quick visit to Wiki yields that Mole People http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-285461.html Day 1 Overnight bus ride from Izmir to G337reme 25I took the metro about 1 to the main bus station Otogar in Bornova Izmir. I had no trouble getting pointed in the right direction of the long distance bus counters. I think the only company to travel all the way to G337reme was Metro so I approached the counter and asked if anyone spoke english. Several of the ticket agents said http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-280486.html Underground Protection When foreign armies moved through the area people needed a place to hide. The soft rock in Cappadocia provided if not the perfect place at least a good place but only after a lot of digging was done. There are several underground cities in Cappadocia. The one we visited has 7 levels and everything that was needed to wait out a passing army was available. There are living http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-279525.html