Blogs from Göreme, Cappadocia, Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 2

It was a bit black over Bill’s Mother’s when we woke (a black-country saying that means there are black clouds above), with the sun trying to peek through we packed up and took the minutely short journey to our first destination for the day. Woolly says – it was only 2 KM to reach Yazilikaya or Written Rock, situated right next to Hattusa and another UNESCO site. This place would have been a Sanctuary and the Hittite’s would have held their New Year festivals here although their New Year was in the spring, I wonder if they had fireworks and lots of alcohol? Things were very different then Woolly and no they wouldn’t have sung Auld Lang Sine either before you ask. It was in use from at least the late 16th century BC, but most ... read more

Hello Everyone! I am reviving my blog after my stint in India. I had pretty much given up. But lets try this again. Yesterday Mark Soileau left our group to return to Ankara. He is an American Professor married to a Kurdish woman and teaches at a university in Marden, which is on the border of Syria. He is an ordained Bektashi Alevi Baba (maybe I will explain this later) and he taught us about Haji Bektashi (a person, city, and faith) and about the Alevi. He returned to Ankara yesterday to do a ceremony with his disciple. Thus, Mark left and Wendy Wiseman came. Yesterday she gave a three hour lecture on ancient Christianity. It was AMAZING! I have learned a lot. Today she is taking us to different site visits. You know ancient 10th ... read more

O 4/00 ma zobudil japonec co siel na ranny let balonom,o 7/00 opat budicek dalsim japoncom a aby toho nebolo dost od 7/00 furt zvonil volakomu budik na mobile. Francuz mobil vypol ale za hodinu zacal budik zasa vyzvanat,to ho uz zobral do ruk japonec a ten ho nadobro zneskodnil. No to mi uz bolo prt platne ked som nemohol zaspat. Fakt japonska demencia,nechat nastaveny budik a odist prec,no stane sa ale tento kokot bol uplne nekulturne hovado. Vzdy ked vybiehal z izby nechal otvorene dvere,keby bolo vonku teplo je mi to fuk ale vonku mrzne a drbo necha otvorene dvere,potom sa velice ospravedlnuje a zachvilu to spravi zas. Ranajkoval som spolu s etienom a kanadankou,kedze sa medzi sebou bavili francuzsky nic som nerozumel. Po jedle som si to namieril do postele a vyvaloval sa tam ... read more

Rano o 8/20 ma zobudil novy prichodzi. Tak mi nic ine nezostavalo ako sa prebrat a ist sa naranajkovat. Na stole ma cakal plny tanier,dzem,nutela,syr,maslo,olivy,salam,tvrdy syr,susene ovocie, vajco natvrdo,rajciny a pecivo. Caj sa capoval z konvice,opat 1/2caju 1/2 vody. Vsetko som zlupol okrem vajca dzemu. Napratany som sa vydal nazad do jaskyne (ubytko). Na nadvori som stretol francuza,zhanal recepcneho,tak som ho spravne nasmeroval. Po jeho ubytovani som sa s nim vypravil na prvu turu. Plan bol love valley,uchisar a nazad cez Pigeon valley. Za mierneho snezenia sme vyrazili, batoh som nebral,vo vacku horalka a jablku,v ruke voda. Isli sme smerom na mesto Avanos,kde bolo treba odbocit dolava asi po 3km sme zbadali odbocku. Co sme mali mapy z ubytka + z LP nic moc. Dostali sme sa do udolia Love,uplna parada. Udolie vytvorene vodou,plno skalnych kominov. ... read more

Our second day in Cappadocia was supposed to start with an adventure we had not done before and were very much looking forward to. We were to take the hot air balloon flight that is so famous in Cappadocia. We were picked up from our hotel at 4 am and were taken to the vast open field. In the dark of the night, the field was strewn with numerous huge colorful air balloons those were being prepared for the flight. There were huge fans blowing very hard –which were used to fill the insides of the balloons with air. Once the balloons were somewhat filled with air, fires was blown directed towards the inside of the balloon so that the air inside would get hot and the balloon slowly started to rise. It was as if ... read more