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For my next short weekend Trekkup trip, my friend and I decided on Cappadocia. I had long wanted to do this trip and, while I had initially planned to do the trip on my own for a more extended period, I figured why not. Trekkup trips are generally packed and so I should get to see what I wanted without having to spend too much time organizing it, including the balloon rides, which I was not initially planning on, but now was excited about. It was a small group of 6 going and we all got along pretty well, which is crucial for small groups!
This was my first time in the other Istanbul airport, Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW), which is located on the east side of the city. We had a 4 hour layover and had to go through customs first. It was a bit confusing for the visa process and to connect to domestic flights, but we had plenty of time and found it. Then we relaxed in one of the few places to sit, before I realized there was a bar. So, we went over and it was....semi-open. The woman behind the counter spoke no English and
it took a while to realize that they did not serve liquor or draft beer (ever or just at this time of day was unclear), but we were allowed to get bottled beer from the fridge, which we did and enjoyed for a few minutes before our flight.
We arrived at the airport in Kayseri where our guide and driver met us. It was about a 40 minute drive to Cappadocia, Goreme, and we first stopped for a nice buffet lunch. First scam of the trip: a ice bucket full of cold beers placed in front of us. Of course, I knew they would not be free, but 6 euros!?!?!? For a cheap beer in Turkey. Yikes. The food was good at least, then we moved on to our first stop of the day. A walk around some of the caves and fairy chimneys near the main park, just to give us a brief idea of what we would see and why they were here. He should that many of the upper caves were pigeon houses; they used the guano for the plaster. It was pleasant, but overcast and cool. This is the only place you can also take
pictures in one of the cave churches, so that was nice; this church had mostly red geometric shapes as paintings were expensive. The guide also explained some of the history and how that affected life. Muslims and Christians had co-existed for 1000 years, but in the 1920's, Turkey initiated the "exchange of people." I had never heard this before, but it was interesting. Essentially it was the forced relocation of 1.6 million people between Greece and Turkey to attempt to ease the conflict of religions between the two countries over the past 20 years or so. The jury is out on its success, but I would like to read more about it in the future.
We were told at this point that our balloon ride scheduled for the morning was cancelled due to anticipated weather. Bummer. Hopefully, we will do the next day.
Well, the guide knew at this point that we were tired, so they took us to the MDC Cave Hotel, which is built up against the hills. I don't know that it was quite a "cave" hotel, but the back walls were indeed built into the rock, the rooms were nice, and the restaurant was
pretty good. My room had a giant jacuzzi which I pretty much immediately filled up and read my book until I was a prune. Dinner was pretty good - I had eggplant with minced beef and delicious onion rings. The wine was super expensive - like $60 a bottle! So, we skipped the alcohol tonight and went to bed early.
Goreme Open Air Museum Our main attraction for today was the open air museum, which contained many cave structures, particularly cave churches, where we could not take photos. We visited the first church, dedicated to St Basil, who was born and raised in Cappadocia, so you see his name all around here; inside were the graves of rich donors, most likely moved from other areas, but to give the idea of what the churches were like. We also visited the "Apple Church", which was probably named thus because of its location. Then the church of Saint Barbara. Most of the designs in the interior were geometric, but they also had some paintings as well, so were quite interesting. I wish I had photos so I can remember the individual locations and associated paintings. I think the first one
(Basil) contained wall paintings while the Apple Church had plaster paintings, but I can't remember.
Soon after, we were allowed to wander freely around the park at our own pace. L and I visited the Dark Church, which you actually had to pay for and it was worth it. It was a fairly nominal fee (3 euros maybe?), but the interior was quite lovely and the entire surface was covered in paintings depicting a story. We also visited the main open cave where they dined and lived mostly - you could tell as the ceiling and top half of the walls were stained with smoke, indicating fires and candles burned for light - the other churches did not have these stains as they would have destroyed the frescoes.
After the ticketed entrance on the way back to the bus, we stopped by the big "Buckle" church, which has elaborate depictions of the life of Christ on the main hallway. I think they are identical on each side. Plus, a vivid blue is the theme color in here. Then you can go downstairs to the crypt and adjacent to the main hall is a cave kitchen, black stained with
soot.
Ceramics Center and views We stopped at a ceramics center later and this place was quite cool - it was actually built into a cave system and had natural cooling as you made your way further into the structure. We got to watch a few of the artists working, weather molding the ceramic or painting. We learned the difference between Ottoman and other painting styles. Then they requested a volunteer and chose me, to sit on the spinning stool thing and put some clay on..... and essentially had me create a phallic shape. We were all hysterically laughing, especially when it fell over and kept hitting me. Then they let me make a little vase. :p it was fun and I bought a few ceramics for myself and as gifts. It was one of my favorite stops of the trip.
We then went to a nice restaurant for lunch and had some yummy red wine. I think we were all sick of meat and most of us ordered a nice hot mushroom plate.
Then we made our way back to our hotel, first stopping at a couple of really nice viewpoints over the valley where
we got great views and pictures of the rock formations below. It really was impressive, colorful, and peaceful. And it was one of the few times I did not feel we were being scammed.
The next morning we woke early and packed our stuff before being picked up to go to the hot air balloon rides. As we were driving, it started to rain, lightly, but we were not surprised when after sitting for 20 minutes at the site, it was called off. So much for that adventure. Safety first of course, but I mostly wanted to see the balloons against the landscape more than anything. Oh well... I would say maybe next time, but I came away from this trip feeling like it was a bit of a tourist trap. And it was one of the few trips with Trekkup that I felt was very unorganized. So, I wished I had just planned the trip myself. I feel I would have enjoyed it more.
Bosphorus Cruise We were taken to the airport and landed in Istanbul. We were still unsure if there was going to be someone greet us and had kind of made side plans
just in case - we had like a 10 hour layover or something. Fortunately, we finally found our driver, who was super awesome, though he did not speak English, so it was a quite ride through crazy Istanbul traffic. I had already been here ten years earlier and truly enjoyed it, but did not feel like I needed to do anything so I was just along for the ride. We met a woman at our cruise - I was expecting what I had done before, a big boat shared with others that would go up and down the strait. Instead, we had a private yacht which drove up and down a few times and served us a fancy lunch. It was really nice, though it was pouring rain for most of the trip, so we mostly stayed inside. Regardless, it was relaxing. Then they took us to a mall instead of an open air market (rain) and we split from here - one couple were staying an extra two days, two of the girls did some shopping in the mall, L and I had a bit of trouble but eventually found a place that served alcohol and we ordered a
bottle of wine and just hung out for a few hours - the two shopping girls eventually joined us. Then we were picked up and taken back to the airport through the crazy traffic and returned to Dubai.
So, as I said, it was not my favorite trip, due to the weather, lack of organization and tourist trap feel ... One day I will go back because I still would like to see the underground city (not sure why this was not on our itinerary) and other areas around here.
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Kayyy
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