Blogs from Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 48

As soon as I was back from the wonderlands of Capadocia to face the world of visa buissnes once more I was ill. So I did not go to visit the chinese embassy but I laid down in my bed in grim old Otel Fuar and ate mashed apple and banana with oats. After two days I'm now feeling better and I hope to reach Iran next week.... read more

I decided not to spend the waiting time for the chinese visa chewing kebab in Ankara but to have a look at famous Capadocia. Almost every traveler I have met told me that it was the best. And it was very rewarding! Capadocia is not so far away from Ankara, just 4-5 hours by bus. On the way the road goes along a big saltlake, the Tuz Gölü. The interessting thing about Capadocia is its special rocks and the cave homes that have been carved out of many of them. In Göreme, the town I stayed, half the people are living in caves. But the word goes, that tourists are so fond of staying at a cave pension that the locals, who are mostly poor farmers, have to move into new garages (which is the most ... read more

Geo: 37.8091, 34.1348Quite a surreal place. Never seen anything like the landscape here. This is where many of the early Christians tried to build up the Christian Church faced with huge persecution. Now it's like a Mushroom fairyland!!Moonscape valleys and fairy chimneys.... read more

Long bus journey from istanbul to ankara. Visiting the museum of anatolian civilizations and the next day seeing the mausoleum of attaturk before heading towards urgup. Before reaching urgup we visited the hacibektas monestary and then move on to urgup.... read more

Pugner and I carefully weighed each word of the first travel agent who tried to set us up with a package tour. We cross checked all of the prices. We were dilligent. Then we checked our email, got tired, and bought the first package that the internet cafe guy (who possibly wasn't even a travel agent) mentioned to us. Without checking anything. We ended up with a cheap flight to the Capadocia region, which is famous for wacky geological formations and underground cities. The area has been inhabited for a long time by people wishing to basically be left alone. People would come here and carve houses, churches, even whole cities out of the relatively soft volcanic rock. The idea was that attackers wouldn't be bothered to try and dig them out, or climb up the ... read more