Goreme ... Cappadocia ... Up, Up and Away ...

Up and Away ... 

For the last 4/5 days we have been staying in the small tourist town Goreme in the centre of Cappadoccia. Goreme is like nothing I have seen before ... nearly all the houses and most of the accommodation is built into rocks like Caves ... they look amazing. We have been staying at Nomad Cave Hotel ... a small hotel that I would describe more as a hostel. We have had our own room and ensuite and we have found it to be very comfortable and roomy. Having a comfortable place to stay is our top priority! Although there is plenty to choose from here ... I think over the last 10 years Goreme has exploded as a tourist town and is busy, busy, busy with tourists.

I really like staying in hostels ... we have met people from all over. There was a group of Australians here when we arrived. A kiwi woman from Hawkes Bay was here for a couple of days on her way back to NZ from a 2 year nursing stint in the UK, Canadians, a delightful Korean woman and we have had a really interesting conversation with Max ... he is from Quebec and is living in Jerusalem working for Oxfam. We really enjoyed hearing his experience and views of the Palestinian and Jewish conflict at the moment.

We went on a tour our first day here to a Hidden City ... it was 6 stories deep ... the Christians built in the 2nd Century after Christ to hide from the Romans ... sometimes they would live underground for 2-3 months at a time, in hiding. I was very proud of myself ... I can suffer from claustrophobia at times and it has got worse as I have got older and more so since the collapse of the CTV building. I had no idea we were going so far down and when we got to the first floor I was breaking out in a sweat and starting to hypo ventilate ... I thought I was going to faint. In my head I was going through a whole lot of disputation ... 'come on liz look around, no one else is panicking' ... 'how many people a year come through here and come out alive' ... 'listen to every one around you ... look at them, they are feeling ok'. I managed to calm myself down and went even deeper into the ground and we were down there for about an hour. I came out alive! I know that it is all in my head, but my head is a powerful tool of thought and belief that can sometimes cause me some serious stress and anxiety that is unfounded.

We did a balloon ride on Monday morning ... we got up at 4.45am, picked up at 5am taken to a venue for free breakfast which we declined ... we had both been really sick with stomach problems and diarrhea for about a week and had lost a bit of weight ... looking a little too thin ... and we did not want an unexpected event happening in a balloon 1,000 m/ft above ground level. The morning was perfect. The balloon basket takes a maximum of 24 people. We had a very smooth flight ... there must have been about 100 balloons that were flying that morning. We had a magical experience up there ... photos following. Ethereal is the word I would use to describe it ... we found it so peaceful. As the balloons are being blown up, the valley starts to look alive with what I call Alien eggs ... like something from the movie Aliens ... kind of freaky looking in the dawn until they are fully blown up.

We visited the outdoor museum, which we did not enjoy that much ... too many people.  We went on a 3.5 hour walk up the valley and came back through the Valley of Love. We loved it, no people around, no crowds to navigate and it was not too hot. We came across a Tea Garden in the middle of nowhere ... I took a photo. On our descent into the Valley of Love there was a man selling jewellery and knick knacks, we felt sorry for him so I bought a keyring for Vylma and then he started following us down the hill offering us a necklace and bracelet, supposedly made from turquoise, for a very reasonable price! He was persistent, I will not feel sorry for a vendor again. No matter what he says about his wife and children!

I have been spending some time in the evenings in the local eating area of our accommodation ... there is an area for watching TV ... people just hang out, eat and talk and connect and tell travelling stories. Solo travellers hook up with other solo travellers and spend sometime doing things together and then move on to their various destinations. I think if you were travelling solo you would have a great time meeting new people all the time, there is a whole community out there of solo travellers doing things together and then moving on to somewhere new. You would have great relationships with people all over the world ... no conflict or uncomfortable conversations on where to next because you are all in the same place anyway ... have a great time together and then move on ... no strings attached. At least that is what I observed ... an Australian guy and a Canadian guy started talking on our tour to the Hidden City and spent the next few days hanging out, eating and going on walks and by the time the Australian guy was leaving he gave the Canadian guy a hug and thanked him for such a good time and was going to look him up in SF. I have completely changed my views on solo travel.

While I have been spending time in the shared space area keeping up with our blog, emails etc I have had the opportunity to watch TV ... it is mostly on a music channel, sometimes US and sometimes Turkish. I have had a real education and I have come away with a disturbing realisation that has left me feeling very uncomfortable and angry at the music industry. These music videos are nothing but pure music whoring! The women are dressed for sex ... in every way ... and the music is not even that good. The only exception to this is Taylor Swift's music video to Shake it Off. I am amazed that these young women allow themselves to be flaunted in this way in the year 2014 ... and I don't think they can say that it is in the cause of their art ... because as I said their music is not art. The contrast between the male music videos and the women's is appalling ... firstly the men are fully dressed in jeans and t-shirts and the women in their videos are not. The men are generally either singing in a band or walking sedately through a desert or street ... the women are painted up ... jumping about all over the place and over exposing their bodies in comparison. How does this happen??? What kind of story are these young women being told ... I can tell you what they are being told ... sex sells and it will sell anything. I guess I am old fashioned. The more I watched these music videos of these women selling their music with sex the angrier I got!

Pete and I have been sorting through our photos at the end of each day. This is an interesting experience ... I am a chucker, I hate clutter, ask our children ... I like space, easy access, that sort of thing, that is how I approach the photo selection. Pete comes from the position of ... maybe we might need this, you don't know when it will come in handy ... let's just hold on to it for a bit longer and see what happens. I am just not sure how many photos of balloons in the air we actually need ... I would have thought maybe 4/5 ... Pete has a different view on that. After a while I had to leave Pete to do the photos on his own ... too many of the same thing for me. When we are taking photos, I will take one or 2, Pete goes for heaps and says we can delete later??!!

Time for photos ... here goes!

 Our room entrance ... built into stone ... We really liked our stay here.

There are so many religious ruins here ... communities of Christians living together ... one community had approximately 5,000 living together. Each community had several churches, or worship areas. I am guessing that they lived together as a way of protection from the Romans, that was certainly the case for the Hidden City. I have had real difficulty trying to pick photos that capture something of where we have been without repeating myself. 

This is Star Wars Valley ... well that is what I call it. Apparently George Lucas wanted to film Star Wars in this valley, the Government said no ... so they took lots of photos and built the caves back in their studio. So I am guessing this is where OB1Kenobe lived, in these look alike caves ... or maybe where Luke was living when his Aunt & Uncle were killed?? This is a door way ... the black is smoke from burning inside. These caves were lived in right up until the last 100 years I think ... some of them at least. Those of you who have been here will remember that probably more accurately than me.

Does this look familiar at all ... I think we should have a Star Wars viewing when we get back to NZ.

Taken in the Church in Star Wars Valley

Doorways and corridors ... these Christians were so clever ... the architecture here is beautiful and brilliant.

An outdoor cafe's kitchen ... making their very yummy stuffed pancakes ... we were too sick to eat here and probably not a very good idea ... not sure it meets OSH standards!

Our Balloon Ride ... we have so many balloon photos ... way too many, but the ride was spectacular.

Good morning world ... have I mentioned there were over 100 balloons in the air ...

Pete wanted me to put this photo up to give an idea of how many balloons there were ... this is not all of them ...

Pete wanted me to add this ...  our balloon's shadow. Last balloon shot.

Pete and I went for a 3 hour hike into Love Valley and came across a Tea Garden ... set up in amongst the dirt and rocks waiting for people like us to stop by and buy Turkish Tea and sit under their awnings and rest for a while.

Valley of Love ...

Proof that people still live in these rock/cave houses, The Flintstones ... note the chimneys ...

Look what we saw scrubbing round in the dirt ... Turtle ...

Love these clouds ...

A Beggar ... they are everywhere ... in the restaurants ... on the streets ... in the hostels etc

A Hybrid VW Kombi with a Beetle on the roof ... I can't resist a car shot!

1000 Ft up ... 

FYI ... Turkey is a cash society ... where ever we have stayed or eaten so far the people want to be paid in cash.

This post has taken forever ... the internet is slow here and a little unreliable at times ... but here it is. I hope there is enough here to keep your interest. We are having a great time and loving Turkey. We are meeting some interesting people and reading some great books ... and our bowels have settled down at last ... thank goodness.