First, the next two posts are owed entirely to
True Blue Tours. As much as we love to plan our own trips, sometimes logistics can be a little more tricky when you are negotiating more remote areas and a foreign language. While I honestly think we would have been fine on our own (in hindsight), the convenience of letting someone else take care of everything and having the assurance of an English-speaking guide was awesome. This is why I cannot promote this tour company enough; they were efficient, effective, and readily in contact. They arranged to pick us up at our hotel (hello 5am) in Istanbul with a nice driver in a nice van, our airplane to Cappadocia, pick up at and return to the airport, tours of the area, hotel while we were there, breakfasts and lunches while recommending places for dinner, arranging the hot air balloon ride (the next post, trust me, with the amount of awesome pictures, it demands its own post) with transport, and transport back to our Istanbul hotel. It was absolutely no stress.
We were enjoying Istanbul until we encountered Cappadocia. This is a mind-blowingly picturesque region in the middle of the Asian region of Turkey and it is NOT TO BE MISSED. If you are in Turkey and have to pick a between the city and Cappadocia, drop Istanbul. That is hard to say, because it is a pretty incredible city, but this region constantly had my attention and awe. It is simple and beautiful and captivating and relaxing....PERFECT.
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| Good Morning Cappadocia |
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| Into the mountains we fly |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
This area of Cappadocia was a region that Christians escape persecution. The soft but stable rock formations allowed them to carve their homes and churches into them, and it created an incredible landscape.
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum: Dining room table, carved into the room |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| Goreme Open Air Museum |
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| The little climber |
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| Brent and Adam |
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| It's incredible what glaciers and water can create |
One of our stops was at Chez Galip Pottery and it was incredible. It has been a family tradition to make pottery in this family for over 5 generations and it is passed down along the males. The only way the next generation male is allowed to get married is if he masters the craft, so he will be able to provide for a family. A master the art they do. I was completely in awe and enthralled from the minute we walked in. How amazed was I? I actually bought things! Yes, you heard it correctly. I BOUGHT SOMETHING. Something that I will keep. As you know, we are truly minimalists, only buying things that are purely functional or experiential. I suppose this falls in the experiential category and functional, as I bought two apple tea mugs and a wine carafe, but it is still "stuff". I don't do "stuff".
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| The beginning |
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| A mere 5 minutes later... |
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| Phases of painting and firing |
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| Tree of Life |
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| My favorite coloring |
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| Loved this man |
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Evil Eye Tree = Warding off evil
These ornaments hung in all doorways |
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| Uchisar Castle |
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| Uchisar Castle |
One of the options that we were given, for accommodations, was to stay in one of the caves.
Needless to say IT.WAS.AWESOME. It is a must do if you end of in the region overnight.
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| Our cave bathroom |
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| Cave bedroom...he collapsed before I could take a picture of it |
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| Cave entrance |
