Week 14 (has it really been so long?) : Luke, I am your father.
The blog is late as I have been very busy over the past few days and have yet to have a full nights sleep in the last four days. If I get this entry done that will be about to change though.
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| One gate to the Grand Bazaar |
The week began in Istanbul which I will glaze over as a lot of it was covered in last weeks post. I spent Tuesday Wednesday and most of Thursday wandering through this massive metropolis and writing various things to various results. Each day was entertaining, interesting and fairly relaxing, even in the insanity of Istanbul. It is truly a fascinating city full of so many different influences and neighbourhoods it almost feel like a whole country unto itself. Not Quite Asian, not quite European, but certainly a tantalizing mix of the two full of ancient and modern wonders, both human and natural.
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| An uncrowded street in the Bazaar. |
Of those three days Tuesday was undoubtedly best, as I left the map behind and spent 6 hours just wandering the streets of Istanbul with no idea where I was going or where I would end up. I saw such a variety of places, sitting in a small park where kids were learning to ride bikes and there wasn’t a tourist in sight, to bustling bazaar’s full of tourists and locals alike. I eventually wound up in the Grand Bazaar just swept along with the crowd and that place managed to give me the feeling of a country bumpkin staring in awe at the wonders (good and bad) of a huge city. I’m pretty well travelled so that gives you an idea as to the size and vibe of Istanbul.
The day was wrapped up splendidly when I got back to the hostel after hearing it was Turkey’s 80th national holiday day and that they were also celebrating the opening of the first subway line to connect two continents. I went to the lovely rooftop terrace and was gifted with a perfect view of an incredible fireworks display. It was truly magical, (the idea of gunpowder used for something so beautiful makes the pacifist in me smile, even if they could be argued to be a waste of money) and a perfect way to cap off the night. Fireworks always brings me back to Lord of the Rings, and while these couldn’t match my imagination of Gandalf’s they certainly did a good job. Sadly my camera was charging.
So Thursday night, I hopped on a night bus out of Istanbul toward Cappadocia, with little idea of what waited for me. I will say it was nice to have this week booked through that charming travel agency mentioned last week as the shuttle to the bus station was simple and easy as was the transfer to my hotel, when after nearly 13 hours on the bus, we arrived in Goreme.
I had managed to get a few short sections of sleep and should have been more tired than I was, but arriving at the hotel built into these ludicrous caves was pretty invigorating, and I had no idea what I was in for. For those of you who don’t know Capadoccia is the place that inspired Tatooine and is without a doubt one of the most unique landscapes I have ever seen. A volcanic desert with impossible rock formations including fairy chimneys and other monoliths of volcanic rock, varying in colour from red, to yellow, to brown. It seemed to me out of another world entirely. It’s a crazy place and you need to get there if you can, it might be my favourite place I’ve ever been, and funnily enough I only ended up there thanks to the travel agent as It had not been in my plans somehow.
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| One small section of the Landscape. |
A few hours after my arrival I was picked up for the first of two tours there. The minibus was comfortable and the group of people were all interesting and we formed quite a good group as they took us from place to place. First came an underground city carved into the soft volcanic rock and used by Christians to hide from enemies more than a thousand years ago. We went down 8 levels through tiny tunnels (scary at points) and explored this place full of secret tunnels, massive rolling circular stone doors, and even a temporary grave where they would store bodies until it was safe to go to the surface. I naturally got in the grave, which was interesting and somehow very much allowed. After an hour in the underground tunnels and caverns we were all eager for air and sunlight again, to think Christians would spend upwards of three months down there is truly mind bottling. (My mind was so surprised it was in a bottle.)
From the underground city we headed on to a stunning canyon walk through a volcanic gully alongside a stream, finished by a delicious lunch in the canyon mouth.
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| Lunch time! |
From there we headed on my favourite place of the day, which was a sort of hotel and holy place, built into the fairy chimneys, where we were invited to climb around and explore for a frustratingly short period of time. Still a new Australian friend and I made the best of the time, climbing around, exploring countless interior tunnels and getting some incredible pictures too.
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| Inside the Caverns |
After that came the seemingly Turkish tradition of the tout, every tour here seems to include at least one. We were taken to an Onyx workshop and shown how they shaped the onyx, then taken into a massive jewelry store and encouraged to buy. I managed to resist without too much trouble from the staff, but some of the stuff was really beautiful. I also had no idea turquoise meant Turkish stone, but apparently it did, and they certainly had the stones to back up that claim. (Just amazing turquoise jewelry)
The tour ended and I spent the evening at the hotel, fighting the urge to sleep before heading out for dinner with my Australian friend. We found an really cool place with huge fires burning up on the terrace overlooking the small city built mostly into the caves and rock formations. I sampled the local specialty, a pottery kebab, where meat, spices and veggies are cooked inside a pottery jar which is then fired and cracked open in front of you. The meal made me remember how much I love Lamb. Luckily Nepal and India are not too far away.
The next day, I had for some reason agreed to wake up to watch the hot air balloons from the terrace which meant a 6 am wakeup. At this point I still hadn’t decided on taking a balloon ride myself. Saturday’s sunrise hour made me really want to though even at 2 euros a minute. The view’s were spectacular and out of this world. I’ll let the pictures show you, and these are just from a crappy little point and shoot and a man who knows nothing about photos. (I’ve decided to buy an DSLR or bridge camera as I want to learn to take better pictures during this trip and I can feel my old point and shoot breaking down) Anyway take a look.
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| 6 am view from the hotel terrace. |
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| My sexy 6 am tired face. |
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| That mosque might Pop the Balloon!!!!! |
I wrote for an hour as one by one the balloons fell from the sky and then it was breakfast time which was a surprisingly delicious buffet, leaving me ready for my second tour, this one sticking closer to Goreme. Of course just before the tour pressure was put on me to decide on the balloon ride conundrum, and ultimately I decided why risk regretting it, and booked a ride for the next morning. At any rate, back to the tour, this time I was ready for the short free time sessions and definitely made the most of them, as we visited an massive mountain of cave dwellings and churches followed by an open air museum full of secretive and tiny cave churches. After that we headed out to a look out where I got to do some climbing and then to animal rock formations that are entirely natural. Many I didn’t get photos of but this one wasn’t mentioned by my guide and I think it definitely looks like a cobra. Thoughts?
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| I will bite the shit out of you! |
We also visited some famous Fairey chimneys and another set of rock formations that are supposed to look like mushrooms, although me and a new and different Australian friend seemed to agree they had a touch of penis about them. They were certainly hard enough.
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| The landscape just kept getting crazier |
Perhaps the best part of this second tour was my determination to make excellent use of every second of free time, essentially running off into the rocks as soon as they’d let me, climbing around, exploring, and finding all sorts of precarious positions with amazing views. Sadly photos of this are on someone else’s camera. But I did certainly seem to entertain an elderly Taiwanese couple on the tour with their grown up daughter. The old man would just laugh, point at my mangled legs full of small cuts and scrapes and give me a big thumbs up. It felt like quite an honour.
That evening I headed out to a restaurant called Fatboys, owned by an Aussie, who seem to be overwhelming all of Europe and turkey so much so it’s a surprise there’s anyone left in Australia, that said, they’re great people and in my opinion just make Europe more entertaining. I went there to watch Manchester united but it turned out their T.V. didn’t get the required channel, so one of the waiters hopped on his motorcycle went home and got his cable box, brought it in, hooked it up and boom, I got to watch united triumph again. Talk about service, and great food too. Highly recommended for sure.
Sunday morning began at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am, another night without a proper full night’s sleep but it was worth it, as the shuttle picked us up at 5 and took us to some sort of holding area, where were divided into colours then driven into balloons. I’m going to lead with photos here, and I’ll try to capture some of the magic in words after you’ve seen the photos.
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| My balloon before take off! |
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| Just a few feet above my head. |
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| Take-off Time! |
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| In the Air! |
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| Pure Serene Beauty. |
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| The light of the Sun |
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| 99 Red Balloons! |
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| Look at them all! |
So, yes, the 120 euros was absolutely worth it. It’s a unique experience going up in the balloon and somehow it’s incredibly tranquil and peaceful despite the huge propane torches shooting up bursts of flame just above you. You’re just floating effortlessly in the air, turning and covering quite a bit of ground without feeling like your ever really moving. I definitely felt like I was in a different world, and had we landed in Oz I would not have been too surprised. It was another one of those wow travel moments, where you are just in awe. It was also the rare brand where you forget everyone around you, we had twenty people in the small basket but I felt like I was utterly alone, especially once I had the sense to put my camera away and just be there, fully and entirely, drifting effortlessly in the sky as the sun crept above the mountainous peaks, dancing off the rainbow coloured canvases of the countless other balloons. It was an hour of perfection and a one of a kind experience. Thanks to everyone on Facebook who helped me decide to break my budget for it, it was totally worth it.
I returned to the hotel, ate breakfast, marvelled at my pictures and then headed out for my last day in this magical wonderland, deciding just to walk as far and as much as I could through valleys, up over huge rock formations and anywhere else my feet took me. It turned into an epic walk, very loosely following a map as I wound my way up through cave houses and down into the Rose valley, then up and out of it and into the Red Valley, and then up above both valleys following a narrow trail up among the towers of rock. It was an absolutely glorious day, and like my much liked facebook status said, perhaps the best three day period of my life. Just an incredible place.
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| More Cave Houses and Churches |
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| The Landscape as viewed during hike. |
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| One of the better defined paths of the hike. |
That night I boarded yet another night bus to Pammukale, upset I didn’t have the flexibility to stay in Cappadocia longer, but I know I’ll find a way to get back one day. Getting in to town at 6 am today I was thrilled to be greeted by the hotel staff and told I’d been upgraded to a private room and could go to sleep for a few hours before a two person tour of Hierapolis and the true attraction of Pammukale, which are the travertine’s, where hot springs flood out over calcium covered rocks creating another one of a kind landscape that is just incredible. Again, we’ll let pictures do the work. I’m running out of energy quickly.
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| The Ancient Theatre of Hierapolis |
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| Travertines! |
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| Healing Hot Springs, bye bye blood clots? |
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| This has to be there ironically, doesn’t it? |
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| An amazing Barefoot walk through calcified hot springs! |
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| Still Rep the name, keep on hustling my game, nothing out there to handle my heavy icy chains. -King Zee on Reborn Just over 8 years ago. |
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| The Hot spring itself |
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| Paragliding is huge here, but I don’t have the nerve! |
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| More Travertines! |
So yes, it’s magical and the the water supposedly has healing properties even working on circulation problems. Good bye blood clot problems forever? A man can dream right. At any rate our tour guide was very nice and took us through the ruins explaining the different kind of graves and tombs used and even agreeing to extend the tour to let us walk up to the ancient roman theatre atop the hill where I got to run through a few Shakespeare monologues. It made me miss acting all over again, but was definitely an amazing climb. We then were granted a nice long chunk of free time, so I wandered down through the pools stopping and writing a few scenes for the TV show I’m working on before continuing down for a late lunch lunch where I made an interesting, and, to my Japanese companion, an off putting discovery. Cold corn and goat cheese make an amazing and oddly addictive combination. I had two whole plates of it. At any rate, that brings you all up to speed. I think it’s been my best week of travelling yet, the most expensive as well, but well worth it, and I can easily make up for it. After all, next time I post on here I should be in Nepal a land of famed beauty and 3 dollar hostels. Tomorrow I’ll be heading back up the mountain for some writing and swimming in Cleopatra’s pool, which supposedly made that sexy queen look younger and the legend has it, even sexier. All the best.
Song of the Week: Legacy By Eminem
His new album leaked this week and I think it’s some of his best work. Lyrically this man is on a level. This song isn’t even my favourite on the album, just one that struck me today.
Reading Log: I’ve been too busy and tired to read so still on Eye of the World.
