Goreme - Cappadocia region 18th - 20th May

 

Gaziantep Otogar (bus station) where men yell out in Turkish where each bus goes to.

We had booked our bus for departure at 10.30am from Gaziantep to Kayseri. On checking the night before, on the Obilet bus app,  the bus had disappeared. This has happened before - no notice or contact, they just put you on a later bus i.e. 11.30am which did not suit us. Checked 9.30am bus on the app and plenty of seats so got to the bus station earlier and requested the change in our best Turkish. Success. We find out the 9.30am bus actually carried on to Goreme where ultimately we wanted to go. So after a seven hour ride we arrive at Goreme. Buses do not have toilets so when the driver stops for smoke/tea break you dash into the depot with 15 lira to pay to use the starting blocks, no toilet paper loos. We take any food with us for the bus plus loo paper!!

The countryside on the way changed as we got higher away from the Gaziantep Plateau on to the Central Anatolian Highlands.

Arrived in Goreme and were able to walk to the Kismet Cave Hotel. The town is not that big by Turkish standards; at 300,000 people they host 3-4 million visitors per year who come for the hot air ballooning, hiking, fairy chimneys and historic sites.

View over the town

A lot of the hotels have terraces for viewing and many are literally caves carved into the surreal landscape. The region had multiple volcanic eruptions over centuries. The volcanic ash cooled and compressed into soft rock called Tuff. Further eruptions covered the Tuff with protective Basalt and Andesite layers. Erosion of the soft Tuff followed by centuries of wind, rain, temperatures, the inevitable floods. By the time we get to the 4th centure AD Byzantines start carving homes, tombs and cave churches into the Tuff.

Next day we set off to hike the 13km Rose and Red valleys. Trail was a scramble up and down the rock (running shoes with no grip made it scary) surrounded by this surreal landscape.

One of the numerous churchs througout the landscape.

Many places had large circular rocks that could be rolled to cover the entrances to impede any maraunders.

Amazed that the fresco/paintings in this church cave still existed unspoiled
.

Just the weirdest place. Could hear water springs and a few birds.

Incredible rock layers

The holes in the rock could have been tombs or dovecotes.

In amongst all this some locals had planted apricot trees and grape vines. Neither flourishing. 

Farmers attach a rotary hoe to a trailer and drive up the tracks to their plots to cultivate vines and apricots ( which all had blight) definitely subsistance living.

Retired to a local bar having found one that serves Turkish beer only, EFES, ok when necessary.

Hot air ballooning had been cancelled four mornings in a row due to unsuitable weather. A deposit, 160 euros, is paid and punters hope they go. Total price 500 euros 2pp. (NZD $1,000 ) Vans pick you up from your hotel at 4am to take you to one of the many launch sites. If the balloons cannot get up they try the next day and so on. If unable to stay further days you miss out and they retain the deposit. We had decided hiking in amongst the fairy chimneys or Hoodoos as they are called for several hours over the two days was more our style. And lets be honest $1,000 is a weeks travelling cost.

Next morning the 4 day drought had broken and we were woken at 5am by a terrific noise above the hotel.  Step outside and watched enthralled by hundreds of balloons making their way East to West on a light breeze. 

Heading west, sun not up yet. Note all the terraces on hotels/houses to view from.

They fly over the town very low so up close and personal to those in the baskets.

Gloomy dawn showing the firing up in the balloons

Sun on the spectacle

They called balloon pilots in the old day aeronauts. The liquid propane burner being activated creating the hot air for the balloon is the noise that woke us up, so we joined half a dozen hotel guests up on the terrace variously dressed staring in awe. 

Back to bed for a couple of hours as at this stage it was only 6am.

Breakfast turkish style is a range of nuts and dried fruit, olives, very bland cheese, pickles, greens and some fruits. We take our own yoghurt and bananas.

The lady at the stove will ask if you want an egg, which fried sits like a lonely soul on a plate. Always white rolls or pan.

Next hike was the Love Valley, so named due to the shape of the rock formations. Another 13km loop on a scramble track. It started to rain in the last hour but got back none the worse for wear.  Again the only sounds heard were running water and a few long tailed magpies. Not too many folks about as per yesterday. If we see a group they have usually been dropped off by their coach at a strategic point so they can stroll with their guide for 1/2 hour or so then back to the bus.

Incredible that these rock formations were from natural forces

What I would do for spikes on the soles of our shoes.

These wee chaps live outside one of the many kebab shops. Left eye grey and other dark brown. Was a bit wary of a couple of kiwis chatting away to him.  

Tomorrow we head down to Antalya on the Mediterranean Sea to begin our journey West. Will be warmer temperatures again, chilly 16C in Goreme.

16th May - Gaziantep

 Onto another bus headed to Gaziantep. A city of 2 million+ surrounded by thousands of hectares of pistachio plantings. 

Taken from the bus window. Pistacios as far as the eye can see.

Gaziantep a place of many small trades, crafts. We got to the Otogar and we thought were pretty smart finding our way to the local bus stop only to find the bus we identified, that would get us the 6km in the centre,  would not be for another hour. Decided to hop onto the next dolmus, follow our google map on the cellphone and hope it headed to the centre. We were in luck. Absolute chaos on the roads with weekend traffic, throngs of people. Passengers see our packs, say "tourist" and try to help in Turkish. Bus driver intimated "you get off now". We walked last km or so, all good.

Everywhere, since Istanbul, we have not seen any non Turk tourists on the intercity, local buses, bus stations or wandering the towns as we have. They are on coach tours or private black Mercedes vans, if at all. Saw a German tour group at tbe Sanliurfa Mosaics (they needed a big bus). So we are a novelty and get stared at a fair bit but never any concerns.

Chap making shoes

Knife sharpener.

Always piles of nuts and spices everywhere.

Chap repairing bicycles. 

Making womens clothing.

Our hotel room at Andalou Everli. Is in a coverted school some 220 years old, 14 rooms, 34 staff, one cat with four kittens. A goldfish pond under threat by kittens. Comfortable bed, quiet ever thankful for. Shower works, taps are around the right way; amazing for Turkey where intentions are good but not quite the finishing workmanship. Drives Jeff mad things off square.

The outdoor dining area.

Baklava is a speciality of Gaziantep (pistachios in pastry). We are not big fans. And of course the Turkish are meat mad - kebabs with liver, kidney, sheep fat? I think not. struggled to find green salad at the end of the day so resorted to cheese on tea biscuits in our room. 

Next day set out to take in the Coppersmith Bazaar and then the Zeugma Museum. Pretty quiet 9am so did not have to plough our way through weekend shoppers.

Need a tin plate. Tinsmith knocking out another dish.

Lots of pieces catch your eye but really we do not need anything.

Delighted to come across a sieve maker. Reminded us of the one we own of my grandfathers which we use to sieve soil but here they are used to winnow grains.

Walked the long way to the museum on the lookout for an HSBC Atm but to no avail. They are the only bank that do not charge fees on cash withdrawals and will dispense currencies other than Turkish lira (many places only take Turkish lira in cash so you have carry wodge of it). Anyway no joy on the HSBC.

Zeugma Mosaic Museum has a 3,000 metre collection of mosaics from the Roman to Byzantine era.  You can identify the difference by the move away from Roman; pictures of people and animals to the more islamically acceptable geometric patterns of the Byzantine era. We felt Sanliurfa was fabulous but these mosaics in Gaziantep were on a whole different level. Most mosaics came from the  ancient township of Zeugma, 50km to the east on the Euphrates River. They were moved because the area was going to be flooded by a new dam early 2000.

Was a very reasonable NZD$25 each to get in and busy as being Sunday.

The detail using these finger nail sized pieces was exquisite

Very large Roman vila floors shown here from above. Must have been painstaking for the restorers to put back together.

The famous mosaic the museum holds is treated like the Mona Lisa, has its own security guard and held in a darkened alleyway to the room of its own.  It is famous because " the gypsy girl" eyes follow you due to the unique artistry of the mosaics. We felt she looks like the girl whose photo was taken in Afghanistan by the National Geograhic. Her eyes were haunting blue reflecting her life thus far.

Tomorrow we make the 5hr bus trip up to Goreme in the Cappadocia region.

14th-15th May Sanliurfa

 

The bus from Mardin to Sanliurfa with three staff in the front and two resting in the back. It is like a party with them showing each other videos, smoking and endless chatter. We usually book seats 2 and 3 as this gives the best view bombing down the road, 110km per hour. Buses in Turkey always have at least two in front, driver and host. The host pays tolls, directs the bus in tight spots, keeps the driver fed and watered. He may also pass out water to passengers.

There are 1million heavy trucks moving freight in Turkey doing 500k trips per day. Turkey has the biggest truck fleet in Europe. In addition it has 750k large and dolmuse buses. The roads get absolutely hammered so drivers weave across three lanes plus verge as it it the least potholed if required. Rail is barely used, no concerns here about greenhouses etc. Priority is freight and people movement. 

Once the intercity bus arrived on the outskirts of Sanliurfa we navigated local bus as close as possible to our accommodation then walked the final 20mins. Hotel down narrow lanes in the old part of the city. Got settled in after sorting out with Google translate as no English spoken.  3pm at this stage so out to the market area to find yet another doner for lunch and then a grocery store for supplies. We like fruit and yoghurt for breakfast whereas a Turkish breakfast is meat, spices, fried peppers etc. We found a bar for dinner which had live music. Cover versions of "Stairway to Heaven" "Hotel California" the Turkish version. Not bad.

The reasons folks go the Sanliurfa is to see the worldest oldest temple, Gobekli Tepe, the Mosaic Museum and Archaeology Museum. We soon worked out that going to the Archaeology Museum, where many of the Gobekli Tepe artefacts are displayed, was the better option compared to the logistics for navigating the 15km out to the site and paying the extortionate entry fee to see, as one of the guests in the hotel said,"see a pile of rocks".

Heaps of interesting artefacts throughout the museum and good descriptions. Before we continued to the Mosaic Museum stopped at the "cafe" ...no americano, no food, only turkish coffee (enamel remover) or heated frozen cheesecake. Ghastly.

This is how the mosaics have been protected. The central mosaic area found on the floors of a Roman villa from 236AD. They were found in 2003 when digging a new sewer line . Worked stopped for ten years while they uncovered the huge area and bought in other mosaics that had been found in the valleys nearby.

Every tiny little piece is no bigger than your nail on your pinky finger.

This is a copy of one of the room floors they found painted on a wall so you can
appreciate the huge undertaking.

We thought it was fabulous. Having seen the Piazza Armerina in Sicily, with its 60m hunting scene, the workmanship and detail was on a par with that.

Below is the museum from the outside and the tombs (since emptied opposite).

As we made our way to the museum we poked our nose into a small trade shop as we like to do and watched a chap hand making the plastic beads used in the prayer beads loops that most chaps are constantly turning in their hand. No extraction fans, googles etc. He gave Jeff one ( matches the one we were given in Iran), so we are well protected. When you think they bang this sort of item out in seconds in China compared to the time spent here. Jeff showed him one of the pens he turns on his lathe at home and gave it to him in return. Both appreciating each others craft.

A water seller at the mosque. Calls from the mosque are 4 times a day, part of the rhythm of the day. Some painful wailing from the Iman whereas others not bad.

The alleyways to and from anywhere.