2010 - Turkey - Day 10 - Cappodocia

We left our hotel at 8:30 and drove to one of the valleys here in Cappodocia. The valley had many rock pillars all over. We took a walk through the pillars getting pictures and getting lost. It was fun and beautiful. Then we drove to another valley. This valley still had several rock pillars but they had mushroom-like tops on them. I climbed up the hill with some other members of my group and was amazed at how beautiful everything was. They took a few pictures of me at the top. It was fun. Our lunch stop was at a carpet factory. They showed us how carpets were made. They use the silk worm cocoons to make the silk, and they demonstrated how this was done. They fed us Turkish pizza while showing us all the different carpets. Mom had hoped to buy a small piece to put on her chest, but the cheapest piece we found was $190. The first piece mom wanted was $1,800. Mom, Josie and I went out to the bus after awhile while several others from our group purchased carpets. I ended up falling asleep until we arrived at our next stop, the underground city. The underground city was a hideout for the Christians from the Arab raiders in the 7th century. They didn’t live there year round, only during times of hiding. We walked for about 45 minutes through all the caverns and tunnels. We saw a church, wineries, a stable, kitchens, and several rooms, a lot which were used for food storage. I bought my boys an onyx chess set here. Hakan has been our tour guide, and he is great. He always has us laughing and takes great care of our group. Our bus driver is Sedat. He doesn’t speak much English, but he is always smiling and helpful. We then went to 3 different photo stops. The first was of pigeon valley; a valley where pigeons live in the holes in the rocks. The next was at a place that Hakan called “Swiss cheese city”. The last stop was a beautiful panoramic of the valley. While there, I bought 2 pretty scarves for my girls. We took a picture of the Red River, Turkey’s longest river, almost 1,000 miles long. Half of the group went to a pottery shop, and the rest of us went back to the hotel. We will have dinner at 7:00 and leave for our show of the Whirling Dervishes at 9:00 pm. Mom and Josie both took short naps while waiting until our bus to depart at 9:00 pm. I was reading and not sleepy at all until a few minutes before we had to leave. Then it was really hard for me to have the desire to go anywhere because I was so sleepy. I just wanted to sleep, and slept on the 20 minute drive to get there. The show was held in a 13th century caravanserai, which in itself was really cool. The show was held in the stables, the only building large enough for a crowd to sit, and has a roof. The show was 50 minutes, although 15 minutes would have been enough. It began with all the men bowing to each other for 5 minutes, then a singer for about 10 minutes, then the spinning for about 30 minutes. It’s not everyday you see grown men with tall caps and long flowing white skirts spinning. It’s fun to watch. They had amazing stamina to spin almost constantly for 30 minutes with their arms over their heads. I fell asleep through the last half of the show. If only it had started earlier in the evening, I would have enjoyed it much more.