Good morning! Time to walk out of our room:
and out along the pathway of our cave hotel, set into the hillside:
and up the steps to the morning buffet:
which has a table laden with coffee, tea and fresh fruit, another with cereals, fresh breads and yogurt and a third with cheeses, olives, tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and jellies, and then to the table with the wonderful view of the valley:
Once we’re seated, we have the option of ordering an omelet or eggs any style. Pretty nice!
After breakfast, we hop in the rental car and head down to Cavusin to leave the car as our ending point of today’s hike. Hardly 5 minutes out of town when we must stop to snap pictures of the fun formations:
(how’s that for framing, Ed?)
and yet more…
Once we’ve arrived at Cavusin, we engage the services of a young man to drive us down to Goreme and the open air museum. I was under the impression that the museum would provide a history and explanation of the tradition of living in the caves, which are strewn everywhere throughout the valle;, but no, it was all about the convent and churches that were established there. The scene was composed fs several clusters of church “buildings,” of which this is one:
Busloads of tourists (lots of French and Japanese, a few Germans and Americans) shared the walk with us as we explored some of the naves and basilicas. Inside the rooms were religious frescoes. I took one forbidden picture to show you, of St. Catherine’s chapel:
When we had our fill of listening to church history (that took me about ten minutes), we head across the street onto the path through Rose Valley. We do our best to avoid the 4-wheelers and stay close to the paths that wind around the funky formations. Bert treks uphill to check out quite a few up close and in person, and informs me that many of the caves have paintings every bit as beautiful as those we paid to see in the museum. Wouldn’t ya know?
The hike is seriously dusty (the whole valley is – I see a muddy-yellowish haze but conclude it can’t possible be pollution – it must just be kicked up dust), but we toodle along, snapping pictures, waiting patiently for other hikers to move the heck out of the way, chomping on apples from our pack, and marveling at the doorways and window-like carvings. Butch and the gang would have gotten the same name living out here!
We wind our way through the whole valley and arrive at the car after only about an hour and a half. We’re off again, this time for Uchisar to check out a castle. Does this look like any castle you’ve ever seen?
We elect not to pay once again to walk through cave rooms, but enjoy the view from outside. As we head down, I furitvely snap a couple of pics for the Sartorialist. First, we see the older village woman in traditional garb of a head scarf, long-sleeved blouse with vest, and balloon shaped pant that are gathered in the middle (perhaps a bit difficult to discern as she is resting while hocking her wares):
The modern woman sports a colorful silk scarf wrapped around her head, tied under the chin, and artfully tucked into the neckline of her stylish trench-type coast, which is worn over whatever. A rear view (don’t ask):
Notice the stylish bow as a key point of interest just above the tush area. You are no doubt asking about front closure? Why, a double line of brass buttons, of course! Sartorialist signing off!
A quick drive back to the hotel, where I chill in the room (writing you!) while Bert heads into town to meet the brother of the carpet man he chatted up in Istanbul. Tea, family talk, some Turkish live music and himself headed back to the hotel with a carpet runner under his arm. Works like a charm, these Turkish customs.
After packing, we head into town, and take the short but steep walk up to Wish Point. Incredible panorama shot of Urgup from the tippy top:
Just your basic small town with landscape that could so easily be Colorado. Here’s a half-assed shot of yours truly with hotel/apartments and some cave dwellings in the background:
Then drop off the car and head to dinner at a spot recommended by the carpet man. Again, cooked by someone’s mom, and the whole familoy is there cleaning red peppers (not the sweet kind). We start with some Tandoor soup (hearty broth with small-grained rice like bulgur and a few chick peas) and then the MOST incredible stuffed ry warm vegrape leaves draped with yogurt and pepper sauce – nothing like dolmas I’ve tasted anywhere else:
Back up the hill to Esbelli Evi and to finish packing. Ugh! Shuttle here at 9 am for trip to airport and last leg of the adventure.
XOXO
PS before you scoff at the title of this entry, a couple of local maps actually mark where George Lucas did some filming for the trilogy!