Merhaba,
Well that was an ep?c journey to get from Istanbul to Goreme…..Tra?n ride from ?stanbul to Ankara wh?ch was an overn?ghter…yep ? squeezed ?nto a bed on a tra?n and managed to sleep qu?et successfully. The bed was comfortable, four to a room, the only problem be?ng the WC (to?let\bathroom ?n Turkey). There are two types of to?lets ?n Turkey, the squat to?let and the normal everyday western to?let. See?ng the state ?n both I am glad I never requ?red to use e?ther!!!! You couldn´t use the water at all, not even to brush you teeth w?th, yet ?t was ?n plent?ful supply. Thankfully our gu?de gave us the heads up not to use ?t as ?t would have caused all the dodgy stomach a?lments that any dodgy water would g?ve.
Pretty much sta?ght on the bus ?n Ankara to Goreme for another 4 hour bus r?de, but eventually when we arr?ved ?t was all worth ?t. Yesterday when we arr?ved we headed stra?ght to the Open A?r Museum where Chr?st?ans h?d from the Romans for a few hundred years around 400AD. To cont?nue the?r worsh?p they carved churches ?nto the cl?ff faces, and pa?nted frescoes. Most of the frescoes are st?ll ?ntact however due to a crap load of tour?sts ?n the area, and the touch and flash photograhy ?t ?s slowly fad?ng and fall?ng off. The tour?st pol?ce wh?ch guard the s?te are pretty str?ct so ?t doesn´t matter how much they try to commun?cate the message due to all the d?fferent nat?onal?t?es ?t ?s go?ng to be a h?t and m?ss affa?r.
So anyway mum, ?f you read th?s, you w?ll be glad to hear I have gone to church, well at least 12 of them and all really old ones, so I am completely godded up at the moment 🙂
Last n?ght was really cool, had d?nner at a local resturaunt and where myself and the tour leader (paul) were very ant?soc?al and played backgammon, checkers and Turk?sh Checkers. I am happy to report that I comfortably defeated Paul ?n Backgammon, and managed a draw w?th Turk?sh Checkers. Got my but spanked on normal checkers though. Gerard and Darryl, learn to play Turk?sh Checkers, ?t ?s a br?ll?ant game, far more ?nterest?ng as normal checkers and comparable ?n fun value to backgammon. I am plann?ng on buy?ng a backgammon board ?n Turkey, you can get amaz?ng ones for next to noth?ng (mother of pearl ?nla?d board, very ornate, for around 50 AUD). F?n?shed up ?n a bar called Fl?nstones (carved ?nto the h?lls?de) and had some more beer before h?tt?ng the sack for a 4.00am wake up.
Well that br?ngs be to today, ballon fl?ght over Goreme and surround?ng v?llages, underground c?t?es, funny rock format?ons, and sleep, sweet sweet sleep.
The ballon fl?ght was amaz?ng, supposedly one of the 1000 th?ngs to do before you d?e and one of the best ballon fl?ght opportun?tes ?n the world. Got some great happy snaps however ? seem to be mak?ng a hab?t of forgett?ng my camera cable. Hopefully Le?gh can recover from h?s Portable Storage Dev?ce d?saster and mange to upload some for all to see. Ballon fl?ght was a very soph?st?m?cated affa?r 😉 tak?ng about 2 hours and end?ng ?n a Cherry ju?ce and champane breakfast.
After the ballon fl?ght we met back at our Pens?on and through some weal?ng and deal?ng Paul cut a deal w?th a pr?vate dolmus and tour gu?de to so show us through the underground c?ty.
In Goreme and the surround?ng reg?ons there are amaz?ng cave dwell?ngs dat?ng back to 2000 BC. I can´t poss?bly go ?nto deta?l about all the h?story as there ?s so much but pretty much from 2000BC through to around 40 years agoö ?t was used for var?ous reasons. From the H?t?tes h?d?ng from the Musl?m ra?d?ng part?es through to Chr?st?ans h?d?ng from the Romans up to the locals us?ng ?t for every day purposes unt?l ?t was “d?scovered”. Th?s one part?cular underground c?ty (Kaymakl?) wasn´t the most popular one however both Paul and the local gu?de couldn´t understand why as ?t ?s supposedly better than the ma?n tour?st one w?th over 7 levels of undergroundedness opened up to your perusal.
We followed th?s w?th some photo snaps of some we?rd local rock format?ons followed some of us do?ng some a t?ny b?t of ch?mney rock cl?mb?ng and hav?ng a look around where Sa?nt S?mon had h?s d?gs, l?terally hey dug them ?nto a free stand?ng rock format?on and l?ved there for a per?od of t?me.
So that br?ngs be to the sleep and now, sleep was well needed but not ?nterest?ng and I have to go as ?n 15 m?nutes we are go?ng to a local fest?val where for 25 TNL ?t ?s all you can eat (mmmm kebap) and all you can dr?nk (mmm effes beer).
gule gule
Pat
ps. Darryl I now understand why you had so many we?rd m?stakes, these turk?sh keyboards are a k?ller. I am so used to touch typ?ng that ?t has been a t?r?ng bus?ness correct?ng all the m?stakes!!