Leaving Cappadocia for Istanbul

Cappadocia, May 6th

For our last night in Cappadocia we were entertained by a local dance group. I say entertained as a loose term. A troupe of male dancers came on and did their best to entertain a group of seriously exhausted travellers. We had been warned by the tour guide that the night was for the dancing, not the food. She was right.

One of the male dancers was a star, or at least he thought he was a star. He was ok really, as were they all, I’m just being critical. I shouldn’t criticise because I can’t dance to save my life. Anyway, he was a standout and not for his dance skill. He was very tall, blonde and he had a man-bun (a pet peeve of mine). He was very fond of doing a shimmy even when no-one else was doing one so obviously the shimmy was not actually part of the dance routine. The men went through 2 costume changes until finally Man-Bun was able to show his true skill. He came on with a red shirt, black pants, long black boots and he was wearing a white pork pie hat. As it wouldn’t fit over his man-bun he had it perched forward over his eyes. I’m telling you, he looked just like the Construction man from the Village People. Same dance moves and everything.

He just loved the crowd and did a LOT of shimmying to raucous applause.

Next to come on was a female whirling dervish (and here was I thinking whirling dervishes were only men). She had created her own choreography and, I have to say, there was a lot of whirling but not much dervish.

The last act was a belly dancer. As my old dad used to say, it must be jelly ‘cause jam don’t shake like that.

He was right.

I had to take a photo although it didn’t turn out too well. I wanted to get the belly dancer looking her best and she was very keen to show off her performance assets.

Next, Istanbul

See ya

C

A Turkish Ferrari

Cappadocia, May 7th

A Turkish Ferrari

Another day at the Fairy Towers only this time we were visiting some cave churches and monasteries and some more, you know, pointy tower things…

Swarms of tourists started plodding up the shale and gravel path to the cave churches and this very enterprising middle aged (looked 90) chap, spruiking business, said he would take anyone up to the caves on his camel, or, as he claimed, the only Turkish Ferrari in the area.

I was tempted to help him with his advertising blurb – Turkish Ferrari, one owner, advanced emissions control system (see blue plastic bag strategically placed), will go for miles, green power, only needs water.

Police station with the Turkish flag
A tree, because I had reached cave overload

Meet the Flintstones…

A stay in a cave hotel, Cappadocia, 6th May

The Cave hotel was authentic, rustic and dusty however, quite charming, in its own way. It was converted into an hotel from a small village, many years ago, so it stretched on forever with windy, uneven paths and LOTS of steps. No mishaps but there was a wedding in the restaurant, conveniently situated 3 metres away from our room, so we had “un-cha” music for a few hours. They also had a light show using an industrial strength flame thrower that was operated in time to the music. I think it was a second gig for the Hot Air Balloon operator as he really seemed to know what he was doing.

Istanbul to Cappadocia

Monday 5th May

Left the swanky hotel in Istanbul bound for Cappadocia early Sunday morning. I’m not sure I’m really cut out for a cruise way of life but the bonus is someone tells me where to stand. We arrived at the smaller airport (forgot the name, sorry) and had to lug our baggage to the far end where our gate was. 2 sets of security, self serve boarding pass (everyone in the airport needed assistance for the self serve which makes you wonder why they call it self serve) and then board.

Tour of Cappadocia started as soon as we landed and, after the flight and anxiety of being unable to communicate, I was zonked before we reached the first stop.

It appears the Turks like to name things with appropriate titles that have significance to the land site or history of the area such as Pigeon Valley named thus as there are lots of pigeons in the area.

The first place we visited is referred to as Fairy Towers owing to the odd rock structures.

I think a more appropriate name would be the Phallic Fields. I didn’t share this gem with anyone.

Bit of scrambling up shale and gravel and then we descended into the Underground City, appropriately named as it was a city and, well, underground. apparently the underground dwellings were still inhabited until the 1950s. Many dwellers rejected the offer of free housing as they preferred the underground caves.

I went all Indiana Jones (see pic below) and started humming dum-de-dum-dum, dum-de-dah… which no one appreciated (they’re a dull lot) but everyone laughed when I walked through a tunnel without ducking my head. Yeah, super funny, extremely tall American dude. Sorry you had to bend double to get through.

We were told that the local police still use one of the caves as their police station.

Next was the journey to our hotel. We drove past some truly spectacular scenery, extremely dry but with fields of luscious weeds (no idea) which was heavily irrigated so really green.

I’ve been away from an internet connection for a few days so have forgotten exactly what we did. Best stop here and post again with further updates.

Wine barrel in an underground cave
Round stone used to block the passageway. Looks like the moon, no?
Glenys, open mouthed at the wonder of the cave ceiling