On Tuesday we drove to the coastal city of Antalya in the morning (about 3 hours). We had the afternoon looking around this cıty.
The weather was poor, with fairly constant rain. We took the tram out to the museum. This was good, wıth many items from nearby sites (particularly Perge), including some excellent sculptures and sarcophagi.
We had poor coffee and good pastries - which seems to be the Turkish norm. To stay dry, we went to the Old Bazaar for the obligatory browsing and shopping.
After a rushed dinner, we took a shuttle to the bus station and boarded our overnight bus. This wasn't too bad as we seemed to get some sleep and arrived ın Cappadocia the next morning (Wednesday) at about 7 o'clock. Another shuttle took us from the bus station at Nesagyır to our hotel ın Urgup. Luckily our rooms were available. We have three nights here.
After a rest, we all trooped off to the Turkish bath (hamman) to be heated, steamed, scrubbed, washed and pummelled. All good fun and quite relaxing.
The day remained overcast, with intermittent showers. We had a good Turkish pizza for lunch, and then had a rest to compensate for the lost sleep overnight. Dinner was at a restaurant specialising in grills - a good meal but reasonably expensive by local standards.
The next day (Thursday) the group had a minibus. We travelled first to drop us off for a two hour walk ın the Red Valley. This was an excellent walk - while it was overcast, the rain stayed away and we had the walk to ourselves. We saw many examples of the typical eroded peaks of Cappodicia, along with cave dwellings and the numerous alcoves crated for the pigeons. Apparently the locals previously did their best to attract the pigeons so that they could collect the guano as fertiliser for their crops. The valley contained remnant examples of fields of grapes, fruit trees and vegetable plots. İt seems that some locals still collect the guano and farm the small plots - we saw one local travelling out in a small horse-cart.
From the walk, we went to a local pottery. This was the usual demonstration and then a visit to their showroom. Actually, the pottery was interesting, with two predominant styles - one based on the old Hittite designs and the other on more contemporary (though hardly modern) Anatolian designs. Of course, we bought something!
We then went to Zelve Open Aır Museum, which is a set of gorges with various cave dwellings and churches. This was excellent, though it does involve quite a scramble over the rocks and into the caves (wondering when the soft-stone cave will collapse - as some have).
Then off to the Kaymakli Underground City, one of 150+ such cities in the region. This is a very extensive multi-level city, used as a place of refuge for the population and animals in times of crisis. İt has facilities for living, cooking, burials and worship, along with excellent ventilation and defensive systems. A key defensive measure was the ability to roll large mill-stones over to cover the doors and to chock these to stop outsiders rolling them back.
From there, we travelled to a couple of points that gave panoramas of parts of the area or or significant features, before heading back to Urgup.
We had a meal at a good restaurant (the Cappodicia Restaurant) which served a local speciality of a stew cooked in an earthenware pot or jar with the opening closed off by a plug of bread. The pot ıs prepared beforehand and then heated on a gas ring for us. The stew is served by the waiter arriving with the earthenware jar, a paır of industrial gloves and a meat cleaver. He then proceeds to strike and break the jar and serve the stew, with rice and salad. The best sign that a restaurant serves this meal is the mound of broken pots outside the door.
Friday dawned with clear blue skies. We had a free day, so we took a local minibus towards Avanos. We got off at the Goreme Open Aır Museum. This is probably much better known than the one at Zelve. İt is more of a monastic or theological site, with many rock churches, including some with excellent frescoes. Goreme Museum had ordered paths and seemed to have lots of tourists (it must be hell in the normal tourist season, as we are very late in the season). Overall, we preferred Zelve, though it is worth seeing both.
We caught the bus again, on into Avanos. We found a good restaurant, which served up a very good meat stew in a sizzling ceramic bowl (called a guvec) and a very poor white wine that they subsequently said was made by the proprietor of the restaurant. It was market day, so we wandered down to have a look. A wide assortment of spices, fruit and vegetables (particularly tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, chillies) were on offer, all looking very fresh and sometimes much larger than we would expect (especially the cabbages).
We were getting pretty good at this local travel, so it was back on the bus to return to Urgup. We had a drink in a local bar/restaurant (Cafe Turcos), which had a very welcoming staff. So much so that a number of the group went back there for dinner, including more casseroles and claypot stews.
The weather was poor, with fairly constant rain. We took the tram out to the museum. This was good, wıth many items from nearby sites (particularly Perge), including some excellent sculptures and sarcophagi.
We had poor coffee and good pastries - which seems to be the Turkish norm. To stay dry, we went to the Old Bazaar for the obligatory browsing and shopping.
After a rushed dinner, we took a shuttle to the bus station and boarded our overnight bus. This wasn't too bad as we seemed to get some sleep and arrived ın Cappadocia the next morning (Wednesday) at about 7 o'clock. Another shuttle took us from the bus station at Nesagyır to our hotel ın Urgup. Luckily our rooms were available. We have three nights here.
After a rest, we all trooped off to the Turkish bath (hamman) to be heated, steamed, scrubbed, washed and pummelled. All good fun and quite relaxing.
The day remained overcast, with intermittent showers. We had a good Turkish pizza for lunch, and then had a rest to compensate for the lost sleep overnight. Dinner was at a restaurant specialising in grills - a good meal but reasonably expensive by local standards.
The next day (Thursday) the group had a minibus. We travelled first to drop us off for a two hour walk ın the Red Valley. This was an excellent walk - while it was overcast, the rain stayed away and we had the walk to ourselves. We saw many examples of the typical eroded peaks of Cappodicia, along with cave dwellings and the numerous alcoves crated for the pigeons. Apparently the locals previously did their best to attract the pigeons so that they could collect the guano as fertiliser for their crops. The valley contained remnant examples of fields of grapes, fruit trees and vegetable plots. İt seems that some locals still collect the guano and farm the small plots - we saw one local travelling out in a small horse-cart.
From the walk, we went to a local pottery. This was the usual demonstration and then a visit to their showroom. Actually, the pottery was interesting, with two predominant styles - one based on the old Hittite designs and the other on more contemporary (though hardly modern) Anatolian designs. Of course, we bought something!
We then went to Zelve Open Aır Museum, which is a set of gorges with various cave dwellings and churches. This was excellent, though it does involve quite a scramble over the rocks and into the caves (wondering when the soft-stone cave will collapse - as some have).
Then off to the Kaymakli Underground City, one of 150+ such cities in the region. This is a very extensive multi-level city, used as a place of refuge for the population and animals in times of crisis. İt has facilities for living, cooking, burials and worship, along with excellent ventilation and defensive systems. A key defensive measure was the ability to roll large mill-stones over to cover the doors and to chock these to stop outsiders rolling them back.
From there, we travelled to a couple of points that gave panoramas of parts of the area or or significant features, before heading back to Urgup.
We had a meal at a good restaurant (the Cappodicia Restaurant) which served a local speciality of a stew cooked in an earthenware pot or jar with the opening closed off by a plug of bread. The pot ıs prepared beforehand and then heated on a gas ring for us. The stew is served by the waiter arriving with the earthenware jar, a paır of industrial gloves and a meat cleaver. He then proceeds to strike and break the jar and serve the stew, with rice and salad. The best sign that a restaurant serves this meal is the mound of broken pots outside the door.
Friday dawned with clear blue skies. We had a free day, so we took a local minibus towards Avanos. We got off at the Goreme Open Aır Museum. This is probably much better known than the one at Zelve. İt is more of a monastic or theological site, with many rock churches, including some with excellent frescoes. Goreme Museum had ordered paths and seemed to have lots of tourists (it must be hell in the normal tourist season, as we are very late in the season). Overall, we preferred Zelve, though it is worth seeing both.
We caught the bus again, on into Avanos. We found a good restaurant, which served up a very good meat stew in a sizzling ceramic bowl (called a guvec) and a very poor white wine that they subsequently said was made by the proprietor of the restaurant. It was market day, so we wandered down to have a look. A wide assortment of spices, fruit and vegetables (particularly tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, chillies) were on offer, all looking very fresh and sometimes much larger than we would expect (especially the cabbages).
We were getting pretty good at this local travel, so it was back on the bus to return to Urgup. We had a drink in a local bar/restaurant (Cafe Turcos), which had a very welcoming staff. So much so that a number of the group went back there for dinner, including more casseroles and claypot stews.
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