Cappadocia
It’s 5 o’clock in the morning. You’re sitting on the rock structures of Lover’s Hill in Göreme hearing an occasional yawn from one of the other sightseers as you yourself are battling the tempting urge of sleep. Suddenly, your eyes become wide open as you see huge lanterns light up a little ways away. There’s a few at first, but then more and more start flaring up. After a short while, the landscape is full of warm orange, red, and yellow lanterns, blinking as they come alive. Then, the fleet of lanterns slowly make their way up to the sky until all you see are dozens of spheres of warm colours mixed in with the purple-red of the heavens and the dark golden of the earth. It’s a mosaic of colour that your eyes simply can’t look away from. You’re transfixed as your soul feeds on the beauty of such a sight. Welcome to Cappadocia.
Ask someone to name two places they know in Turkey and 99% of the time they will say “Istanbul and Cappadocia”, or more realistically, “Istanbul and that place with the balloons”. Also, I feel like a lot of people don’t know this, but Cappadocia is not a city, it’s a region in central Anatolia. Like many places in Turkey, the region was ruled by various kingdoms and empires throughout history. The name Cappadocia is probably from Hittite meaning the “place below”, but people have also cited the Old Persian for “the land of beautiful horses” as the root.
The region is not quite desert, but it’s semi-arid (think Arizona or New Mexico). A key geological feature of Cappadocia is of course it's crazy rock formations. The so-called “fairy chimneys” occur due to the erosion of tuff (volcanic ash that has turned into rock). After the erosion process, the harder portions of the rock remained to create the weird shapes we all know and love. Devrent (Imagination Valley) and Love Valley are two great places to see these rock formations. Some of them look like animals, while others look like d**ks.
Many years ago, Christians fled to Cappadocia to escape Roman persecution. They discovered that the rocks surrounding them were so malleable that they could carve out homes and churches. And that’s what they did. Look around and you’ll see dozens of huge rocks that have been carved out to hold the new inhabitants. The Christians were now safe as their enemies could no longer reach them. Probably the absolute best of these carved out rocks is the Derinkuyu Underground City. Yup, Christians during the Byzantine era created a whole underground city in order to protect themselves from the invading Arabs. In it you can find chapels, schools, kitchens, stables, bedrooms, and much more. Besides the underground city, you can find cave monasteries with the interiors decked out in beautiful Byzantine art. These days, no one lives in any of the caves or carved out rock as it is deemed dangerous. But it is crazy how creative people can get in order to ensure their survival.
Now of course we can’t talk about Cappadocia without mentioning the hot air balloons. This is probably the biggest reason why throngs of tourists visit the region every year, and you can’t really blame them. These things start going up at around 5 in the morning. They only fly in the morning because the wind speed is optimal at that time. Also, each balloon carriage holds about 15 people. For some reason I thought only two people can go at a time, but I was proven wrong. It doesn’t really ruin the experience, except you may feel a little cramped. Honestly though, I find that the experience of seeing the balloons rise up to the sky in the morning is better than actually being in one of them. Not saying that you shouldn’t go in one, it’s still a must-do if you’re visiting Cappadocia. But I find that seeing a whole fleet of balloons light up and rise to the sky is just something else.
Horse riding is something many tourists ignore when they visit Cappadocia. If you can ride a horse, you absolutely have to go on a horse riding expedition. It was so cool to ride between small canyons and through crazy rock formations. It’s a great opportunity to enjoy Cappadocia’s natural beauty. At some point, they even stop at this secret Byzantine chapel that no one knows about. Truly an Indiana Jones moment.
The food is amazing (it’s becoming a common theme now). Something that Cappadocia does best is testi kebap. It’s basically stew cooked in a clay pot. Traditionally, when it’s served the waiter straight up breaks the top of the pot with a hammer. The steam carries an amazing smell which makes you salivate right then and there.
Cappadocia is truly a gem in Turkey. It should definitely be on your list if you’re visiting the country. Nevşehir, specifically Göreme, is where you should spend most of your time as that’s where you’ll find the hot air balloons and a lot of the famous rock formations. If you’re visiting, you must stay in one of the cave hotels. The experience of living in a luxurious cave room is just really amazing. Also, it doesn’t hurt to hire an English-speaking tour guide. You will get filled in on a lot of useful information and be taken to the best spots in the area.
There’s so much to do in the unique and beautiful land of Cappadocia. You will not be disappointed!
Things to do -
Visit Love Valley
Visit Derinkuyu Underground City (do not go if you are claustrophobic)
Go on a hot air balloon ride (do not go if you are afraid of heights)
Watch the hot air balloons go up at Lover’s Hill (Aşıklar Tepesi)
Join a horse riding expedition
Visit Devrent (Imagination Valley)
