For those that have followed us over the years, you know that we enjoy exploring the country that we are in. With our up we decided to plan a trip to Cappadocia, a place that had been highly to us by many that have gone. First off, Cappadocia, is not a town, but a region in Turkey. It is a high plateau (1000 meters/3,280 ft) with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters so decided this was the perfect time to visit. Its name derives from the Hittite word Katpatuka which means land of the beautiful horses. When you do a search on Cappadocia you will see that the topography looks almost out of this world with what are called fairy chimneys scattered all over the area. This area was formed of soft layers of lava and ash from 3 nearby volcanoes. With erosion caused by wind and rain, these chimneys remain when the tops of them consist of denser rock that does not erode as quickly. The area also is known for the numerous cave houses, churches and underground cities in the region. It was first settled by the Hittites in the 2ndC. BC and then was
by numerous other groups over the centuries. In 17 AD the area came under Roman rule when military and trade routes were established as part of the Silk Road. Once Asia Minor came under Christian rule, those that were being persecuted for their religious belief came to this area and gained refuge by building their homes in caves. This also expanded to the building of numerous churches and monasteries where they could worship with the protection from the caves. Between the topography of the area, the ancient history, the numerous cave dwellings and monasteries we knew wed have plenty to keep us busy for a few days.
I started to research and found that we could either fly or take a bus. When checking the schedules for flying it appeared that it would take quite a bit of time with having to start with a 1 ½ hour road trip to the airport, getting there an hour before the flight, taking a flight to Istanbul where we would then have a layover before flying out to the airport in Cappadocia. The other option was an overnight 12 ½ hour bus ride. I gave Bob the option and we
I found a travel agency to work with, Gorgeous Tours, and when talking to her she reminded me that the bus ride would be long, but we still went with that as our plan. Then we had to decide how long we wanted to go out for. It is an area that is known for taking hot air balloon rides and we both thought that wed wouldnt bother setting up for that as it would probably mean staying for an extra day as the bus would get there at 6:30AM and the times for the hot air balloon rides ranged from We also figured it would be nice enough to enjoy watching the balloons. With that in mind we hooked up for a couple days of tours (the red and green tour which are 2 of the few packaged tours that are offered). We also saw that that we could sign up to see the Whirling Dervish and attend what was called Turkish Night. We were going to see the Whirling Dervish a couple of
years ago in Istanbul, but didnt so figured this would be a good opportunity. When reading the description for the Turkish night, it included dinner and watching various folk dances of Turkey. As we would be out there on my birthday, decided that would be a great way to celebrate. As we have been spending plenty of money on the boat, we didnt want to break the bank with this trip, so waited patiently to find out what the tour operator back with. Fortunately, it was a great price for all the programs/tours including the bus, hotel room with breakfast and two lunches. That meant that we only had to have one dinner out while we were there so no other expense unless we wanted to buy items that we just have to have. With the total costs for both of us being $578 we booked it immediately!
We decided to splurge on a taxi to get to the bus station in Marmaris as didnt want to miss the bus which cost us a whooping $6.75 for a 20 - ride.
