Reporting live, from the moon.

Today we explored a bit of Turkey’s otherworldly Cappadocia region, and at times I felt I was a visitor on another planet. It was a completely fantastic (and fantastical) day. Words seem so inadequate.  

The day got a pre-start at 4:30am. I woke up and noticed things were looking a little pink. Popped my head up and…whoa! that’s a nice sunrise. So I staggered out of bed to take a picture. Unfortunately it was a 4-second exposure, which doesn’t work well when you’re holding the camera. I didn’t think to try again, as I was half asleep. Maybe I will get a better one tomorrow.  

I then tried my hardest to sleep in, but the best I could do was 6am. It was so bright out, with birds chirping like crazy, I just had to get up and start the day. I was greeted by the ethereal sight of about a dozen hot air balloons in various stages of inflation, and some were already drifting off down the valley. Beautiful!

After breakfast we hopped in our car for our first activity, a visit to the man-made caves of the Goreme Open Air Museum (10TYL entrance fee), which is only about 2 miles from the hotel. This large valley area is filled with hundreds of cave dwellings and churches (the oldest is from the 4th century), some with frescoes that date back to the 8th century. We explored for about an hour, sharing the site with a few tour groups. It was sunny out, and very dry. The breeze kept us very comfortable -- the weather here is just terrific. It was a good visit.

We then headed back to our town of Uchisar for lunch at Center Restaurant. We sat outside surrounded by flowering bushes and had a really nice lunch. I had a plate of salads that included greens, a salty sort of cole slaw, feta cheese, roasted eggplants, and tomatoes. Loved it! Steve had lamb shish, served on French fries, which he reported was a little bland.

After a little break back in our wonderful room, we set off again for a hike in the Rose Valley. We found this without a problem, thanks to detailed instructions from the front desk lady, and good signs along the way. Rose Valley is a popular destination for sunset viewing, and we had to pay 6TYL to get into the main parking area. There were only a couple other cars there. We set off on one of the well-marked paths.

How can I describe Rose Valley? It’s like the Badlands of South Dakota grafted onto Canyonlands of Utah, re-interpreted by Dr Suess. On acid. It’s an incredible, beautiful, head-shaking fantasy land. Our path took us along the ridge of a stunning valley where the fairy chimneys and odd formations spread out forever. Then we walked down in the valley, where we could see caves cut into the cliffs. Along the way, we snacked on apricots that we picked ourselves from the trees we came upon every so often. We also saw pears, olives, and grape vines on the path. A tasty hike!

We walked in for about 90 minutes, hoping to find the perfect sunset-viewing area. Along the way we saw only a few other people, and most of the time it was eerily quiet. Then we turned back and hiked back another hour, not wanting to get stuck too far from the car after sunset (no street lamps there!). We ended up at a place high up, somewhere in between the Rose Valley and the Red Valley, and we had it all to ourselves for the sunset. From our smug vantage point we could see the tour buses pull into the parking lot, way off in the distance. Just in time for a stunning sunset. I guess that’s one way to do it, but I sure like our way a whole lot better!

It was 9pm when we got back to them room. We had a nice candlelit picnic dinner of white wine, peanut butter sandwiches, and olives (yes, I agree that is weird) on our balcony before I crashed from sheer exhaustion. Moon walking is damn hard work!