Day 24: Hot Air Ballooning

One of the biggest draws to the Cappadocia region is hot air ballooning, and we were so excited for our early morning flight! We woke up at 4:40AM (thanks to the mosque next door) and headed out for our balloon ride at 5:15AM. It was magical (at first)! We watch our balloon fill up and hopped into the basket. Our basket had 5 little compartments, 1 for our pilot, and 4 for the passengers. Each passenger compartment carried 4 people. We rose slowing into the air and floated over the pretty landscape, marveling at the fairy chimneys and caves and pigeon houses. And we saw the beautiful sunrise over the mountains. It was just perfect.

Until the woman next to us in our compartment fainted. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she sank to the bottom of our little compartment. When she woke up, she started vomiting. The poor woman. Of course we had to make an emergency landing! However, just as we were touching down and the balloon company’s cars were arriving to pick her up, she decided that she was just fine to continue on the ride. So up we went again. The compartments are extremely close quarters, and it was quite unpleasant to feel trapped inside a balloon with a sick woman puking at our feet, while her obnoxious husband knocked me in the head and pushed me into a corner so that he could take pictures of the lovely views while his wife was sprawled out sick on the floor. It was HORRIBLE. Not the peaceful and beautiful balloon ride we had pictured. I felt bad for the sick woman, but I have no idea what she was thinking when she decided to stay in the balloon, what was wrong with her obnoxious husband (who stayed for a champagne toast when we touched down, after she was driven away to the doctor), and what our pilot was thinking when he decided it was okay for her to stay in the balloon. Paul took care of the situation immediately. After the woman was safely on her way to the doctor (the consensus was she was just dehydrated), Paul talked to the office manager of the balloon company. To the company’s credit, they gave us a full refund and offered us a balloon ride on another day. We weren’t sure we wanted to give it another go, but we scheduled a ride for our last day to give us time to think on it.

Despite the horrors of our trip, we got a lot of great pictures...
Us in front of our balloon, waiting for it to inflate.
Our balloon inflating. FIRE!
Ready for takeoff!
All the beautiful balloons taking off.
The beautiful Cappadocia landscape.

The shadow of our balloon on the mountainside.


We saw a fully inflated balloon driven down the road on the back of a truck!

We walked into town in the afternoon and had a fine lunch at a little café. We had a good Turkish pizza (called pide – it had a thin crust and was cut into long thin pieces, not triangles like Italian pizza) and Turkish beer.
Post-ballooning medicine.

We had planned to walk up to a high point at the edge of town to walk through “Love Valley” and watch the sunset, but our activities for the day were just cursed. It rained for the first time on our vacation, despite the weather prediction of 0% chance of rain.

After the thunderstorm stopped, we ventured back into town for dinner at a restaurant called The Local. Paul had a steak and I ordered “beef in a pottery.” I had seen beef and chicken cooking in potteries on the street and had been itching to try it. The potteries I had seen were long narrow pots with the meat cooking inside and delicious smelling smoke wafting out into the street. So I was surprised to see a personal sized little pot arrive at our table. Our waiter had to wear heat proof gloves and take a knife to cut open the little pot. My dinner that had been cooking inside spilled out perfectly onto a bowl. I loved it. Dinner was great, so I hope the curse is broken for tomorrow…
The waiter cracking open my pottery.

Day 23: Tour 1 of Cappadocia

We loaded onto a bus in the morning and headed out for a day tour of the Cappadocia region. First stop was a beautiful hike through Rose Valley. We walked by caves where pigeon nests, meticulously carved by the people of Cappadocia, were visible inside. We learned in Egypt that the Egyptians want to get rid of pigeons and pigeon droppings that ruin the beautiful colors on the temples…The people of Cappadocia, on the other hand, used pigeon eggs to make paint for the frescoes on the cave walls! And it wasn’t just pigeon eggs that were valuable. Droppings were used for fertilizer. And pigeons were used Harry Potter style to send messages to one another! I never imagined pigeons were useful…
Pigeon nests (the small holes inside the big caves).

We were able to climb up into one of the caves we passed in Rose Valley. Paul took the tough route and scaled the front of the rock to the entry way above. I took the easy route and walked up an easy hill to an entry way at the back. It was a fun stop! As we neared the end of our hike through Rose Valley we saw a lot of locals working and farming in the fields and stopped for fresh squeezed pomegranate-grapefruit juice. Delicious.
Me in Rose Valley.
Paul climbing into a cave.
Us in the doorway to the cave.
Fresh juice. Yum.

The bus met us at the end of our hike and took us to our next stop: Monk’s Valley AKA Pasabag. There we explored a few good examples of Cappadocia’s famous fairy chimneys and our guide explained the strange erosion process that was responsible for forming the unique shapes. We were even able to climb up into a few of the caves carved into the fairy chimneys.
Us in the land of fairy chimneys.
More fairy chimneys.
Climbing up to caves in the fairy chimneys.
Crawling through caves.

After we had our fill of fairy chimneys, the tour group was taken to a pottery shop in Avanos (like lambs to the slaughter). We learned all about Turkish pottery. The shop was located in a cave, which we learned kept a perfect temperature for making pottery out of clay harvested from a nearby river. We saw one of the masters work the kick turn pottery wheel and were offered delicious Turkish apple tea…DÉJÀ VU (Jordanian mosaics, Egyptian carpets…the script is the same everywhere). We drank the apple tea and it was all over. Time to buy pottery. We were taken into the display area, which was separated into two rooms: the masterpiece room and the “other” room. Of course I had eyes only for the masterpieces. And every time I admired a piece, the salesman following about 20 feet behind snatched it away and took it to a special table to keep it safe for me. Paul put his bargaining face on. And in the end we bought a lovely bowl painted in the shop’s family design…While Paul was settling the bill, our salesman called me over and told me to pick a bowl from the “other” room as a gift. He told me Paul was a hard bargainer and he was sorry he had to “break my heart” when he refused to accept Paul’s offer for one of the other pieces I had been eyeing. It was a nice gesture, and even if it means we overpaid for our “masterpiece,” I think we both left the shop happy with our purchase. It will be on display in our shoebox of an apartment this fall (our mosaic and bowl purchases took off a few square feet)…
Master at work on the kickturn wheel.

Handpainted pottery.

We had a nice lunch and then it was back to actual sights. We stopped at the amazing underground city of Kaymakli (used by early Christians to hide from persecution). An entire city underground! Even stables for horses! We climbed down, down, down into the earth passing kitchens, wineries, churches, and air shafts that looked as though they descended for miles. Our guide told us that, based on the length of the air shafts, archeologists estimate that further excavations will show the cities descends hundreds of feet further than the area we were able to explore on our tour. It was impressive!



Our last stop was a brief wine tasting (I don’t think the Cappadocia wineries realize that more tastings lead to more purchasing…no one bought wine) and a beautiful lookout point over Pigeon Valley.
Us at the lookout point.

We walked into town and had a GREAT dinner at one of the restaurants. Our waiter was so friendly and even made us delicious Turkish coffee to end a delicious meal.

Quick Update

We just spent 5 days in Cappadocia, 2 days in Antalya, and 4 days sailing on a gulet (traditional Turkish sailboat) along the Turquoise Coast. No internet out at sea! We are alive :) Will update the blog in the next few days.

Day 22: Goreme

Well, the days of cold towels and welcome juices are officially over. We’re staying in a cave in Goreme! Actually, our cave hotel is not bad as far as caves go. The hotel is built into a hill, and a few of Cappadocia’s famous “fairy chimneys” poke up in the middle of the hotel grounds. Our hotel has several different levels and half levels with steps to cave rooms in different little nooks on the hill and in the fairy chimneys.

Fairy chimneys are rock formations that look like closed umbrellas (point side up) or mushrooms with long stems. Until the last 40-50 years, people lived hidden inside the rock formations. When foreigners first saw the unique landscape, they thought it impossible that people lived in the rocks. After seeing smoke rising from the tops of the rocks (the hidden people were inside cooking), the foreigners named the rock formations “fairy chimneys.”
Paul in our cave.
Me at the hotel, looking out at the beautiful Goreme landscape.
A view of our hotel.

We woke up at 5AM for the call to prayer. Our hotel is right next to a mosque, and all mosques have big speakers at the top to broadcast the call to prayer. I felt like the mosque was inside our little cave room! After we actually woke up a few hours later, we spent the morning at our hotel looking out at the beautiful landscape, and walking through the town at the bottom of the hill. The town is quite small and quiet with cute cobble stone and gray brick streets, lined with trees and pretty fountains.

In the afternoon, we visited the Goreme Open Air Museum. We booked a guide through the travel agency located at the hotel, and he took us through the museum, showing us the cave homes where early Christians hid from Roman persecution and the churches that were constructed into the rocks. The churches were gorgeous! The frescoes in the Church of Saint George were particularly stunning. The colors were dark and bold blues, reds, and mustard yellows. The faces of Jesus and the apostles were so detailed. We were not permitted to take pictures of the frescoes, but we were able to take a few of the paintings from the iconoclast period. The iconoclast paintings were interesting – so childlike, especially compared to the gorgeous frescoes.
Crawling through the caves!
More crawling through caves!
Me in a cave home.
Church at the top of a fairy chimney.
Me, looking out from inside the church.
View of one of the cave churches.
Long dining table in one of the caves, with a frescoe of the Last Supper in the background.
Paul sitting at a cave dinner table.
Gorgeous view, looking out from inside the cave.
Us with the pretty landscape in the background.

Our guide was quite a character. We visited the “Dark Church” where he explained the meanings of all of the beautiful frescoes. He pointed out that most of the faces depicted lacked expression, except for Joseph after the birth of Jesus, who looked “confused.”

After we returned from the Open Air Museum, we decided it was time for a little relaxation in a Turkish bath – a hamam. Hamams are not for the shy! There is no modesty. Paul and I were given LITTLE red and white checked towels to cover up for our traditional Turkish peel and soap massage. The towels were so small, let’s just say it’s good I’m not an inch taller or an ounce heavier or I would have been putting on quite a show. We sat in an extremely hot sauna for 10 minutes and then headed out for our peel and soap massages. The room for the peel and soap massage has a large, warm marble slab in the middle and faucets along the outer walls. The room is open to all persons using the hamam. Paul and I were told to lay at the edges of the marble slab and two little Asian girls adjusted our towels so that we had little loin cloths on the bottom and a little strip of fabric on the top for me. First, we were scrubbed. Then we were covered in thick layers of bubbles and massaged. At the end, the bubbles were washed away with water poured over us several times from little silver bowels. It was so relaxing! We’re planning a return trip for the end of the week.

We at dinner in at the hotel restaurant, down a few flights of stairs from our cave room. The restaurant is outside and we had a table next to the oven – a long, narrow structure with a triangle top and open front. The smell was mouthwatering. Paul ordered chicken and I had a chicken kebab, and we ate while enjoying a nice bottle of Cappadocian wine and musicians playing traditional Turkish music. It was all so peaceful until… I thought I had been eating delicious grilled green beans when suddenly my entire mouth, tongue, and throat felt like it was on fire! Paul had a little taste of the “green beans” and confirmed that they were, in fact, hot peppers with a slow-building heat. I ate almost two whole hot peppers! I started glugging water and wine and anything in reach. And then I got the “spice hiccups.” Usually I can stifle hiccups, but not spice hiccups. Between thes hiccupping and the wine chugging, I swear the whole restaurant must have been staring at the insane drunk girl in the corner. So of course I started laughing at myself in embarrassment. And Paul and the waiter joined in too. Finally the fire died down and we enjoyed a nice sweet desert before retiring to our cave for the night.
Chef in front of his oven (the triangle at the left of the picture).

Turkish musicians.

Day 21: Travel Day

We spent the day on boats, planes, and buses. We got up at 4:30 AM, boated away from Elephantine island, and hopped in a little bus to the Aswan airport. We flew from Aswan to Cairo, Cairo to Istanbul, and Istanbul to Kayseri. At Kayseri, we hopped into another bus and headed off to our “cave hotel” in Goreme (a little town in the Cappadocia region of Turkey). We finally arrived at 9:30 PM.

Travel was, for the most part, not notable, but Paul insists I have to mention the impressive food offerings on Turkish Airlines. On our little 2 ½ hour flight from Cairo to Istanbul, we had a full lunch with a choice of chicken or beef curry and bean salad, hot rolls, and desert. The chicken was surprisingly tasty. And we got a nice soup and sandwich on our short flight to Kayseri.

We had a few little glitches along the way. We thought we had to go through customs with our bags in Istanbul, and after waiting for a while and asking several airport employees, we finally figured out that our bags were headed directly to Kayseri and we would go through customs there. When we got to Kayseri, the “international arrivals” gate was closed. We waited at “domestic arrivals.” And waited. And no bags. Finally, an airport employee gathered up all the confused international travelers and brought us back to the “international arrivals” gate where we collected our luggage. Outside the airport, we looked and looked for a sign with Paul’s name (we had arranged transport through the hotel), but there was no one. The entire airport was emptying out, we had no Turkish money, no phone, and it looked like no ride for the hour long trip to our hotel. Finally, the driver found us. His sign, which had a list of 10 or so names, was folded over so that Paul’s name was not visible. Just a few little confusions, but overall a successful day of traveling!

Day 20: Abu Simbel

We checked out of the boat in the morning and headed off to the Aswan airport for quick day trip to Abu Simbel. We learned (from experience and the stories of other tourists) that Egypt Air does not operate on a “schedule” – planes just fly whenever. So we waited in the airport for almost 2 hours and finally we were off to Abu Simbel. It was worth the wait.

Abu Simbel is the location of two unique temples – different from all the other temples we have visited in Egypt. It was not constructed from quarry stones, but rather cut into a rock face. When the waters of Lake Nasser threatened to destroy Abu Simbel, it was moved to its current location and the uniqueness of the architecture was amazingly preserved.

Abu Simbel’s bigger and more famous temple was constructed to honor Ramses II. Four massive statues depicting his face sit, two on either side, in front of the entrance. Inside the Ramses II temple there are several rooms and the walls are decorated with beautiful and colorful scenes of Ramses vanquishing his enemies and standing with the gods. I particularly loved the scene showing Ramses II on a chariot with three arms firing arrows in rapid succession, as his horses gallop toward his cowering enemies (sadly no photos inside the temple here).
Me and Ramses II Temple.
Paul and Ramses II Temple.
And us together in front of Ramses II Temple.
Massive statues of Ramses II sitting at the entry.

The smaller temple was built to honor Ramses II’s wife, Nefertari (the beauty of the beauties). Six tall statues stand at the entrance to Nefertari’s temple, three on either side. Four depict Ramses II, and two depict Nefertari. That Ramses II definitely thought well of himself! At the feet of the statues, smaller figures stand, representing Ramses II and Nefertari’s children. Inside the Nefertari temple the walls are similarly decorated with beautiful and colorful scenes, most notably the “sexy” figure of Nefertari in a sheer dress.
Temple for Nefertari.
Me at the Temple for Nefertari. Even the small statues of children were taller than me!

After a couple of hours exploring Abu Simbel, we were back on Egypt Air and headed for our last night stay in Aswan. We stayed at the Moevenpick on Elephantine Island and had to take a little boat to get to the hotel. The hotel was nice and had a tall tower with gorgeous views of the island and the Nile. We were completely exhausted and spent the evening relaxing, looking out on pretty Aswan, and watching an embarrassingly bad, not to be named movie.
View of our hotel on Elephantine Island from the boat.

View of the Nile from our room.
Looking out on Aswan from the top of our hotel.