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Getting out of Olympos was an adventure – it required taking a dolmuÅŸ to the “top of the hill”, about 20 minutes away on dirt road switchbacks, and then catching a regular bus to Antalya for another 1.5 hours’ ride, before catching an overnight bus from Antalya to Cappadocia (an area in mid-Western Turkey whose name originated in Persian times and meant ‘beautiful horses’). One of the guys traveling with us had forgotten his camera battery and charger back in Olympos, but the dolmuÅŸ driver was very accommodating. A quick phone call to the hostel, and a guy on a scooter ran the items up to him on the dolmuÅŸ! How very convenient.

After an overnight bus ride from hell (very hot night and no air conditioning on a packed bus), we arrived in Ãœrgüp bright and early. We waited about half an hour before we were picked up and brought to our hotel – turns out we’d been upgraded! Instead of staying in Göreme at a backpacker place, we were taken to Hisar Evi (hisar = fortress; evi = house – more Turkish words for you!) in Ortahisar (orta = middle; hisar = fortress, still!) and given a great cave room with a brand new bathroom, and rugs and decorative items everywhere. The hotel terrace had a great view of the Ortahisar citadel.

It turned out not to be such a great location, however – there is nothing touristy, no restaurants nor shopping nor internet cafes nor public transport in Ortahisar. We would have been stuck eating all our meals at the hotel, which didn’t seem all that cheap. After showering and napping, I called the travel agent back in Istanbul and by the afternoon he had us switched back to the hotel in Göreme at no extra cost. The Hisar Evi owner didn’t look too pleased with us …

We were whisked away on full day tours for the first two days we were in Cappadocia, and had free time on the third day. Despite the moonlike landscape, we were surprised at how much cooler and more pleasant the weather was than on the Mediterranean coast.

The highlight in Cappadocia is the land itself – you may have seen postcards or posters of the characteristic ‘fairy chimney’ formations here. Shaped by continuous erosion of the tuff (ash deposited by a volcanic explosion millions of years ago) but leaving the harder basalt rock on top intact, the landscape is amazing.

Some of the fairy chimneys have been in use as human or animal dwellings or for storage of foodstuffs for many centuries. Being a national park nowadays, no one is supposed to be living in them any more – but I don’t think everyone’s obeying the letter of the law on that one.

Others house pigeons by the hundreds – useful for their poop, which is a key ingredient in the white plaster used everywhere.

There are several underground cities in the area – the soft rock is easy to dig through and makes quite a good hiding place, and the constant temperature makes it hospitable for surviving a year-round siege. We visited one of these underground cities – an educational but somewhat creepy experience.

Back on the surface! Admittedly, some of the fairy chimneys look kind of funny. Some say this one looks like a camel …

… this one like a bunny …

… but we never did figure out why everyone snickered so much when seeing these ones:

On a more serious note, Cappadocia was an important Christian centre from the 9th to the 11th centuries, evidence of which is everywhere Рparticularly ancient churches can be visited in the G̦reme Open Air Museum.

The coolest experience by far was the hot air balloon ride, but more about that in a separate post!