Cappadocia

I left my little home base for the first time this weekend and it was absolutely magical! I, along with many of the other new teachers, went a few hours south of Ankara to Cappadocia. It was such an interesting place, with wild rock formations and an incredible amount of history, but I feel like we were very successful and saw a good deal of what there was to see. It was kind of weird being in such a tourist town again. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t even compare to Venice on that front, but still touristy none the less. Our hotel was a bunch of caves carved out in the mountain and the people who worked there were so incredibly hospitable. Saturday morning a few of us got up at the ungodly hour of 5am to go for a sunrise hot air balloon ride! It was B-E-A-UTIFUL! I can’t even begin to explain what an amazing experience it was. Surreal is the only adjective I can think of to describe it.

We then had a long day of touring the area. This included the fairy chimneys that Cappadocia is so well known for and even a ceramic factory where we got a complete tour of how the traditional pieces are made. I think one of the most interesting parts of the tour was seeing the old churches that were carved into the mountains and rock formations. Most of them had beautiful frescos that were fairly well preserved.

That night we went to “Turkish Night” as everybody continued to call it. We had a very traditional Turkish meal and watched some Turkish dancing, whirling dervishes, and belly dancing. It was overall just a wonderful time, but such a long day!

Sunday morning we woke up and had brunch before heading to a carpet shop where we were to become experts on Turkish carpets. I told myself a million times in the past few weeks that I would wait a few months before actually purchasing a carpet. Well, they say you turn into your mother, and I’m thinking this was the first major sign that that may be true! Sure enough, I fell in love with a carpet and went home with a new investment.

We stopped by an underground city and a dried up salt lake on the way back into town. It was an incredible trip which as tickled my travel bone a bit so I am now constantly daydreaming about all of the wonderful places I get to see in Turkey!

P.S. Hey Dad...this is my ride to school everymorning!