Soaring above it all in Cappadocia

The last part of our Turkish journey was relaxed and included one of the most special, spectacular and unusual places on earth. 

Antalya

Antalya is about a 5 hour bus ride from Pamukkale, and is situated on the Mediterranean coast. Antalya is one of those places where you can base yourself for days and see plenty of things around, including the world’s best preserved Roman amphitheatre and other ruins. We have seen our share of ruins so two days lounging back in a beach side town was perfect for us. 

These tasty bread snacks are everywhere, but this is impressive

We arrive and the weather is perfection at 24 degrees and sunny. We forgot how much we loved the sunshine! Antalya is actually one of the biggest cities in Turkey, but we stayed within the old city of Kalesi. Kalesi is situated right on the marina, and keeps is charm in the Ottoman style homes which are renovated for this tourist oriented part. We saw some of these style houses in our Bulgaria. There are heaps of markets with the usual assortment of genuine fake products made in China. 

The marina is gorgeous, but the constant offers for boat rides can become tiring. Over on the rocks of the marina it is peaceful as you stare out at the surrounding mountains, and watch the local men fish on the rocks. 

We park ourselves on the old fort with 2 cans of Efes (the local beer) and enjoy watching the coming and goings of the boats. Before we know it the day has gone and we have done nothing really. WOW is this what that feels like, we have really been missing out. 

Amazing views to snow capped mountains from the marina

We decide to reward our day of doing nothing with a dinner at the most wonderful non-Turkish restaurant Vanilla for a western dinner. We love eating local food, but every now and then we just need to eat regular restaurant food. Does this even make sense!?

The next morning we decide to take advantage of the weather and go to the tiny private beach next to the marina, there is the public beach which is s 7km strip, but it’s a bit of trek. We arrive at the beach before the time which you have to pay, this was a total fluke. The ocean is inviting, but the temperature of it sure wasn’t. We are set up with lounge chairs and the most incredible views, as the sun pelted down as we covered ourselves in sunscreen … now this has really been a while. 

With time to burn we get a 1 hour boat ride around the local area. The gentleman next to us gives us a huge handful of dried chickpeas and a warm smile. These things are like gluten free bread, they suck away any sort of moisture you may have had and are awful. We wait till he is looking away and casually drop them into the ocean. 

While in Turkey we had to try Gozleme and we found a family run business that just did 4 types of Gozleme, and it was delicious, huge and cheap. The potato one was our favourite, because really what carbs need is more carbs. Two of these and 2 drinks cost us a total of $10AUD. 

We decide to use the afternoon to take a hammam. Even though we have had one before they are all a little different, you must come with a sense of adventure and a whatever will be will be attitude. We arrive and get changed into our Turkish bath towel, keeping only the bottom half of underwear on. We go into the warm room where you sit on a hot slab of marble and splash yourself with cold or hot water and start the relaxation. You are then taken into the room where you are sat on marble tables as water in literally heaped over your head, you are splashed vigorously with water all over, absolutely everywhere, it feels like a violent shower that you have no control over. They lie you on the slab and scrub you from head to toe for 15 minutes until you’re sure that there is no skin left. This is not relaxing, and it’s not meant to be, you are getting cleaned, and we mean really cleaned. Red raw, you are smothered in soap suds and massaged all over. They make it so soapy by using a pillow case and soaping it up then filling it with air and twisting the end off, it glides on like soapy silk. He asks you to roll over but you are so soapy you practically slip off the marble slab, as you cling desperately to your remaining dignity, and try not to choke on the bubbles as you laugh at your current situation.  We have moments when we realise how much we have grown on this trip. For most people this would make them so uncomfortable, for us there are awkward moments but we just laugh and get over the awkwardness in under 2 minutes and get on with the experience. Yes I am practically naked covered in bubbles slipping off a marble slab in front of some guy who himself is wrapped in only a towel, what of it? 

 

We are violently rinsed again from our bubbles and honestly have never been this clean in our lives, I’m sure we sparkle like one of those houses from a cleaning products add. We are wrapped up in pink towels, and taken to relax over hot apple tea. We spent the next hour talking Turkish politics with the owner of the hammam, who seemed very passionate about the direction of Turkey, and how it will one day be more powerful that the U.S. We enjoy just listening to people’s perspectives. 

We had a couple of cocktails to fully relax us before heading for the overnight bus to Cappadocia. It never gets better no matter the number of times you spend travelling overnight. 

Antalya is a good base spot to spend time on the coast cruising up and down and seeing the multiple Greek and Roman ruin sites surrounding. In fact some of the most intact ruins in the world are close by, but to be honest there are only so many ruins one can see before you are ruined of ruins. 

Cappadocia

We awake on the overnight bus with the sunrise coming through our windows and a sky filled with hot air balloons. It was a magical sight. We pull into the bus station in Goreme, the bus stop is actually the middle of a main street. The view of these balloons is simply mesmerising. Feeling sorry for ourselves at 6:30am, we climb this ridiculously steep hill and arrive at our accommodation with spectacular views over the valley. This hill would become the worst part of our day every day we were here, as it was at about a 40 degree angle and no short distance. Luckily our room is ready so we can get in immediately, we decide just to ‘rest our eyes’ for a few minutes. We wake at 12, woops, but we do feel like new! We are staying in a fairy chimney room, you can see why its called a fairy chimney. 

Our very own fairy chimney

View from our balcony!

Cappadocia is really indescribable, but Lonely Planet describes it as “a geological oddity of honeycomb hills and towering phallic boulders of other worldly beauty. Fashioned through lashings of volcanic ash, moulded by millennia of rain and river flow, this fantastical topography is equally matched by the human history here.” We have never seen anything quite like it, nor do we think we ever will. 

With the sun pelting day we decide to go to the open air museum, which is an important byzantine monastic settlement and a pilgrimage sight from the 17^th century, it is a cluster of rock cut churches, chapels and monasteries. A lot of the beautiful frescoes have had the faces scratched out, due to Muslim law forbidding art depicting people or animals. It is quite amazing the way people just hollowed these rocks out to live in, although they are soft rock caves where even touching the walls will have stone crumbling away. 

 

On our way back we see a sign at Café Safak that catches our attention. A coffee shop that says it has the best coffee until Australia. We challenge the signs validity and a Melbournian was enjoying a cup and pipes in to tell us it’s actually pretty good. We joined him for a coffee, and it really is a damn good cup of coffee, easily one of the best we have had in 7 months and they even do latte art. Turns out the owner is Turkish who moved to Melbourne and has trained all his family who runs the place how to make great coffee.  Again we see Australia setting the coffee standard bar!

Day 2

We wake at 4:30am, a time that nobody should really wake up. Although we had set alarms, Allah’s personal alarm clock helped us rise with the minaret literally outside our window. As the Bosnians say “coffee without a cigarette is like a mosque without a minaret”. To be honest we like coffees without cigarettes, and we’d probably prefer the mosque without the minaret at 4:30am in the morning. We are ready for our pickup at 5am to take us to Butterfly Balloon headquarters. We had decided to take a balloon flight over Cappadocia and we had gone with the most reputable firm – there are some pretty dodgy ones out there we hear. The weather wasn’t the best for ballooning so our balloon was last to take off, and we are glad we waited. When we got into the air we saw a few balloons who had gone too soon and were drifting off in the complete wrong direction missing all the sights. 

We took off effortlessly into the sky and with Mike in control we glided up above all the best sights ascending and descending to see huge panoramic vistas and up close detailed rock faces. In some cases we were gliding so close we could nearly touch them as we watched our balloon cast its shadow against this beautiful backdrop. 

The valleys from above

Honestly this flight was so magical we did not want it to end. The landing was as smooth as the lift off and we were treated to champagne on touch down.

The colours!

Cappadocia is home to a wide variety of rock formations, some it’s most favourite can be found in love valley. Why call it love valley you ask? Have a look at the pictures and see if you can guess, it has something to do with the phallic shape. It was stunning but steep and slippery and landing on your butt was just part of the day.

We had found a good bar called Fat Boys and they served a bit of Aussie food with the owner previously running a kebab store in Canberra. We had lunch which included vegemite on Turkish toast, so delicious!

We had the sunset viewpoint literally behind our hotel so we ventured out to see, but it was a pretty disappointing sunset that night, still the view was gorgeous.

Our last night in Turkey was upon us, so why not do it properly. We ate at family run Top Deck restaurant and had the most incredible Meze we have had on this trip. We even managed to get the traditional seating on the floor, to the owner’s surprise Simon chose to sit there. 

Day 3

Cappadocia is really all about the walking, there are paths everywhere that take you through the extraordinary valleys. We decide to do the red and rose valley walks, we are told to expect to walk about 3 hours. Once you find the track it is not hard to find your way, but finding the tracks are nearly impossible, probably why most people choose to go with a guide. Walking these completely unique valleys you are dwarfed by the rock formations that loom above you. The sun was atrociously bright destroying most photo opportunities. We walk and walk and walk up and down steep slippery hills, our feet ache and we had walked for closer to 4.5 hours not 3 (we think we got lost somewhere), we finally make it back and honestly there was a point where we were not so sure we would. Famished, thirsty and nearly kissing the main road we find some food and stuff our faces with the plates wiped clean!

The juice shak in the red valley from above

At least they help you on the really slippery bits

Hanging out with the mirangues

Honestly we never thought we'd make it back

We walked up that bloody hill for the last time and headed to the airport while the most magnificent sunset was saying goodbye to us. 

Lessons Learnt

• Turkey revolves around Tea, Turkish tea is everything, it is social, it is cultural, and it is a ritual almost. This is mums heaven here. Turkish coffee is nearly non-existent. Local men all gather together and drink tea and play backgammon. Even the political advertising has the candidate drinking tea with the guys playing the backgammon.
• Pomegranate molasses is divine
• Fresh juice is readily available, but it’s not in the same league or price bracket as Morocco, no juice could ever compare.
• We have travelled around Turkey mostly on buses, there is a very high standard for bus’s here, with personalised in bus entertainment and internet available, leather seats and even a drinks service on board! The best part is it’s cheap as chips, so is flying around Turkey. We have flown a few times and one way per person for an hour long flight is about $40AUD.
• Meze is the best Turkish food, forget about having a kebab here you will be disappointed.
• If you value sleep, book somewhere not too close to a mineret or have soundproofing.

Parting Thoughts

Turkey really does have everything, from the iconic and bustling Istanbul one of the most visited cities in the world, to some of the world’s best Roman ruins, the most unique natural wonders Pamukalle and Cappadocia and then to stunning coast line with crystal clear waters. Whatever you like Turkey can really deliver a range of experiences and scenery. Trust us, they know what they have to offer and this place is open, open, open for tourism.   

We really feel as though we saw the best of Turkey and very much enjoyed this countries varied landscapes. All around Turkey is very accessible, facilities are good, English is widely spoken and the best part is that it is really reasonably priced. Turkey is a very progressive country and not religiously strict. It’s a good place to come if you are looking for a different culture to experience but without a massive culture shock. 

Cappadocia and Pamukalle were true highlights of not just Turkey but our entire trip, they are out of this world, literally they seem to be from another planet. 

Have a hammam if you ever get the chance, it is awkward as anything, but you will never feel so clean and it will give you continuous laughs as you look back on it. 

We would go back to Turkey if we ever got the chance, but we have seen it so thoroughly that it would be a much later in life journey. Perhaps we would walk the Lycian Way which is meant to be one of the most spectacular long distance walks in the world with stunning coastal views.

Simon and Amy xoxo