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rockscapes found in cappadocia region
it's difficult to express in words how cool the cappadocia region is. the landscapes are like nothing you will find in canada...maybe even the rest of the world! a long time ago...like millions of years ago...a volcano erupted and over a few million years the rocks eroded into the spectacular chimney forms you see today. the volcanic deposits are soft rocks that people since the roman period have carved out to form houses, churches and monasteries. most of the cave homes are now hotels and pensions but a few people still live in the caves.
ancient cave dwellings near göreme
jay and i found a cave that we could climb into...
i love the cubbyholes...so functional!
look up, look waaaaaay up...
yay! cubbyholes at the front door for your shoes ;p
we found a cave hotel that fit into our tight budget. it had a cute terrace but it was a bit chilly to actually enjoy it. the temperature was between 0 and 15 degrees celsius which apparently is unseasonably warm for november. we arrived at 8 o'clock in the morning after taking the night bus from izmir. we set off to explore the area on our own, ignoring the sales pitch for a tour that included a guide, lunch and transportation to 'many, many interesting places for only 60 lira...but i give it to you for 5 dollar cheap'.
our cave room's terrace
our first climb up a hill rewarded us with this view
we were given a map that showed the hiking paths available to us but it really wasn't very helpful. there are several roads leading out and through göreme and street names are almost non-existant. we just picked a road and started out of the town towards the hills. after we looked around for a bit we came to a big rock that said, 'rose, red 1 km'. we followed the path but in the end decided to stay up on the hilltop instead of climbing down into the valley only to walk back up again. we walked for what seemed like hours and hours. i think we were tired from our night on the bus because we were only gone for 2 hours.
rose red 1 km --->
more abandoned cave dwellings
our third day in göreme we set out again for another hike. this time we had a destination in mind...pigeon valley. we had no idea what pigeon valley was or why we might want to go there but we heard a couple say they were going there the next day. must be good if they're going...we asked at the info centre where to catch the domuş to uçhişar so we could hike into the valley from there. he informed us we could just walk...'it's easy, just walk up this road. it takes you to pigeon valley'. so we followed the road, took a wrong turn and ended up in a valley...but not pigeon valley. we looked up the hill and could see a viewing point and restaurant at the top. tourist buses were stopped there and tourists were peering down at us with their cameras. we attempted to climb the hill from two different spots but each time we had to turn back because we would reach a vertical slope that was impossible to scale without proper equipment...or at least for us...but at least before we had to slide back down the hill on our butts we caught a glimpse of the snow capped mount erciyes dagi.
guess what? more cave homes!
mount erciyes dagi off in the distance
while göreme obviously has been touched by the tourism trade, it still has an authentic small village feel. we visited the farmer's market that was set up to coincide with the end of morning prayers. we witnessed a horse and rider trotting through town with the rider barely in control of the stallion. we inhaled smoke from the wood burning stoves that kept the villagers warm and cozy in their chilly cave homes/hotels.
a short walk from town is an open air museum that boasts over 10 cave churches. the churches were dug out and painted with frescos by orthodox monks. many of the frescos are still quite vivid and colourful. this was one of the only areas that we were able to actually get inside the caves as many of the area's cave openings are too high to reach. we are still wondering how people used to get up there. our best guesses are...rope ladders, extremely tall stilts, hover crafts...
cave dwelling within the göreme open air museum
actual real live people live in this cave home
corina & jason
the flat petroffs decide that these cubby holes found in goreme, turkey are the perfect place to play tic-tac-owen.
flat hannah is the clear winner in a game of queen of the cubby holes although ellie almost made it just as high.
flat sasha may look like she's smiling in front of this ancient goreme cave house but on the inside she's thinking to herself, "more stairs? didn't we climb enough in pamukkale?"
flat jane and flat owen think it's time for an extreme makeover on this old run down cave house! where's flat ty when you need him?
the flat petroff feel right at home in dubai's indoor ski slope...i mean, it's below zero, there's skiing, sledding and man-made snow...much closer to the reality of home than the +30 degrees C outside.
flat sasha was encouraged by flat hannah to do her best snowman impersonation. flat ellie couldn't stop giggling as usual.
flat owen and flat jane were asked to help guard hong kong's botanical garden with this chinese lion. apparently his partner on the other side of the gate really needed to pee.
obviously the flat penners didn't listen to their flat parents' advice to never play ball with hong kong lions...someone always loses an arm!
the flats practise their hovering skill above hong kong's famous skyline. miraculously flat hannah and flat sasha recovered from their run in with the lion.
the merlion in singapore's marina was a big hit with uncle jay. he was so excited to see a mermaid and a lion statue (and what's with all the lions in asia anyway?) that he literally forced the flats to pose with it. after all it's famous. good excuse, i suppose.
