Unforgettable Turkey: Day 5: Cappadocia

Enchanting Cappadocia - falling in love all over again...

Breathtakingly picturesque, takes my breath away, I am simply enchanted, transported to another world!

So much happening in Cappadocia, that I have decided to break this particular leg of journey into several parts...simply because there is so much to see...to tell...to share..

The four of us rose very early in morning with the high spirits, and high hopes to go on the hot air balloon ride across Cappadocia. Alas, despair awaits us when Enis announced to the 7 of us (us foursome, Hj Kamaruddin and wife, and Toke Tayar), that the winds were too strong for a safe flight. What? Too strong winds unsafe? I would have thought it to be ideal for flying in a hot air balloon. I was to be educated. When the winds are too strong, I am told, it is almost impossible to raise the hot air balloon on air, let alone stopping it from drifting into unchartered territories once the strong wind takes over. Okay, I am enlightened...but still frustrated. Then Enis announced that we would have another try the following day. I remain optimistic.

frustrated balloonist wannabe!

So, once again, it was back to picture snapping around the hotel grounds. The rather barren surrounding and grey December skies did not dampen our photo snapping spirits, until a rather menacing deep growl from the long grass across the hotel brought Jua and I scurrying back to the safety of the hotel grounds.

The hotel in Cappadocia and its quiet surroundings

Breakfast in Cappadocia hotel

The first place of visit here was the to Cappadocia itself - The Valley of Beautiful Horses. We were taken to the Valley of Goreme, where the sight was simply breathtaking. The beauty of the stone carved houses was a sight to behold. Originally built by the Hittites (?), they were then occupied by the Christians in hiding. Pointed chimneys with smoke coming out from the underground homes earned them the name "Fairy Chimneys" by the locals. More popularly known now as Flintstone Houses.

History has it that more than 70 million years ago, there were 3 volcanoes surrounding this area - Egeas, Hasan and Gulu which continually spilled lava ashes and tufa(smoke). In the 20 million years, these ashes settled to become present day Cappadocia. Erosion and rain eventually caused the outer edges of the high plateau to be eroded off leaving valleys with sharp pointed highlands - conical shape mounts more like. This process of outer edge erosion by rain and wind still continue on to this day. Thus it is expected that the present panorama would change yet again over the years to come. But what stands in front of my eyes now was a uniquely, breathtaking view of God's earth...Allah's creation. I let the pictures speak for themselves.

once homes for the hittites, christians, now a modern money making hotel

Enchanting!

once a castle

the village

The effects of outside-in erosion

Valley of Goreme

Flintstone houses

simply thrilled to be here

Valley of Goreme - breathtaking..you gotta be there!

speechless by the magnificent view - Subhanallah!

local pet?

Many more places of interest visited here, to be shared in the next post..

Unforgettable Turkey: Day 4 - Pamukkale - Konya- Cappadocia

I left a part of me in Pamukkale...

Villa Lycus, Pamukkale

The 6 hour journey from Bursa landed us in Pamukkale, at the Lycus Hotel. Again, the long journey in the bus, made sure my lunch was fully digested, and I welcomed the dinner wholeheartedly.

arrival at Villa Lycus

packed dining space at the hotel

Dawn in front of the Lycus Villa, Pamukkale

Once again, the hotel stay was really more like an overnight stop, just to ensure we had a good night's rest before we proceeded on yet another long journey, this time for 8 hours. But not before a series of excited snapshots early morning after breakfast. First stop, Pamukkale - The Cotton Castle and Hieropolis - The Valley of Heroes. The wintry winds in this area was beginning to sting.

Alas, if there was to be a bad day on this trip, it had to be this morning on my visit to Pamukkale. Firstly, I had worn white skirt only to discover we were going to a wet place. And then, maybe due to all the "greens" that I ingested the day before, topped with trish olive oil, supposedly the finest virgin olive oil, which acted as a first class lubricant, proved too much for my sensitive, delicate tummy. As it turned out, I had to excuse myself from the rest of the gang in desperate search of a toilet. Zura kindheartedly stayed behind with me to accompany me in my moment of peril, even vandalising somewhat the entrance turnstile to allow me exit in the opposite direction. It was indeed an emergency act on her part...for her aunt's sake! Thank you Jua...As it turned out I was to have that 'urgent' problem the whole leg of the day's journey.

the cold, windy, dark dawn - the perfect ingredients for a morning rush to the toilet!

the morning sun peeping shyly through the skies of Pamukkale

eager, excited faces to enter Pamukkale's cotton castle...

Anyways, disaster aside, Pamukkale means Cotton Castle - earning its name from the white sands that dry up from hot white soda springs. Uniquely captivating is the description that first comes to mind as I watch the white hilly terrace interspersed with craters of hot water. This is where I marvel at the Unique panorama it offered, not forgetting the warm waters that flow from the hot springs which everyone took advantage of to heat up their cold limbs. As I lagged behind from the others, I missed all that Enis had to tell about Pamukkale. But what information I managed to eavesdrop from the others was that the hotsprings supposedly had healing qualities. Behold the unique scenery...

the different views of Pamukkale - notice how the winds change the scenery instantly!

The Information Centre within Pamukkale grounds

And then there was the Hieropolis - The City of Heroes. History has it that it was built in the 2nd century by the Roman emperor, King Eumenes II of Pergamon. The relics remain, and under the grey skies I could imagine their warriors marching proudly through the city in full splendour. thier armor shining brightly against the grey skies.

historical images of Hieropolis

After Pamukkale, our journey continued on its way to Konya. By then my white skirt was very damp, and feeling terribly uncomfortable and anxious with my purging problem, I was unable to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding as the bus sped along the fairly quiet highway. I was thankful when we finally stopped for lunch at Dinar, where Mehmet, the assistant guide was kind enough to haul out my suitcase so I could change my skirt to something dry and much more comfortable. We stopped by in a place called Dinar, known once ( and perhaps still is) as an opium city for morphine. Meaning the place is licensed to plant poppy legally for opium.
Also, Enis managed to enlighten us briefly about the earthquake that happened here in 1996, which devastated many lives and destroyed buildings, pointing out that the apartments that could be seen around this place were to compensate for the earthquake victims.

a contented group leaving Pamukkale

majestic views of Turkey en route to Dinar...

stopping over in Dinar for lunch; and a change of clothes -What a relief!

a scrumptious lunch in Dinar...but watching it heehee...

After lunch and prayer, we continued on to Konya, where we visited the Mevlana Celaludin Rummi Museum. I was taken aback at first to see turbans of various sizes placed on what looked like tombs. Some were really huge! I later found out they were really tombs of the dervishes - students of the Mevlana. It was to be understood the bigger the turban/headdress, the higher ranking was the dervish follower. Apart from the tombs, the museum displays a large variety of Islamic artifacts in Turkey - mushaf al Quran from different era, and the box containing the beloved Prophet Muhammad's hair from his bear. A section of the museum, showed what it was like for a dervish apprentice. One gadget that attracted my attention was the sleeping stick, a Y shaped object at the end of a long cane. Anyone wishing to be included into the dervish community/household had to withstand great trials, one of which was the self-imposed deprivation of sleep for 40 days. And so, to help the apprentice stay awake at any time, he would place this particular gadget under his chin to prevent him from toppling over in stupor. Mercy me...

Just as a brief history, Konya was the first city in Turkey to accept Islam, Thus explaining the origin of these dervishes in this city.

View around Mevlana Jamaludin Roomi's mausoleum in Konya - blue plastic covering over shoes

A bit about the Mevlana. Mevlana Jamaluddin Roomi was born in Balk in Afghan. He was the son of a powerful imam, who moved a lot and took his son with him. When his father died, the Mevlana took over his father and educated the people of Konya. He always taught by the power of LOVE and PATIENCE. He was highly respected by the Jews. The Mevlana's principle in life was, in whatever he sees, he sees the beauty of Allah. Mevlana means the Unifier. His speeches were always on unity based on love and compassion. Followers of the Mevlana are called the Dervishes.

leaving Konya and the dervish mausoleum at dusk

It was very late evening that we arrived in Cappadocia. I was only too relieved that the Caravanserai stop tour was postponed to another day. At the hotel, it was all I could do to stay awake long enough to go through dinner, remembering how I would appreciate at that time the Sleeping Stick to help me put up my head just to get through dinner. God bless Cikgu Shida, Ust. Jalani's wife for her diarrhoea medication. It helped stop my purging. A good lesson for me indeed - never leave home without your diarrhoea medication in future...

long awaited dinner in Cappadocia hotel after the long journey

bed...at last!!

Next trip - beautiful Cappadocia...