Thursday, September 02, 2004
fairy chimneys in cappadocia
Okay, so it falls to me to write the next installment.
Cappadocia. We spent 4 days here, which as we only intended 2 suggests it must have something going for it.
The region is famous for it's unique rock formations. People have lived in them for centuries and appear to still do, though that may just be for the benefit of the tourists.
Anyway, the best way to see all these villages is either on an official tour, mountain bike or scooter. Now, growing up I was always told that almost everything was allowed except getting an earring or riding a motorbike. Having reached 32 without ever breaking these rules, I decided that Sam getting an earring last year meant it was time for me to finally break free. So we hired a scooter.
Riding the scooter was never really likely to put us in any danger though. The fact that we were the only people (probably ever) to wear helmets meant that all the locals knew instantly we were tourists and gave us a wide berth. If the helmets didn't give it away then the 10 mph speed probably did.
Our route around the village was dictated by the need to avoid left hand turns and not run out of petrol. We also managed to avoid going in any of the nice churches (with beautiful frescos, apparently) that Courtney wanted to. Lunch was spent in the company of 3 elderly Turks (German taxi drivers in the winter and village elders in the summer it seemed). They taught us more backgamon moves and seemed to like our company so much they insisted the bar owner go to the supermarket, buy us lunch, take it to another restaurant to cook it, and bring it back for us to eat. Turkish hospitality at its best....
Clearly hiring a scooter 2 days running was way beyond the budget so the next couple of days we went walking. First day was easy. Everytime we got lost there was a local handily placed to point the way. Once we'd established that, yes, we did wish to walk to the next village and, no, we didn't wish to walk back to where we'd just come and get the bus, then it all worked very well. Grape pickers, dustbin men and 3 generations of the same family all helped - the photos are below.
Emboldened with this confidence we set out to walk Pigeon Valley the next day. The woman in the tourist office suggested we'd need a guide - the path was tricky to follow. The guy we'd hired the scooters from was also adamant that we'd get lost without a guide. Even the Rough Guide said you needed a guide. So clearly we attempted it alone. Funnily enough they were all right and we (or let's be honest, I) were wrong. Only by sheer luck did we manage to avoid getting more lost than we did. We certainly never walked Pigeon Valley.
Anyway, this is becoming a bit too much 'we did this and then we did that' (though it's hard to find inspiratıon when surrounded by 20 screaming kids playing computer games in the internet cafe). Fairy chimneys? Well, the rock formations where people live are supposed to look like them.
Cappadocia. We spent 4 days here, which as we only intended 2 suggests it must have something going for it.
The region is famous for it's unique rock formations. People have lived in them for centuries and appear to still do, though that may just be for the benefit of the tourists.
Anyway, the best way to see all these villages is either on an official tour, mountain bike or scooter. Now, growing up I was always told that almost everything was allowed except getting an earring or riding a motorbike. Having reached 32 without ever breaking these rules, I decided that Sam getting an earring last year meant it was time for me to finally break free. So we hired a scooter.
Riding the scooter was never really likely to put us in any danger though. The fact that we were the only people (probably ever) to wear helmets meant that all the locals knew instantly we were tourists and gave us a wide berth. If the helmets didn't give it away then the 10 mph speed probably did.
Our route around the village was dictated by the need to avoid left hand turns and not run out of petrol. We also managed to avoid going in any of the nice churches (with beautiful frescos, apparently) that Courtney wanted to. Lunch was spent in the company of 3 elderly Turks (German taxi drivers in the winter and village elders in the summer it seemed). They taught us more backgamon moves and seemed to like our company so much they insisted the bar owner go to the supermarket, buy us lunch, take it to another restaurant to cook it, and bring it back for us to eat. Turkish hospitality at its best....
Clearly hiring a scooter 2 days running was way beyond the budget so the next couple of days we went walking. First day was easy. Everytime we got lost there was a local handily placed to point the way. Once we'd established that, yes, we did wish to walk to the next village and, no, we didn't wish to walk back to where we'd just come and get the bus, then it all worked very well. Grape pickers, dustbin men and 3 generations of the same family all helped - the photos are below.
Emboldened with this confidence we set out to walk Pigeon Valley the next day. The woman in the tourist office suggested we'd need a guide - the path was tricky to follow. The guy we'd hired the scooters from was also adamant that we'd get lost without a guide. Even the Rough Guide said you needed a guide. So clearly we attempted it alone. Funnily enough they were all right and we (or let's be honest, I) were wrong. Only by sheer luck did we manage to avoid getting more lost than we did. We certainly never walked Pigeon Valley.
Anyway, this is becoming a bit too much 'we did this and then we did that' (though it's hard to find inspiratıon when surrounded by 20 screaming kids playing computer games in the internet cafe). Fairy chimneys? Well, the rock formations where people live are supposed to look like them.
// posted by courtney and pete @ 11:09 
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What happened to the photos? btw, is it true that turning left or right in Turkey is 'indicated' by the number of times you hit your horn? As opposed to, well, using the indicators.
Good to see you've got that backgammon score sorted too........
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Good to see you've got that backgammon score sorted too........
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