Turkey Round 8 (Cappadocia/Kapadokya, Balloons and Derinkuyu Underground City)

After a very brief night's sleep and a bit of nursing for a very injured foot and company we were off for a WONDERFUL day. And by off for a wonderful day I mean onto a little shuttle where I realized that of all things to leave behind after the night before's skin tearing drama I LEFT MY CAMERA~~~tragic! But MA went back to the hotel and got it for me, because hes awesome, even though this meant he missed breakfast. 

My forgetfulness was quickly forgiven once we were amongst all the balloons and the sunrise though. 

Not my best hair day, but who the heck cares when there's a balloon ride to be had! (and not bad for getting up at 3:15)

Sunrise, with a moon, and a balloon...just sayin.

And by 'a balloon' I meant dozens of them.

While all the colorful balloons were a distraction the landscape was breathtaking.

I spent the majority of time so distracted by the view around me I occasionally forgot and put my foot down or dinged an injured elbow, but all was well once I peaked out over the landscape again.

All the cave homes seemed so tiny, and it was a great way to appreciate how many of them there were. Along every valley there were hundreds.

And the balloons, from flags to patterns to beer they were so fun to watch rising and falling through the sky.

All the little things below were hard to stare at because it could make a girl a little motion sick.

Look that's us!

In the process of landing I'm pretty sure I saw Pebbles and BamBam ;-)

They might have gone in there.

Captain we're starting to deflate!!!

Back to the hotel with all of the HUGE perfect roses. 

Injured foot up.

Following a brief nap we were off again to Derinkuyu Underground City. An absolutely fascinating place. stories and stories going deeper and deeper into the ground of carved rooms, tunnels and storage spaces. All in the name of Christianity.

The system of rooms and tunnels went for what seemed like forever. I can't imagine being down here before electricity...and plumbing.

A little church built right in.

A 'tunnel'...not sure what was so special about this particular one as opposed to the dozen we had already passed through that they felt the urge to label it, but sure enough...a tunnel....

The ventilation shaft. This picture does it no justice. It went on forever, and echo sounded miles away.

I am not a tall person. Honestly I'm more vertically challenged than most. Ok, I'm short. I spent a good portion of the time nearly crawling in some of these tunnels. 

A winery. Not exactly sure what went on here, but there was no shortage of wineries around. I am sure I would have needed more than a few bottles to make it though any amount of time in these rooms no matter who my company was...especially unbathed, light deprived and hiding from hostile armies.

Off travelling again, past Salt lake. A misadventure in itself. I was hot, tired and maimed when MA decided to go for a bit of off road exploring. It ended in silence and distant pictures of the lake followed by a nap.

We stopped in at MA's alma mater. Middle East Technical University. There was a little group of kittens that people had provided with food, water and their own pizza boxes. Some were a little more brave than others. 

We had long conversations about the surrounding hoards of nerds. Their interactions with one another. The 'mating habits' of nerds kept us amused for a long time. (No, we aren't horrible people, we are just grown up nerds making a few observations.) 

Case in point of my nerd-ness. I don't speak Turkish but I was all over what building this was. Amazing that all Bio/micro/chem buildings seem to have the same aura.

The photo above reminds me that I am lucky to be alive. I survived CRAZY Turkish drivers. Edit- PSYCHOTIC Turkish drivers. They were crazy everywhere, but in Ankara they took the cake. I should be given a medal for surviving these people and a tunnel simultaneously without vomiting.

Turkey Round 7 (Lake Eğirdir, Cappadocia/Kapadokya)

A bit of driving and we arrived the prior night at Lake Eğirdir, and I had not appreciated the size or beauty of this lake until we sat for breakfast on a small dock. Everything was very quaint and quiet. Again I wish I had my people photographing cojones because the sweet little old couple who took this boat away would melt your heart.

Waiting on a typical Turkish breakfast was actually one of the best memories I have of the trip, we were doing absolutely nothing but chatting and watching the lake together. 

The roses in this region were also to die for. Simple and perfectly...um....rosey. (There really is no better word for it.)

Ok, testament to how chicken I am to photograph strangers....isn't she just pinch her cheeks adorable, and yes I'm referring to the woman sitting on the curb a thousand yards away in the below picture. I even used the massive tree surrounded by roses to the side as an excuse to take the photo in my own head, knowing I really just wanted one of her.

The drive back off the peninsula was also relaxing waves crashed up near each side of the road. The peninsula was only wide enough for roses and road at most points.

The drive to our next destination was also amazing. The diversity of landscape, fields, mountains, lakes, villages and scare crows.

I'm pretty sure whomever took the photos for the Windows desktop images did so in Turkey. Little lone trees and snow capped mountains behind rolling fields reminded both of us of the original Microsoft Windows icons.

Next stop Cappadocia/ Kapadokya. Winding little roads in a historically rich region of some of the most interesting dwellings you could ask for. Crafted by Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone themselves. I'm sure that's historically accurate ;)

And look the Flintstones had solar power!

Our little hotel of cave rooms was so charming an unique. More roses at teh front office, and spread throughout. 

The overlook showed some of the mix of the city between the historic cave dwellings and the new construction. But as the why there was a wagon on an adjacent roof I can only imagine it washed up in the last huge flood and was caught there by those perfectly placed boards. Yes, that is the only logical explanation for it's existence.

We went exploring around and found some wonderful cave dwellings from multiple different time periods. The one below obviously newer than some was still amazing and was being excavated while we were there.

I guess people smart enough to carve their own homes out of pure rock walls shouldn't surprise me with there efficient 'fertilizer retrieval' technique of carving hundreds of tiny bird houses in a cliff.

The landscape continued to vary drastically everywhere you looked. 

I swear they call them fairy chimneys. Though there has been a lot of humming an hawwing over their actual likeness on facebook. This small set was down below the first group of cave homes we visited.

Another look over the historic and more modern mix of the town.

Most of the cave homes in this area had been deemed unsafe. I personally can't imagine carving multilevel homes in rocks and not worrying constantly about them falling in on me, but I am the girl who will never trust a bridge. (Secondary to a new rash of nightmares I also may never trust an elevator, but that's a story for another day.)

We explored and explored at a few different sites. My Love would not demonstrate how to use the well carved ceiling stair/ladder contraption we found and my initial lack of insight (blonde moment) lead me to wonder if the simply jumped and grabbed on to begin ascending. Heck, they carved entire homes out of stone they had to be tough little cookies. The thought of a long gone wooden ladder having existed didn't cross my mind until later. Much later. Honestly until just now.

Look Ancient cave dog! I called her Bertha. My Love doesn't know I secretly name all the animals we come across. If I can't take them all home with me I may as well give them names. 

No- I am not wearing proper climbing attire.

No- I am not wearing proper climbing shoes.

No- I thought about neither o those until I was much too far up this fairy chimney for comfort.

Yes- Both my shoes have fallen off at this point.

Yes- I realized that wasn't good.

Yes- I kept climbing, I was so close..

And obviously My Love wasn't too concerned because he apparently had tiem to turn around from "spotting" me to take a few pics.

Yes- I fell, and by fell I mean had large chunks of flesh ripped from my body by the coarse pumice like sandstone cliff before Love was able to stop me near the bottom and keep me from also busting my head open.

No- Neither My Love nor myself realized the extent of my injuries at the moment of this immediate post fall photo. 

Yes- Adrenaline is a wonderful thing.

Yes- We then began finding bloody patches on my wrists, elbows and feet. Along with a very large degloving injury to my foot that began pouring blood into my cute new thankfully black leather sandals. 

One of probably my first 100 Turkish words was Eczane (Pharmacy).  I washed my wounds thoroughly, bandaged myself up with lots of antibiotic ointment and prayed the now unmasked horrendous pain would settle a bit after a night's rest and my hand delivered bedside dinner with lots of hugs and kisses from the best caregiver ever.

No- I won't ever do it again. I knew better the first time, but lesson learned.