Cappadocia

We saw a real live camel in Cappadocia. My blog is a complete farce. A fake. A "flog." (credit Vince).

          For our last weekend trip we traveled to picturesque Cappadocia. Located in central Turkey, Cappadocia refers to a region filled with underground cities, ancient ruins, volcanic formed landscapes, and a tourist hotspot and hot air balloon mecca.

A pic Mehemet provided us. 

  We saw the famous fairy chimneys of Cappadocia which are the conical formations formed by the erosion of the volcanic material by wind, water, and freeze/thaw action. We have these fairy chimneys in Colorado and Utah.

Fairy Chimney

Houses and places of worship were carved into the soft rock by monks. 

oooo nice artsy photo Mike!

Winery. You stump on the grapes and it decants into the circular pit. 

Good tasting lunch time food where they used bread to seal the hot cookware. I do that to seal the column to the pot!

           Cappadocians began carving into these soft rocks and building houses and churches as Christianity began to gain a foothold in the region. If I had to guess I think we toured 1000 churches during our visit, and at the moment I never want to see another church again. Our guide mentioned the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey that involved the Cappadocian Greeks. Population exchanges are fascinating to read about, I am surprised that they still occurred in the the 20th century as an official means to conflict resolution.
           We also visited a winery and a onyx, pottery, and jewelry shop. We took a short hike to end our weekend, stopping for tea at the bottom of the ravine and relaxing in a bungalow in the river.

Purtty pottery plate design. The plates and designs are all done by hand. 

The onyx stone craftsman at work.

Nature shot of the valley and stream which we hiked during our last hours in Cappadocia. 

A seating area in the river. So cool!