Cappadocia and Konya

We took a disgustingly early flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia (central Turkey).  This is the land of hot air balloons, fairy chimneys, and cave hotels.  Cappadocia is most famously known for its incredible volcanic landscapes and underground cities.  This area of Turkey has been inhabited since as early as 1800 BC.  This was the town I was supposed to go on the hot air ballon ride.  Which was something that I was so so so looking forward to, but unfortunately the weather was unacceptable for flying, and for safeties sake the company cancelled the trip that day :(  Half of my photos from Cappadocia are on my mums iPad, so I combined both Cappadocia and Konya in this post.  When I see mum next I will grab said photos and upload them in their own post.

In Turkish Kapadokya means

'land of the beautiful horses'

Love Valley

Mum and I - Love Valley

Skull Shirt - Mango (sold out)

Denim Shirt - Aritzia (similar here)

Selfie in Love Valley

Zelve Valley was the first cave city we went to, but it is considered an 'open air museum'.  It is unknown when Zelve Valley was first inhabited, but there were residents living in the cave dwellings until the early 1950's.  There are three valleys all connected with winding pathways and many many stairs.

I looked out at the scenery and thought..."Huh, I could be in Kamloops".

The dryness, tumbleweed like shrubs, and the general 'brownness' greatly reminded me of my home town.

Mum and I

old and new coexisting 

See all of those tiny little squares half way up the side of the cave?

Those are dovecotes...the inhabitants of the Cappadocia region used to harvest guano (poop) and sell it as fertilizer.  This was an invaluable resource for the people living in this area.  

With the introduction of fertilizer readily available at home and garden stores at a much cheaper price these dovecotes are not as prized as they once were.

Cappadocia may be known for its fairy chimneys and cave dwellings, but it is also known for its beautifully hand crafted ceramics.

The man above took a handful of clay and 

in about the space of 5 -  7 minutes turned it from a lump to...

…this! 

…and its HOLLOW!

Following that exciting demonstration we viewed the secondary and tertiary stages of production.

Each individual plate this man works on is slightly different.

The patterns are generally the same with the same references, repetition, and story telling; but because it is done by hand with no template, so no two are identical.

After the artist is finished with the outline, it goes to ladies that then add paints and glazes to the ceramics.

Blank canvas

This shows all of the different stages:

outlining, painting, firing

Such beautiful and intricate attention to detail

This was the lady that was selling jewellery outside our hotel,

she asked me to take a picture of her.

This was in the underground city of Derinkuyu 

in Goreme (Cappadocia).

Unfortunately all but one of my photos 

from that day are on my mums iPad.

The modern day silk road.

This stretch of land in Turkey was once the famed Silk Road that stretched from China to Europe, it has now been covered in asphalt, paint, and signage.

Caravan Hostel Selfie

To encourage merchants along the silk road to trade in Turkey, the Ottoman sultans made a point of building exquisite caravan hostels throughout the country.  

P on top of some old ruins in the caravan hostel

Absolutely beautiful masonry and stone work

Outside the Mevlana Museum, 

the poet Rumi's burial ground.

A new fountain outside of the entrance to Mevlana Museum

Most of my time in Turkey I didn't wear any makeup.

Although looking at my eyebrow now, I am a little concerned as to what is wrong with it!

The grounds of the Mevlana Museum had the most stunning rose gardens.  The sun was shining and I was able to capture some beautiful shots.  Not too bad for a little point and shoot

These poppies were in a field on the side of the road from somewhere in our travels.  I am not exactly sure where the field was.  I thought it was particularly special because of the little pops of purple interspersed with the white.