The Land of Beautiful Horses

First day of touring in Cappadocia (Translation: Land of beautiful horses). I first became aware of this place due to the original 1960s version of “Planet of the Apes” with Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall. The movie was quite the eye opener when I first saw it an later I found out the ape city was based on a real place, Cappadocia. Always wanted to see it and it was worth the effort. Some highlights from today:

Kaymakli, an underground city six stories deep and could house thousands. It was never intended to be a permanent settlement rather it was a hideaway where the locals could retreat when attackers were nearby. Fairly complete place though, housed animals also, large carved bins for food, had churches and even a winery.

Mustafapas, a former greek town. When the dust settled after the Ottoman Empire fell the newly formed Greece and Turkey signed treaties that included sending Greeks in Turkey back to Greece and vice-versa. Most went and their houses fell into disrepair. There is work going on to buy these properties off the decedents of these relocated people and restore what are beautiful houses. While in Mustafapas we had lunch at The Greek House Resturant, some of the best food on the trip so far. We had a killer smoked eggplant dish which we have find the recipe for.

Pigeon Valley, a place where the local farmers have turned the carved caves into pigeon roosts and harvest the droppings for fertilizer. No we did not actually visit a roost, just the nice view of the valley.

So-called Cave Man house. The Turkish government realizing that the rock-cut structures in Cappadocia were unique moved to preserve them. It essentially took them over and leased them back to the locals so they can be maintained and preserved. People are allowed to make a living though and one family has opened his house as “Cave Man Hose” where you can see what is like to live in one. Free but he makes a killer tea which he sells.

It is a nice time to be here, the people are naturally friendly and with Ramadan they are even more so. We stopped off to buy some fresh strawberries from a vendor (in the middle of no-where) and she gave Sydney a veil. We have a guide for this part of the trip, Aşkin and he has been pulling Sydney’s leg from the start showing her which of the formations he or his friends carved by hand.