The Next Two Days (3/14 to 3/15)

...were awesome. The next day after Turkey Nights was another day of adventure. We started the day with Breakfast at the hotel that we stayed at. Personally I don't mind Turkish breakfasts but I generally find them lacking in diversity. They seem to primarily include bread, cheese, some small fruit, a hard broiled egg and spread for the bread. However the fruit is traditionally olives or kiwi. This is unusual for me since I consider bananas, oranges, pineapple, cantaloupe, and on occasion strawberries as a breakfast fruit, and I can't stand olives. I like olive oil though. Afterward we took a short drive over to the Derinuyu Yeralti or Deepweel Underground City. It was really cool. This was literally a city/town under the ground. It was used by Hittites but they were developed and improved upon by the Christians who used them during times of invasion and war. They were also used for practical purposes as well, such as storing food. The underground city has around 8 floors. I got to see them all. Each floor is unique with respect to function. Some floors served as living quarters, where as the bottom floors served the purpose of religious activities such as a place for worship, baptism, confession, and school. The city was extensive though, and the tunnels spanned close to around 100km linking other cavern systems together. Regrettably however, these linked access ways were closed off to the public. Even then I am not certain I would have wanted to go that far underground anyway. The Cappadokian's that settled here must not have been very tall because it was incredibly difficult for someone who is 6'4" (1.91 m) tall to get through the small tunnels with out a couple of knocks to the head, and a stiff back from trying to bend over to avoid hitting the head. Not a place to go to if you get claustrophobic. I was getting a bit claustrophobic when a bunch of high schoolers rushed down one of the tunnels towards me, forcing me to retreat. I was then swarmed by a bunch of curious high school girls who actually had a pretty good understanding of English. However I didn't know how to ask them if they were 18 in Turkish (just kidding).

After the caves, we went to a potter who made pottery. We saw him make a really cool vase in a fashion that dates back 1000s of years. It was cool, and also funny. What he started with was a long shaft that he intentionally made to look at first like a penis. He got a kick out of it, and so did the rest of us. No matter how old we are, we will always laugh at the most immature stuff that defines our generation I believe. What defines mine may just sadly consist of fart, penis, and weed jokes. No matter. Some of us got some good shopping in. I for instance bought some small stuff of Hittite design, but I unlike others bartered for it. In Turkiye, everything can be bartered except for food at restaurants, clubs, and bars.

After that we went to the best system of cliff dwellings ever! The picture at the top of this blog is a perfect example of how glorious this site was. This carved out cliff side was one big intricate system of tunnels, caverns, houses, and churches. It was by far one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. I once said that when I die, I would like my ashes to be spread over Crater Lake, because I felt a strange kind of peace there. Now I can conclude that I would like at least some of my ashes to be spread of Cappadocia. This place was like a playground for adults. I went exploring, jumping down into caves that I should not have gone down in for safety reasons, and climbing up ledges that were without a doubt risky. But I loved every minute of it. I was a part of a group of 4 other enthusiastic climbers. There was Julie from Bogaziçi, and Jeff and Ian from Kuç University. All of us were American's studying abroad. We all decided to charge far ahead of the pack and to explore places that most people didn't want to go out of fear of injury, or fatally wounding themselves. We explored every little nook and crany of this individual system. We were even in a couple of places that few people ever visited. For instance, we climbed down a shaft to get to an area that nobody has visited for quite some time. The shaft was dark, creepy, and didn't offer a lot of room to maneuver but if one took their time and was careful it was safe enough to travel down. I loved every minute of it. We got see views that most people have never even gotten to see. We saw ancient paintings that were over a 800 hundred years old. We even saw some Latin and Arabic script carved into the rock that could be dated back to probably the Byzantines. It was an adventure. The four us ended our little excursion by climbing to the very top of the system. It required us to cross this narrow little pathway that was tilted downward from the horizon at about 25 degrees. Not that much of an incline but something that would definitely make us feel a little nervous. Then we had to pretty much do a simple pull up over a couple of rocks and we were there. It was easy for me considering I have done this many times. At first it was just Ian, Jeff and me. However Julie decided to join us and she was actually the first person to the summit. She was a brave soul. We each got on top and looked up. It was the most intense adrenaline rush I have ever experienced. The best high I have ever felt in my life was experienced on the top of that cliff. It was a shame that Mert kept honking the bloody horn at us. We decided to take the more "interesting" way down, which consisted of jumping off edges to other edges and exploring other things on our way down. That was a fun way of doing it. However Mert kept honking his horn at the Jeff, Ian and me. Julie walked down the safe rout with some of the others. Her loss I think, but she probably enjoyed herself. The part that sucks though is that we weren't the last ones to get back. That sucked because that meant that we could have climbed some more. By the time we left though, it started to snow again.
The weather this year in Turkey has been extremely volatile. Turkiye is on pace to set a record for having the most precipitation in one year ever in its recorded history. This whole time here has been filled with spells where it just rains for days and then clears up for a bit to become beautiful again. The interior of Turkiye has perhaps more extreme weather. It was warm outside the first day in Cappadocia, but the very next can be marked by a freak blizzard where it snowed the entire night, but during the day, it warmed right back up and melted all of the snow. And then later it did it again. I was very thankful that I bought that sweater right before leaving.

After the cool climbing experience, we went to a local winery and vineyard. It was actually pretty cool. Before we entered though, Nadine, Jon, and me started up a snow fight with all the other students. We were specifically going after our Dutch friends, but they were firing at us from an elevated position so they had a clear advantage over us. Thankfully we made a good stand thanks to my experience at throwing coming from baseball. Too bad the arm still hurts when I throw things. The tour on how they make the wine was quite interesting and I got into a cool discussion with one of them who knew a little English. Basically the Turkish wine industry does most of its business outside of Turkiye because Turkiye is not a wine drinking nation. The average Turk consumes on average less then one liter of wine annually. Turkiye however has a very large wine industry comparatively because of the large tourist industry in Turkiye. However around 98 percent of the grapes grown in Turkey are used for eating. This is in part due to Turkiye being a Muslim country. Even though Ataturk made it legal for alcohol to be made in Turkiye, it is still in low demand due to Muslim tradition, and it is also heavily taxed comparatively. This has caused Turkish wine makers to make a lot of cheap wine instead of a little bit of good wine. However these wine makers in Cappadocia were telling me how much pride they had for their wine. I saw why when they gave me tasters of their white, red, and blush wines from the previous year. I thought they were really good. It would make sense because some of them weren't cheap (but neither were they expensive). I was telling them though that they should try and export to America, but unfortunately they were in disbelief since the world economy isn't doing so well. Also finding American vendors would be no easy task. But the logic is simple. American wine can be categorized as being very expensive comparatively. Turkish wine, while keeping in mind the exchange rate between the New Turkish Lira (YTL) and the US dollar, would act as a substitute good in comparison to American wine. It might be treated as an inferior good, which would have the possibility of making quite a bit of money in a recession. The interesting thing though is I thought of of a couple of business opportunities with this wine. However, that is a conversation for another time. Basically I bought four bottles that will mature over the next decade, but I will not drink them. I have something else in mind to do with them...

We went back to the hotel after that. I crashed. A lot of people decided to go out and I decided after dinner to just stay, relax, and to talk to other people. It was fun meeting new people. I met a girl from the west coast who was fairly interesting to talk to. Apparently her and I had very similar reasons for coming to Istanbul. Then I met a girl by the name of Zhan Siren from Singapore. She was a surprise since I would have never guessed that I would have the opportunity to meet someone from Singapore in Cappadocia, who also studied in Istanbul. I got to learn a little about Singapore in the process. After dinner and dessert, we all decided to play a game of cards. The game was called Mao, and Em was the dealer. She was a tyrant! Basically the game was that she got to make the rules but she wouldn't tell us the rules. We had to logically figure them out. If we screw up on a rule then we get penalized. She was a horrible tyrant who crushed me into a million tiny pieces for the simplest of mistakes. It was fun, but to much at times.

The next day we ended our little trip with the Ilhlara Valley. This place had a lot of history, and in case you haven't noticed I am a big fan of history. The whole canyon is honeycombed with rockcut underground dwellings and churches form the Byzantine period. Due to the fact that there was a river running through this valley which provided all of the necessary water resources one needed, and that it was easily hidden, it was the first settlement of Christians fleeing from Roman soldiers. There are literally hundreds of antic churches caved and hidden in the volcanic rock. It was another day of fun climbing that was combined with picture taking of the beautiful scenery and all the Christian artwork that decorated the churches.

After that we took the nine hour bus trip back to Istanbul. Looking back at all of the experiences and adventure that I encountered, I recommend this place for everyone. This place I believe has something to offer anyone, as long as they appreciate the outdoors, a village life style and pace, and unique cultures. People described me as being in my element here. They were right. I am definitely coming back here, but when I do I am bringing a handful of friends who love to hike and climb.

More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.oswald/Cappadocia?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbSgqKu-OzJTQ#

http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.oswald/2009_03_15?authkey=Gv1sRgCLSIk7CAvJ-EgQE#