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Wednesday and Thursday, September 21 and 22, 2005 - Kaymakli, the underground city and Ihlara Valley
Wednesday, September 21 2005
Just finished eating a delicious dinner in our pension. We developed a daily routine: Buying vegetables at the market, cutting salad for dinner and adding the local delicates, goat cheese and olives.
The last two days have been amazing, but so far everyday have been amazing and I am running out of vocabulary to describe [my] excitement.
In Goreme, tour guides are trying to sell you their tours to the underground cities and to the Ihlara Valley. They convince you that it is too difficult to see the important sights unless you are in a tour. We have few issues with guided tours: First we realize that we enjoy so much discovering information on our own. Second, the tours to the Ihlara Valley stop at the middle of the valley and you get to sample the valley. We wanted to walk the whole 14 km. And third, the tours are expensive and that would bring us above our budget. The Lonely Planet says that it is possible to get there on your own, so we have took the challenge.
Turkey has a first-class bus service that can get you everywhere in the country. If you are traveling Turkey and not using the public transportation, you are missing a lot. The bus drive through different sections of the city, people get on and off, you get to see the passengers that get on the bus and often talk to them or exchange Merhaba. You get to see extended families with the grandparents, beautiful young mothers and babies, a man who get on the bus with a huge bag of onions, kids in uniform who go to school, the locals, the interaction with the people and the driver.
So our next mission now is to try to get to the underground city. There are 39 known underground cities. Some of them go twenty levels down. We will visit Kaymakli, the one that was restored and opened for visitors.
Early morning we took the dolmush (mini-bus) from Goreme to the next large town, Nevshir. Three adults sat near the driver and the rest of the passengers where school children, all in uniform. There is a school in Goreme, but some families prefer to send the children to the big city for education. The younger children wear blue tops with white collar. The older wear tie and jacket. They now learn English at school, but usually it does not go beyond: what your name, how old are you, where you from.
Nevshir has a lot of modern buildings. The bus dropped us at the otogar, close to our next but that will take us to Kaymakali. A man got on the bus with a hugh bag of onion. Everyone who got on the bus had to climb over it. Nobody mind. There was a sign on the window, No Smoking. The driver smoked.
We did it! The trip from Goreme to Kaymakli cost us 2.25 lira each, compare to 40 liras guided tour.
The bus dropped us in the middle of the street. We saw two signs, both to the underground cities, each one pointing to the opposite direction. I took a photo of the signs. But which way do we go?
Backpacks on our back, we found our way. We left our backpack at the ticket office. A guide came, he will give us a tour for 20 liras. “No thanks, we can manage”.
Inside the underground city we go through a Swiss cheese puzzle, with rooms, tunnels, wineries, storage rooms, airshafts. Huge stone doors that can roll shut in case an enemy comes and they have to escape through one of the many tunnels. Some tunnels are eight miles long. We were stuck in the low tunnel between a German group and a French group, bending as low we could.
Later in the evening, when we met Roni and Yinon from Israel, Roni said that the caves of Beit Jobrin in Israel are more impressive. We will try to see it next time we visit Israel.
Our next challenge will be getting from Kaymakli to Ihlara Valley. When we asked somebody, he offered us his service, 80 liras. “No, thank you, we will manage”.
We went back to the main street and a bus back to Nevshir stopped within five minutes. In Neveshir we took a bus to Aksaray, and from there we will take the bus to Ihlara Valley.
In Aksaray we had to wait for thirty minutes. We left our luggage on the bus and went to the market to do our shopping. The bus station was in the center of town. Somebody gave us plums and refused to take money for it. We got on the bus with friendly Turkish crowd. The bus driver dropped us at our pension in Ihlara valley. The journey cost us for the three buses: 1.25+6+2 = 9.25 liras per person.
We settled at our pension and went towards the entrance to Ihlara Valley in preparation for tomorrow. We passed some very modern and beautiful homes. I asked somebody where is the source of income for Ihlara Village. The answer was that every family has at least one person working in Germany, England, France or Belgium, and they send money.
Roni and Yinon from Israel are also residing at our pension. We already met them in Goreme. We exchanged information and spent a very pleasant evening with them.
Thursday, September 22
Ihlara Valley.
The Lonely Planet says that this will be the highlight of the trip. We had so many so far. We decide to walk the entire length of the valley, 14 km.
This remote valley was a favorite retreat of Byzantine monks. There are dozens of painted churches carved in the rock. The Melendiz River carved a very dip canyon, about 200 meters. As you follow the river, there are two walls on both sides with carved home and churches, trees, green grass and birds are everywhere. We marveled at the beauty as we climbed to few churches, up the canyon. We noshed on berries, nuts, and apples, and today we added something new delicacy, pistachio nuts.
I have never seen a pistachio tree before. I took a picture; look for the pistachios between the branches.
Tomorrow we will continue to Konya, where we plan to watch the whirring dervishes.
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