Cappadocia Part 1 - "A nice experience, isn't it?"

Duh. 

Sometimes I say I will post....and then I realize that I need to make 3 tests and grade them, and grade papers and quizzes, plus put in grades and conduct comments on all 100+ students. That happened this week. Thanks for following along and putting up with the sporadic posting. But, yeah... Hey! We're back. It is time for a chock-full post or two. We have tons to share:

        This past weekend was honestly one of the best of my life. I've always craved the type of traveling that I now have regular access to. Coming to Turkey was about several things. Yes, we are doing this primarily to teach, and have the opportunity to serve the Lord. However, there are tons of bonuses wrapped into that. There was a point where I felt guilty allowing myself to relish in "the other things". I've always wanted to travel the world, see and live in other cultures, and have this crazy adventures. I feel the tug of adventure - the wanderlust that Steinbeck so beautifully explains in the intro to Travels with Charley.  I'm learning that I am allowed to love it, and not to guilt trip myself for enjoying things besides work. So, this weekend Kendall and I went to the famous Cappadocia region of Turkey. We celebrated her birthday by relaxing, eating great food, and seeing the sights. It was both refreshing and exhilarating to be in such a beautiful and bizarre place.

Right after school we took a cab to "Ashti". This is the gigantic bus station here in the capitol. Turkey has an incredible transportation infrastructure. You have several cheap local options, but to travel within turkey the cheapest option is the national bus service. Now I know what you are thinking - "Buses are gross. Last time I was on a greyhound I watched a hobo feed his pet rat for 6 hours." Well not here. Our bus was a Mercedes and came with free food, coffee, and tea (all served to us with famous Turkish hospitality) and the bus was equipped with individual TVs, headphones, as well as wifi. We took a 5 hour ride Southeast to Cappadocia and payed a mere 30 TL each (about 18 bucks). Not bad!


Here are pics of us on the bus, and he bus itself.




      So, we arrived late Friday night and stepped out into true fall weather. It's colder here than in the states, with a more arid climate. Still, that weekend was the first weekend where I said "Whoa, this is football weather." It felt like weather for my beloved  fall break backing trip, and further raised my spirits. There is something about the fall that really makes me feel alive. Pair that with the scenery we stepped into, and I was firing on all cylinders. We stopped into a small cafe before going back to the Rock Valley Pension, where we stayed. The next morning we woke to the 5am prayer call, then again at 9. We were unable to see the night before and were sort of dumbfounded at the beauty surrounding us. 

Picture of the backyard of Rock Valley Pension. 

(Made in free Panorama maker Hugin, found here.)

Bam. This is the beauty we woke up to. Walking outside onto the top balcony of RVP we were greeted with this serene, breathtaking view. The pension is somewhat outside downtown Göreme (the town in Cappadocia where we stayed), but has the huge upside of backing up in between cliffs. So, the view is essentially their amazing grounds (fitted with a pool, garden, tables, and several gazebos) which is tucked into this valley, and boxed in the beautiful white walls of mountains and hills. We ate an incredible (free) breakfast in that glass common room you see in the Panorama above, and talked about our plans for the weekend with the incredibly nice staff. 

 Kendall eating Musli and honey. Musli is like a cereal / granola combo served with Sut (Turkish milk).

 My breakfast of Turkish coffee, feta and tomato omelette, olives, and cucumbers. 

 The common room, which reminded me of awesome lodges in the American west. 

The view behind the pension. I could wake up to this every morning for the rest of my life. 

You can see the famous formations that have been turned into houses and apartments here. 

Then we left and went through the city to the open air museum. The atmosphere is amazing: stone streets lines with little shops and vendors while mountains and the famous Cappadocia peaks visible all around.

 

 Just a little teapot. 

 Gettin' serious.

 Real serious. 

 Even the dogs there are nice. 

 He kept saying "Ruff, Ruff", but I kept explaining "No, RUG, RUG". Must be the accent. 

 Obviously.

Another really nice thing was just having conversations. Most turks there spoke some English (where we live, hardly anyone speaks English ever). We had some nice chats with some people from the US, some Aussies, and then whoever else was around. We ended up walking the road to the outdoor Museum, which took us out of Goreme and into the hillside. 

 It was an awesome walk. 

 Awesome rock formations. 

 A little ranch.

 Decorated trees. (I thought this was really cool).

So with our walk to the outdoor museum finished, we went with the other big-hatted, fanny packed tourists to see some of Turkey's most famous sights. Cappadocia is famous for the rock formations, which are a byproduct of erosion and the remnants of massive volcanic eruptions. The area is also famous for two specific cultural highlights - an underground city and some of the most well preserved early Christian churches in the world. We toured the churches, and saw the buildings of the ancient community that occupied them. It was super cool, and offered amazing views. It was so bizarre to look at paintings of Jesus and the Disciples that were made over 1000 years ago. It was wild to think of what that time period was like for the church (much less alive in general), living right before the main heft of the crusades. 

 I took sneaky shots to get pictures. You can see that most of them have been defaced. On tons of the paintings the faces and especially the eyes have been scratched out.

 Kendall standing in a 1000 year old room. 

 Hey Girl!

 The town built into the cliffs. 

 The view down into the town. 

 Some the stonework was incredible; It is amazing to think these arches have stood for 10 centuries. 

 Kendall sipping some invisible tea at a community kitchen table. 

 The pictures below are from the main church in this town. The colors are still vivid because there is just a tiny window letting light in. It is called the "dark church" for this reason and had incredible artwork. Note that all the figures have their names in what I believe is Greek around them. 

So after seeing such an amazing but serious sight, we decided to lighten it up a bit. Kendall saw a camel and wanted to get a picture with it, and we ended up paying the guy to give us a ride around. It was hilarious. For one, they are gigantic. You don't realize it. Being a big friendly giant myself, when I see something that surprises me in size, I can only imagine what other people feel. As I watched Kendall get onto this living piece of shag carpeting, I couldn't help but think "This thing is twice as tall as a horse. I am going to die on this stupid thing." It was not dangerous, but it was comical. As I climbed the ladder to sit behind Kendall, no joke...the thing passed gas in my face. Words truly fail me, because there is no analogy to adequately relate that experience. So, I will leave it at that. We climbed on the camel, lumbered around for a few minutes and got off. It was goofy, but worth it for the experience and funny pictures. 

This photo is so awkward it's unbelievable. 

Alright so there is a ton more to post, but its 2am here. More to come tomorrow! Hugs and Kisses.