Cold Turkey

Much has happened since my last post. I've met dozens of travelers, taken hundreds of photos, and failed to comprehend thousands of Turkish words. There was a massive earthquake in the east which fortunately did not affect us. Now, after over three weeks in Cappadocia, I have adopted the lifestyle. Reckless driving no longer sways me. Words that I cannot pronounce are the norm. And living in a cave isn't all that different from living in a house - it's just cooler (pun intended). Actually it's not cold in the caves - they have heated floors. The temperature outside has been dropping though and I find it quite appropriate to label this post "Cold Turkey".

So what has been keeping me so busy these last few weeks, you ask? I will show you...

Unal and I hopped on his motorbike and cruised over to Love Valley last week. I will let the photos speak for themselves - it's called love valley for a reason!

Another day, Gulcan, Panda, and I took our Palestinian guest on a walk through Rose Valley. Gulcan showed us some rock-cut churches that we probably would have walked right past without a guide.
These churches can be freely entered and explored at your own risk.

This week I joined a tour to visit the underground city of Derinkuyu, the largest and deepest underground city in Cappadocia. A shuttle picked me up from the hotel at 9:30am, then we met with the rest of the group and hopped on a bus. My fellow tourists were a Russian couple, an Italian couple, a man from South Korea, and a girl from Canada. I quickly befriended the Korean and Canadian since we were the only solo travelers. Our guide, a knowledgeable woman from Cappadocia,wasted no time explaining the history of the area and answering every question we threw at her. Normally I don't like tours - or rather I don't like paying for them - but I got a discount for working at the hotel, and our guide was great so I actually had a very enjoyable time.

 Here's a quick blurb from Wikipedia on Derinkuyu: "Derinkuyu Underground City is an ancient multi-level underground city in the Derinkuyu district in Nevşehir Province, Turkey. With its eleven floors extending to a depth of approximately 85 m, it was large enough to shelter tens of thousands of people together with their livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey and is part of a network of several underground complexes found across Cappadocia.
It was opened to visitors in 1969 and to date, only ten percent of the underground city is accessible to tourists."

We descended 85 meters, ducking through low-clearance tunnels and claustrophobia-inducing passages. It was quite the trip.

Down the ventilation shaft

Levitating!

After Derinkuyu we hopped back on the bus and headed for Ihlara Valley, the deepest and longest canyon in Cappadocia. We hiked along the river, then enjoyed lunch beside the water. Have I mentioned that Turkey is absolutely gorgeous? Well, it is!

After lunch we headed to the Selime monastery, which was of course carved out of the rock by monks in the 13th century. Naturally...

 





 















That's all for now. Tomorrow morning I am meeting my friend Charlee at the bus station. She's traveling through Turkey with a friend and they've opted to spend two nights here at the hotel. Here's to a great cave Halloween! Cheers.