Cappadochia Trip

This past weekend, a group of us went to the Cappadochia region of Turkey.  This area is a big tourist area that is famous for it's incredible landscapes and ruins.  The bus left early Saturday morning (after the teacher's dinner), and made a few stops before arriving in Goreme, the town we stayed in.  The first stop was at an underground village.  The underground village was inhabited by the Hittites, then by the Romans to escape from fighting and wars.  Families had their own little areas where they lived, cooked, and slept.  These people must have realized that wine makes everything more fun, because we even saw the winery area of the city.  There are extensive tunnels that connect it to other areas as well.  This tour involved a lot of crouching and huddling through tunnels to make our way around.  Here are some photos of the group in the city:

The group in the underground city

Crouching down to make our way through the tunnels

Crouching in a tunnel

People down here liked spice in their food....each hold held a different spice in the kitchen

After the underground city, we stopped to take a look at another castle (I am losing count of the number of castles I have seen here in Turkey!).  The landscape in this area was amazing.  We saw several hot air balloons, which is a gimmick Cappadochia is known for.  I would love to come back in the spring to do a hot air balloon ride in the area.

Cool rock formations in Cappadochia

Amazing landscapes

Castle photo

Finally, we stopped at a place called Pigeon Valley that is known for, you guessed it, pigeons flying around.  Needless to say, I was glad we didn't stay here for long.  But, it is also a place where people hang evil eyes and pieces of cloth on trees for prayers and spiritual reasons.  Again, some sweet views of the area....

Pigeon Valley

Evil eyes hung up to bring good luck

After a long drive, we finally arrived in Goreme, the town where we stayed on Saturday night.  The hotel we stayed at was amazing!  It was built into rock and the rooms were amazing.  We went to a whirling dervish cultural performance in the evening.  It is kind of difficult to explain...it is a Sufi ceremony, Sufis being a disciple of Islam.  The performance was interesting and it made me want to see the full-on show in Konya sometime.  After the show, we enjoyed dinner in Goreme at a restaurant where we had to remove our shoes and sit on cushions.  Kathy, Stacy, and I enjoyed some snacks and red wine from the Cappadochia region.

Such a relaxing way to enjoy a dinner!

The next day, Kathy and I went back to a carpet store where we wanted to find a "recycled" rug for our apartments.  As lovely and spacious as these places are, they are filled with BEIGE!  Beige floors, walls, and furniture.  So we have been wanting to find something to make our places more home-y and colorful.  Turkey is known for the quality of it's carpets and rugs.  The night before, we had seen patchwork carpets that had been pieced together from several different rugs.  The shop owner turned out to be the nicest guy in Turkey, who not only spoke excellent English and could answer our questions, but turned the process of purchasing a rug into a cultural lesson.  He took the time to show us his selection of patchwork rugs and allowing us to take our time choosing.  Some of the pieces used to make the rugs are over 100 years old.  At the end of it all, I ended up buying one for my apartment, Kathy also bought one, and Donna "DJ" Johnson was the big spender who bought two!  Here are a few photos of the show room and rugs:

Showroom at the store

They dye some of the carpets into a monotone, such as this one

My 2nd choice....I didn't get it, but I liked all the little pieces 

The rug I finally decided on!

I have to say, I know I liked the patchwork rugs because they reminded me of QUILTS and of course, I love quilts :)  Angela, the woman who owned the hotel we stayed at, said these patchwork rugs are very unique.  I know I hadn't seen one yet, so I am happy that I waited until I found one that I really liked.  Now I have some downtime ahead of me before a weekend in Istanbul in a few weeks, followed by my trip home for Natalie's wedding and Christmas!  I can't believe how quickly time has gone here in Turkey and how much I have experienced.  Some little Hendrickx birdies tell me that I might have visitors soon, which is really exciting :)  In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season :)