Essential Turkey Travel Talk Tour: Cappadocia, Day 4
Day 4: Tuesday 1st November 2022
Start: Cappadocia, Turkey
Finish: Cappadocia, Turkey
Currency: Turkish Lira
Temperature: 0 degrees at dawn, a high of 16 degrees during the day.
Welcome back my literary friends!
This morning we were up at 5.30am for the sunrise balloons over the Cappadocia volcanic mountains. Having only been up in a balloon in Egypt in April, I didn’t feel the need to pay the 220Euro to participate this time, instead opting to pay 500TRY ($42AUD) split with another Australian traveller to chase the sunrise and watch the balloons rise across the sky. Our incredible driver took us right up to the balloon launch location and then to two different locations for photos of the sunrise. It was absolutely magical! The group who took the balloon ride said they had an enjoyable experience, although due to the temperature, I’m not sure if they had quite as much fun as we did (in my extremely biased opinion!).
After breakfast, we met back up and departed for a morning of adventuring around the Avanos area. Our first stop was the Cave House where we met a local lady and visited her home built into the volcanic ash formation. The towers stood proudly against the crisp blue sky as we walked around the slippery slopes of ash and enjoyed taking in over 1,000 years of history.
The second stop for the day was a series of ‘churches’ built into the rock, which I chose to forgo, given the number of churches and mosques I’ve visited over the past few weeks! Instead I walked through the amazing rock formations and visited the local vendors to check out their wares. Those who went into the churches said they were interesting, filled with hand painted rock walls (100TRY).
Lunch saw us attend the Kapadokya Lezzet Sofrasi where we were introduced to the ‘Testi Kebabi’ which is a type of stew cooked in a ceramic pot, sealed with a damper like lid. When served, the staff crack off the top of the lid with a knife and serve it to you straight from the individual pot. We then had some free time to wander the city and take in the beautiful local ceramic stalls.
By 2.30pm we had a short drive back to the hotel where a few people opted to disembark the bus and enjoy some relaxation time. The rest of our crew decided to join Mustafa in visiting a local jewellery producer who sell high quality local stones, including the elusive Zultanite stone. This stone is one of the most interesting I’ve ever come across, and honestly only heard about by a couple from my Morocco trip. The stone changes colour depending on the light it is exposed to, so at any time, it could appear to the naked eye as a different colour. The stones in the store appeared a light coffee colour, but when exposed to sunlight, appear a sapphire pink. The staff at the Ozler Art Centre were fantastic to deal with, even bringing us cups of piping hot apple tea while we browsed.
We then visited a local ‘Art’ creator, by way of carpet weavers and my god did they put on a show! The Bazaar 54 had the most magnificent handwoven carpets (rugs) I’ve ever seen. Anything from lambs wool through to hand spun silk, the carpets we were presented made me want to roll up into a burrito and never leave. Ranging from $200USD to thousands upon thousands, I now understand why people say they come to Turkey to buy rugs. Several members of our group bought little doormat sized rugs for $200USD in Bamboo which were soft to touch and absolutely divine.
By 5pm we were ready for an opportunity to unwind in the hotel before the group heads out to the ‘Turkish Dance Evening’ tonight. I (as usual) opted out of the event given its 30Euro pricetag and my usual lacklustre experience in attending. I was even more relieved at my choice when I learned that this does not include dinner and the start time is 8.30pm. Now, I know my choices are not always popular, but in my experience, I haven’t enjoyed these events, being quite loud and repetitive. The key thing members of the group kept saying to me was, ‘but there’s going to be a belly dancer!’. If I had attended every ‘optional show evening’ I’d had access to this year, I’d have seen about six belly dancers! To each their own, I have a quiet evening to myself after dinner with the group and while the others go out and enjoy their open bar dance party, I shall be unwinding and offloading my thousands of photos from the past few days!