Sleeping with th Faries

One month on the road today and we still seem to be getting on well! We awoke to find our crater looking more like the moon than ever, and chilly after our warm beaches. I pondered a walk around it but it was quite a long way and I' so unfit now. On reflection I should have taken the exercise but instead we packed up and got on the road to Cappadocia. Most of our route seemed to take us across more vast plains, punctuated by such isolated and steep hills that they have to be extinct volcanoes. One range of hillos we went through had snow on the tops and we decided to explore some of the tracks on it. It took us to small collections of huts in variable states of repair- it looked like shepherd accomodation for summer grazing to my eyes. One fork we went up was a snowey dead end and we found we had to turn on a slightly nail bitingly narrow bit. As we were in the process of this Alex noticed three figures on the tip of the crest above us looking down althought once we started our manovers they vanished. We came across them shortly after on our road down, they were heading down too, presumably to the car we had seen parked before the track got really bumpy. It was rather intimedating to come across them- there were two lads and a man and they all had big hunting rofles, I was very relived to see their reassuring smiles and waves as we passed but it made me think for a moment how vulnerable we could be.

The area of Cappadocia is world famous so full of coach loads of tourists so we went to the repotredly quieter Ihiara Valley- a river gorge with near vertical cliffs into which many churches have carved, some with multiple floors and columns, all with frescos. We were suprised to find it rather more controlled than when our guide was written with entry and exit ticket gates to the most built in section offeing a taxi collection the other end of the three km walk. Despite needing more exercise we are very time limited so instead drove to the other end and looked at a couple of churches outwith the barrier. They were small but impressive with detailsed and straight shapes carved out of the soft rock to create them. They had strategically cut windows to let in atmospheric light and perfectly cut alcoves and corners, all squared off.

We drove through the nearby village, (which had appealing cafes on floating platforms on the river for all the walkers) and over to the Goreme area where the majority of sight seeing is to be had. The towns around there all had vast numbers of houses, garges, churches and more carved into the rocks behind and around them. Many were abandoned but some were encoperated into the modern buldings and I even saw glass windows in some. We were looking for the 'fairy chimney' landforms- areas where the hard baslt capping the soft volcanic ash which protects it from weathering has been patchy and thus lots of pointy landforms have resulted. May of these also have dwellings carved into them. We found a whole valley full and a signposted 'panoramic' spot, with gift shos from which to view it. It was very impressive and I also thrilled a having a good old rummage in the numerous tourist stalls that had grown up in the area. I got Turkish folk and Turkish pop cds. We drove about and have managed to find a discrete little valley filled with these formations in which to park up for the night. The fully full moon shining on these weird landforms is an amazing sight and I'm tempted by a walk around but na small explore earlier showed there may be hidden holes so I think we're still best to wait for the full light of day.