Typically when I travel I like to do research on a place before I leave. This research involves reading the Lonely Planet guidebook, checking up on details about the area on wikitravel, and various internet searches for things to do. Often this results in a pretty good idea on what I'm about to see and experience. Sometimes I'll even ask locals for help on what should be seen, done, tasted, or experienced. In Goreme, pronounced like gourmet, we had a first... the opinion of a German PhD anthropologist who did his research in the area.
Dr. Andus Emge and his wife Gulcan run the Fairy Chimney Inn, a traditional cave house they have turned into a guest house, and it was where we stayed for the next few nights. We had an overly large room carved into the "soft" rock with a private bathroom, and a split off extra bedroom. During the morning breakfast that Gulcan prepared, Andus provided us with great suggestions on where to go hike through the Cappadocian area to see and experience the most in our time. That was when he stated the hike "should take about an hour and half, maybe 2 if you take lots of pictures". This statement couldn't be further from the truth, and in a good way.
Day 1 the hike started through the city, over the ridge, into the "Love Valley" (see photos from the trip in previous post), and finally into the Goreme open air museum. The photo opportunities alone slowed us down to making this an all day hike, as did the complete lack of a map and trail markings. And Heather just giggled a lot at the imagery. We stopped for a lunch and drink at a bufet, where the bufet yelled into the trees and had a golzeme made for us (one with cheese and spinich, one with potato). These are basically thin dough with stuffing in them, kind of like quesadillas only with a light flavor and shell. The bush golzeme were awesome, probably the best we've had yet in the country. We spent a little time talking with a Canadia expat named Loraine about life in Goreme then headed off to the museum. The open air museum did show some amazing frescos in the cave churches of old, and had a few well preserved cave houses. At about this time my camera started acting weird. Not auto-focusing or allowing a picture to be taken without resetting the lens. Leaving the museum, we were swarmed by a group of junior high girls wanting to talk with us, but not knowing enough English to hold the conversation. They asked questions about where we were from, what our names were, etc. They took pictures with both of us, and I had my brief moment with a Turkish harem. Grabbing an ice cream, we started to walk back just as a thunderstorm came through when we stopped in for a second visit with Lorainne, and we tasted the local raki... an ansi flavored alcohol that when mixed with soda water turned cloudy. As the rain let up, we moved through the Red Valley back to Goreme.
Day 2 hike was through Pigeon Valley to Uchisar, the next town over. We could see the Uchisar "castle" from Goreme, it's lit up every night, and is probably the tallest landmark in area. The hike itself is amazing. Heather captured a few of the sights in "panoramic" mode, probably the only way to properly to capture the view. We got passed by groups, we passed groups, we explored cave homes along the way, and eventually made it to Uchisar. Climbing to the top of the "castle", basically a tall mountain the locals carved cave houses into before it became unstable due to erosion, we reached the top just as a thunderstorm rolled in. We quickly took some pictures, and just as the lightning showed up, raced down the steps to the pelting of hail and cold rain. Hiding out for a few minutes, the hail disappeared, the rain let up, and we re-thought our walk home. The trail would be full of mud and slippery in many of the areas we hiked up. Instead we opted for hiking along the road back to Goreme. Andus had told us that hitching is an acceptable way to move around in Goreme and Uchisar, but we really didn't want to. As we walked along though, a car pulled over, the driver yelled at us to get in just as the rain picked up again. We jumped in the car and realized quickly that the driver was the man who sold us ice cream the day before at the museum. He dropped us off in the city center, and we made our way back to the guesthouse.
Overall Goreme is an amazing place and highly recommended as a place to visit. It is clearly a small town with a slower pace of life. There is lots to explore though in the area. We left Goreme a little sad that our time had ended, and with hopes of returning to see a lot more. We opted to take the night bus from Goreme to Antalya, but that is a story for another post.
Dr. Andus Emge and his wife Gulcan run the Fairy Chimney Inn, a traditional cave house they have turned into a guest house, and it was where we stayed for the next few nights. We had an overly large room carved into the "soft" rock with a private bathroom, and a split off extra bedroom. During the morning breakfast that Gulcan prepared, Andus provided us with great suggestions on where to go hike through the Cappadocian area to see and experience the most in our time. That was when he stated the hike "should take about an hour and half, maybe 2 if you take lots of pictures". This statement couldn't be further from the truth, and in a good way.
Day 1 the hike started through the city, over the ridge, into the "Love Valley" (see photos from the trip in previous post), and finally into the Goreme open air museum. The photo opportunities alone slowed us down to making this an all day hike, as did the complete lack of a map and trail markings. And Heather just giggled a lot at the imagery. We stopped for a lunch and drink at a bufet, where the bufet yelled into the trees and had a golzeme made for us (one with cheese and spinich, one with potato). These are basically thin dough with stuffing in them, kind of like quesadillas only with a light flavor and shell. The bush golzeme were awesome, probably the best we've had yet in the country. We spent a little time talking with a Canadia expat named Loraine about life in Goreme then headed off to the museum. The open air museum did show some amazing frescos in the cave churches of old, and had a few well preserved cave houses. At about this time my camera started acting weird. Not auto-focusing or allowing a picture to be taken without resetting the lens. Leaving the museum, we were swarmed by a group of junior high girls wanting to talk with us, but not knowing enough English to hold the conversation. They asked questions about where we were from, what our names were, etc. They took pictures with both of us, and I had my brief moment with a Turkish harem. Grabbing an ice cream, we started to walk back just as a thunderstorm came through when we stopped in for a second visit with Lorainne, and we tasted the local raki... an ansi flavored alcohol that when mixed with soda water turned cloudy. As the rain let up, we moved through the Red Valley back to Goreme.
Day 2 hike was through Pigeon Valley to Uchisar, the next town over. We could see the Uchisar "castle" from Goreme, it's lit up every night, and is probably the tallest landmark in area. The hike itself is amazing. Heather captured a few of the sights in "panoramic" mode, probably the only way to properly to capture the view. We got passed by groups, we passed groups, we explored cave homes along the way, and eventually made it to Uchisar. Climbing to the top of the "castle", basically a tall mountain the locals carved cave houses into before it became unstable due to erosion, we reached the top just as a thunderstorm rolled in. We quickly took some pictures, and just as the lightning showed up, raced down the steps to the pelting of hail and cold rain. Hiding out for a few minutes, the hail disappeared, the rain let up, and we re-thought our walk home. The trail would be full of mud and slippery in many of the areas we hiked up. Instead we opted for hiking along the road back to Goreme. Andus had told us that hitching is an acceptable way to move around in Goreme and Uchisar, but we really didn't want to. As we walked along though, a car pulled over, the driver yelled at us to get in just as the rain picked up again. We jumped in the car and realized quickly that the driver was the man who sold us ice cream the day before at the museum. He dropped us off in the city center, and we made our way back to the guesthouse.
Overall Goreme is an amazing place and highly recommended as a place to visit. It is clearly a small town with a slower pace of life. There is lots to explore though in the area. We left Goreme a little sad that our time had ended, and with hopes of returning to see a lot more. We opted to take the night bus from Goreme to Antalya, but that is a story for another post.
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