June 14, 2009 – Day 171 – Goreme, Turkey

We clamoured up the hill past the stunning wildflowers of pink, purple, vibrant blue, and bursting yellow. It was our first outdoor glimpse of the countryside. In the morning light it was even more splendid and just unbelievably beautiful. Having surveyed our surroundings, we slid back down the hill and crossed the road. We traveled along a tiny stream running alongside the road lined with more wildflowers. (for more on Cappadoccia click here)

The Hill

The sun was warming the chilly morning air as it began its slow ascent overhead. We continued along the gravel road for sometime before having the intense pleasure of happening upon 10 or so horses grazing on the surrounding banks.

Wild Flowers

In the midst of the gentle beasts was a dirty burrow with puffy, shaggy tan fur and the tiniest hooves that seemed mismatched to his stocky body. As soon as he caught sight of us coming slowly up the road, he casually tromped toward us to have a closer look and maybe a pet.

Fuzzy Burro

We passed a local family taking a break for lunch in the shade while their work horses grazed. Continuing even further into the countryside, the road became narrow and began to resemble a creek bed more than a road. The grass on the tall banks on either side of our path was so green and the occasional willowy branch hung lazily from the trees at eye level.

The end of the road

The little stream provided a serene soundtrack as we walked, chatting idly and admiring the unusual flowers. But before we knew it, we had come to a section so muddy and watery that we could not pass through or over it and had to turn back. We made our way back to the paved road but only briefly. We turned from it again and began a trek through a field with knee deep wildflowers and grass. We explored several of the famous rock homes before finally climbing one to enjoy the most spectacular panoramic view!

Saben atop the mountain

Carved stone homes

We could have stayed up there for ages; it felt so nice to have the wind and sun dashing over our faces so high from our usual height on the ground. Of course, with such an exciting countryside awaiting us, we had to keep exploring!

The distance

We dared gravity as we peered over the edge of a monstrous ravine, circled a freshly planted field with perfect vegetable rows and then came face to face with an intimidating briar bush. Not wanting to miss whatever lied on the other side, we carefully, gingerly picked our way through and under the bush to have a look. We came to a very narrow alley that was the bottom of the ravine we had just been standing at the top of. It wound back and forth until we finally came to a half muddy rock wall about 12 feet high.

The wall

Saben wanted to climb up there and check it out but Lin wasn’t interested in getting her only pair of pants dirty with a mysterious and foul (ok, it was wretched) wet, brown substance that was maybe just mud, maybe not. A couple of minutes of coaxing and we had both climbed the wall and discovered where that putrid smell was coming from: some small mammaly creature was rotting from a particularly nasty fall from the top of the ravine. Skipping right over that mess and not looking back, we began an intensely exciting journey through an even more narrow passage just barely wide enough for one person. There was another, shorted rock wall to climb maybe 10 feet with more of those tiny carved foot holes.

Beyond that, things got more interesting. We found a pitch black passageway to…somewhere! We inched through the short entrance and into the damp darkness, carrying on until we could not see light on either side.

Through the passage

It smelled a little weird and muddy until we suddenly came into the light! We continued the long tunnels, intermittently coming to a break in the rocks and seeing the light of day. Finally we found a way out without having to go all the way back and climbed up and over coming out into another field of wildflowers.

Storm in the distance

By the time we climbed even higher than we had all day, the wind had become so strong and the clouds so dark that we were certain that a storm was coming and fast! We high-tailed it off the rock homes and out of the meadows so that we were back on the road.

It was nearly 5PM and we had spent a marvelous day seeing Cappadoccia all on our own and feeling so happy that we did not take a tour. When we were half way back to town, the clouds had moved off into the distance and the evening sunshine remained. What a fantastic day!