Hot Diggety Dic — Cappadocia Day 1

In case there’s ever been any argument about Turkey being a man’s world, check out the topography of Cappadocia. This region of Turkey, famed for inhabitants including the Hittites and the Byzantines; vast underground cities; red wine; cave hotels; and volcanic deposits that engage the imagination. The taxi picked me up to go to the airport for the 90 minute flight to Capadocia at 5 am; it was more than worth every moment of lost sleep.

And the hillsides are the colors of ice cream sherberts and barbie princess make-believe dream house landscapes, in pistachio green, lemon ice yellow, and strawberry pink layers of stone:

It’s just a fairy tale world, of volcanic mushroom caps and fairy cottages. The early Byzantines would hide out in these rocks, and if you look closely at some of the landscapes, you can see the doors and windows to their daily worlds, reached often by ladders or ropes or footholds carved into the rock.

I took a tour of the landscape in the morning that was largely comprised of kids from a youth hostel – they were a lot of fun, and doing cool things; a young woman from Kentucky, for instance, who had just spent several months in Armenia working with prostitutes on AIDS prevention; or a young man from New Zealand and London, who was working for a shipping company and transferring to Marseilles. The “hot diggety dic” refers to what our drivers were telling us meant “let’s go”…when I got back to Istanbul, I asked a Turkish friend whether that was right; he looked at me a little curiously and said, er, no, it’s (sounds like) “hot diggety delim”. Whatever.

We toured the underground cities of the Hitites (way, way long ago — as in 6000 years or so, maybe?) which went for 7 stories and extended throughout parts of Capadocia. Up to 15000 people could fit in these underground warrens and cities, designed to provide shelter and defenses from marauders.

The above was part of their underground kitchens — and they had wine-making vats, too. Pretty cool, but ya gotta believe it got a little cramped after a while, despite the amazing ventilation systems in place.

Although people lived in the below housing and caves for centuries, due to more recent earthquakes, most had moved out, but it still looked pretty cool:

And we went to see some Byzantine churches and frescos, and climbed the hills to check em all out:

And then there were my 2-day trip colleagues from Istanbul, John and Neryl from Sydney, who were the voice of reason when I had a meltdown late in the day, finding myself without access to cocktails…fatigue had built up. I grew concerned when I discovered that the hotel that we were booked at was several kilometers outside of town — I felt trapped.

Luckily, John spoke with Ishmael, the proprietor, and found us some rather excellent red wine, which we enjoyed on the terrace. And Ishmael took a few of us out on a special trip to experience the Cappadocia sunsets…delightful, all the way around. Had an excellent meal, with wonderful conversation — and our new friend Julie, from London and Manila, went to the Turkish baths; Kate from NY and gave us the skinny on some of her prior adventures, and John and Neryl and I enjoyed the wine and Ishmael’s hospitality. We all slept very well — almost missed the call for the hot air balloons the next day.

~ by mimi on July 24, 2008.