Cappadokia and crazy traffic in Ankara

Where we let off last week was the furthest point away from home on this years journey.

From now on, we are on our way home.

In fact, this is our last week in Turkey. It did come with a highlight, though: Cappadokia!

Cappadokia is in Central Anatolia and a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys.

A fairy chimney is a tall, thin spire of rock formed by erosion. They typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by a harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They

generally form within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations.

They are not unique to Turkey but can be found in other parts of the world as well, mainly in the United States and Mexico, but also in Armenia, Serbia, Taiwan and Japan, even in France.

But still, they are a rather special sight and unlike anything we had ever seen before.

What is unique, though, is that here people have carved rooms, whole apartements and even churches into the chimneys.

My human spent a couple of days hiking through the valleys around Göreme, one of the main towns in the area.

They have rather colorful names like Rose Valley, Love Valley, Pigeon valley, ...

Many trails run through them all, but unfortunately there are, again, hardly any signs or markings and so you often end up in a dead end and have to back track.

The scenery is rather stunning, though, and we were really lucky with the weather, meaning 25 degrees rather than 35!

One of the must do things here is a flight in a hot air balloon at sunrise.

Since she had never done this before, my human got up at 3.15am one morning to join a group of some 25 people in a huge basket, attached to an even grander piece of fabric, to be carried away across the landscape.

Unfortunately the winds were not in their favor and so the flight lasted only 40 minutes and didn`t take them across the more stunning parts, but it was still an experience.

It takes around 180 liters of gas to inflate the balloon

And then another 500 for an average flight

The basket has a capacity of 32 guests plus two pilots

The day before we had placed ourselves on top of a plateau andso had a fantastic view of the balloons from bed the next morning.

Plenty of photo shootings happening as well

Another interesting place to visit here is the underground city of Kaymakli.

Underground caves may have first been carved into the soft rock in the 8th Century BC by Phrygians, an Indo-European people.

Why they did this is not really clear.

The city was greatly expanded and deepened in the Byzantine era when it was used for protection from Muslim Arab raids.

Four levels are nowadays open to tourist, but there are more.

You can explore the low, narrow and steeply inclined tunnels, which lead from one living area to the next.

There are living rooms, wine cellars, even stables and churches.

Those dents held clay pots with water or wine so they would not fall over

The winery

I guess people were shorter in those days

See the huge stone disc? That was considered a door.

A ventilation shaft

Cappadokia is absolutely worth a visit and should be on anyone´s list visiting Turkey.

But I wasn`t too sad to keep going, considering that the ground around here mainly consists of sand, dust and dirt and I looked the part.

A night spent next to a huge dried out salt lake

Generally speaking, road signs, lanes, traffic lights and other cars are things to consider at your leisure, but not to be taken too seriously.

This is true for the whole country, but Ankara takes first place, hands down!

We had decided on a place to park before entering the city.

Unfortunately, Google Maps decided in all the wrong moments to give us the digital finger, suddenly changing the route, turning itself upside down and then shutting down altogether.

In this fashion, it took us an hour in the insane city traffic to reach the parking. Just to then be notified that it was currently closed.

The second option we had pre-scouted was equally difficult to reach and hopelessly overcrowded when we got there.

Just as we were about to leave the city and accept defeat by points, rather than let it come to a knock out, we passed a huge, half empty lot and hung a sharp right, finally being able to relax after 90 minutes of traffic mayhem!

So, as you can imagine, Ankara was in a tight spot to win us over.

And, sorry to say, the city didn`t really succeed.

My human first went to see the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

He is not merely a great statesman, but almost regarded and worshiped like a saint.

The long walk to Atatürk`s tomb

The tomb of Ismet Imönü, first prime minister and second president of the Turkish Republic

Some special guests in attendance

Queuing to see Atatürks tomb

The first known portrait of Atatürk from 1915, drawn by the Austrian painter Krausz

He played a key role in securing the Ottoman victory in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 during WWI

and later became the founder of the Republic of Turkey and served as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938.
As such he undertook sweeping reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation.

The surname Atatürk, which means "Father of the Turks", was awarded to him by the Turkish Parliament in 1934.

From there she walked to Ankara Castle, a 7th Century fortification with good views over a not so pretty cityscape.

Inside its walls you can find everything a tourist might or might not want to buy.

Through a quiet park she came back to me after three hours and we both released a heavy sigh once we were out of the larger area and crazy traffic of Ankara. Sorry, capital!

The structure to the right will become the new football stadium of Ankara

Our spot for the night. No traffic!

Our last proper stop in Turkey was the Ormanya Wildlife Park.

Right next to it is a free of charge camp ground for vehicles and tents with all the bells and whistles (minus showers).

Opened in 2010, the 20.000m² area is part forest, part park but also a wildlife area with over 70 species of animals. Those include deer, birds, domestic animals like goats and sheep, horses, camels, even monkeys and wallabies, who were smuggled into the country and found a home here rather than being put down.

There are 18km of walking trails, a few cute hobbit style houses and a forest library.

This place was exactly the antidote we needed after Ankara.