The road to Kapadokia (Cappadocia)

July 23

We were up before the 5:30am call to prayer and got to see the sunrise over Ankara. I loved it. We got out on the road at about 7:30 to beat the morning rush hour and meet our destiny with Tuz Golu (salt lake).

This landscape looks so amazingly like the road to Bakersfield that at times I forget where I am. Then I start daydreaming about Alexander the Great marching through here back in the 3rd Century BC and I'm quickly reminded of my location. The miles and miles of farmland out here sustain the entire nation with wheat, nuts and dry climate fruits like peaches and apricots.

A walk out on the Tuz Golu is pretty incredible. I've seen salt flats from the back highways out to Vegas but never stopped at one. It looks like a plain of snow but the crunch and grain that gets in between the toes is nothing like snow. The salt radiated dryness and heat but it was bearable. Most of our fellow travelers are from the East Coast and I couldn't help but notice they quickly retired to the gift shop for relief. I thought the weather was nice. It reminded of the desert or Atascadero. We didn't buy any of the bath salts but the shop was making a killing off of the multitude of tour busses arriving constantly.

Lunch at Kavi in Avanos was amazing. Isa told us about the Testi Kebap, a specialty of the house. It is beef, cooked in broth, with eggplant, onion, red pepper, celery and spices stewed together in a jar for 2 hours. Amazing.

Isa guided us to the world famous pottery master Gelip Bey at his studio, Chez Gelip. In an amazing demonstration he created a tea pot in front of us while I sipped some of his homemade wine in one of small wine glass. The tour of his studio and gallery was beyond imagination. Master crafted pottery and ceramic ware hand detailed with precision. Holly couldn't help but pick up a beautiful serving dish and got it signed by the master. Look him up online and you'll see just how amazing his work is.

From there it was directly to the fairy chimneys. These are volcanic formations made of limestone that have carved out and made into homes. The ones we went to had been used by people from about 100 AD to 1960 when the state kicked out the residents and it was turned into a world heritage site. Pashaba was one valley that was not a heritage site and thus had no admission but no residents live there. Well, not officially. While Patrick, one of my fellow travellers, and I broke off from the group and took a tiny dirt path down a lesser walked valley we found an amazing cave that had some homeless living at the top. We woke them up with our snooping around and they didn't seem too pleased.

At Zelve, the site you have to pay to get into, we saw a mosque, a church, many apartments and other cave dwellings all carved into the rocks. The site is thought to first be populated by Christians running from Roman persecution but over time became a legitimate community of Troglodytes. I could have spent hours and hours exploring. Tomorrow we're going to see more AND the underground city.

Last but not least we were taken to see a prayer/meditation service by the Whirling Dervishes. This Muslim sect of Sufi Muslims was founded by Rumi hundreds of years ago and they pray while spinning around to very soothing and relaxing music and Muslim prayers. Magical is the only word I can use to describe what we saw. Holly and I were transfixed by the beauty, serenity and humility of what we watched. Because this was not a demonstration but rather a real ceremony in a 13th Century caravanserie converted to a place of worship for Sufi's, pictures were not allowed of the men during their prayer. I am honored to have watched and once again given pause and caused to analyze my place in the world.

Speaking of place in the world... tomorrow a hot air balloon ride.