Today marks day 4 of the weeklong excursion across Turkey I am taking with my study abroad group. Our party consists of 16 students, our professor/advisor/program director, our TA, our bus driver, and our intrepid tour guide. We began our trip by flying from Istanbul to Nevşehir, a city in the Cappadocia region. Since then we have driven close to 400 miles across southern Turkey.
A few of us have joked that our bus driver looks like he’s right out of a James Bond movie. He’s bald, he has a thick, dark mustache—big enough to rival the likes of Mark Twain, a solid frame, and occasionally wears a fez-like hat. Despite the irrefutable resemblance to an evil henchman, he turns out to be quite a friendly fellow.
Cappadocia is a region littered with phantasmagorical geologic formations, many of which look like tall, clay homes (aptly named ‘Fairy Chimneys’). There is a highly complex and detailed explanation for these formations, so I won’t bore you with the details. (In other words, I may not have been paying full attention to the tour guide during her explanation). Regardless, it gives the area an ethereal feel. My dad told me that Star Wars was almost filmed in this region, which makes perfect sense after walking around in what feels like an alien landscape. Supposedly, they decided not to shoot Star Wars here because of the… erm, let’s say male-esque nature of these Fairy Chimneys.
The other phenomenon that makes the Cappadocia region famous is the prevalence of homes and even small cities that have been carved into rock. We explored three of these large cave settlements, each notably different.
The first was a fortress drilled into a protruding hunk of volcanic rock, positioned at the top of a large hill—unfortunately it was rather fragile, so we did not actually explore inside.
The second, a series of homes and churches carved into a mountainside, illustrated the predominance of Christianity in this people’s culture. There were ornate depictions of biblical scenes fully covering many of the church ceilings. It was a bizarre experience to enter a drab hole in a cliffside and have it open up into an area with rich, vivid paintings plastering the walls and ceiling. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside these churches.
And finally, the third place we visited was a small city completely underground. We had to wriggle our way through passages 3 feet high and 2 feet wide, avoid holes dropping down to lower levels, and duck through doorways clearly designed for people much more vertically challenged than myself. This network of underground rooms and passageways was astounding and gave me a lot of appreciation for the tribulations ants must face. FYI, the pictures don’t do it any justice.
On Monday, we visited Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic village dating back 9,000 years. It is still an archeological dig site, but we were able to see the ancient stone walls and house foundations that have been uncovered. While the significance of this site was certainly stunning, its visual allure did not hold a candle to our previous sightseeing exploits. Nevertheless, it’s pretty cool to look back in time at the beginning of civilization.
While at this site, our tour guide pointed out a few hills that are known to have more of these villages buried underneath but have yet to be excavated. This seemed peculiar to me: if there are hills that are known to contain remnants of one of the oldest settlements ever discovered, why are archeologists not flocking to uncover these treasures? I guess once an archeological team discovers a site and lays claim, they have no incentive to expedite the process by allowing other archeological groups to come help. Still, it seems weird to me that these villages are just sitting here, waiting to be unearthed.
Despite all these fascinating sites, the highlight of our trip thus far was definitely the hot air balloon ride we took over Cappadocia. We woke up at five in the morning on Monday in order to get on the hot air balloon just as the sun was rising. Unfortunately, it was cloudy so we didn’t see the actual sunrise, but the balloon ride was plenty exciting on its own. After landing, the balloon pilot (driver, conductor? I have no idea what his title is) treated us to some champagne. I even got a certificate saying I survived my balloon ride—how considerate. Okay, that wasn’t the exact wording on the certificate. Anyway, hopefully the pictures will speak to the awesomeness of this experience.
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