Our flight to Cappadocia that night was out of Istanbul's older and less glamorous airport, SAW, which was located on the Asian side of the city. Upon entering the airport, we immediately had to go through an initial security check, which was a first. There was a major terror attack at one of Istanbul's airports in 2016, so the extra layer of security was not surprising, but it is rare that we visit an airport with more stringent safety protocols than the US. Fortunately, the airport wasn't very busy, so we got through check-in and the second security screening without a hitch (well, except that Matt's suitcase was checked in normally, but we were told to drop our checked backpacks onto a random cart in the check-in area rather than sending them through the back like usual; we were worried we'd never see them again, but fortunately they made it!).
We finally made it to the airport lounge where we were able to relax (another shout out to Mel's credit card that allows two free guests per visit!). We got a little too comfortable relaxing in the lounge though, and were too used to US airports where the plane is always set up at the gate and you can board very close to your departure time. At 6:25pm, as we were getting our things ready to casually make our way to our gate for our 7pm flight, we noticed that the departure update screen in the lounge said LAST CALL for our flight. As soon as we saw that, we all started running to our gate (first time for everything!). We luckily made it to our gate in time, and realized the early boarding time (6:30pm) was because we had to take a shuttle from the gate to our plane. We weren't the last people on the shuttle, but we were close. It should be noted for the official record that this wasn't Carson's fault- he was getting antsy and wanting to leave the lounge early, and Melissa and Matt were convinced we had plenty of time and wanted to milk the lounge perks for as long as possible- whoops :).
After our airport adventure, the roughly hour-long flight into Kayseri was uneventful. From the airport, we had another van transfer service directly to our hotel in Göreme (one of the towns in the Cappadocia region). Our hotel was one of the common cave hotels in the area, which was extremely cool. Our two bedroom covered two floors inside a rock spire, and the room on the lower floor was actually underground. It was really neat but a little disorienting sleeping in a cave, especially without natural light, but the temperature was cooler and perfect for sleeping. There were also always small pebbles and dust on our things from the cave walls and ceilings shedding which was a little eerie.
The next morning we got up early and headed to our hotel's rooftop balcony to watch the hot air balloons rise with the sun. The town we chose to stay in is famous for having one of the valleys that many of the hot air balloons fly over (Love Valley). There can be up to around 150 balloons in the air at the same time, making this one of the few places in the world to see that many balloons at once. The balloons typically take off before sunrise when they have the best weather window (very low wind; they can't go up if the wind is too high, so they don't go up everyday). We got lucky this first morning, and the balloons went up! It was a magnificent site to see around hundred balloons floating in and around the surrounding valleys, and it reminded Carson of his childhood when he used to chase the balloons in the Monroe balloon rally. The morning was chilly, and we finally put the Arc'teryx coats we had been lugging around to good use while we enjoyed a delicious Turkish breakfast on the rooftop and watched the balloons.
We knew we wanted to splurge and take a ride in one of the balloons, and luckily our hotel manager, Aslan said he could help us book this for the next morning assuming the weather was good. He also helped coordinate a local tour for us to go on this first day. There are a few different common tour routes in the area, and we opted to do the "Green Tour" since the sites sounded most interesting to us. We got to spend more time with Aslan as the days went on, and we had a great time with him, but our first morning was pretty funny and rocky. He nicely offered to drive us into town to visit the ATM and get cash for the tour. There was a miscommunication, though, and we thought we were going to get out enough money for the Green tour, and pay for the balloon ride later when it was officially confirmed. But, when we got back to the hotel and paid him, he was extremely confused by the low amount of money we gave him- whoops x2! Luckily it wasn't a problem, and he said we could just pay later.
A drop later, we were picked up in a sprinter van by our guide, KK, and a driver to start the Green Tour. With about 10 others, we first headed to the Göreme and Pigeon Valley Overlooks. Here we got to see the unique land that was formed over millions of years of erosion and volcanic activity. We also learned that the unique rock formations in the area are referred to as "fair chimneys;" many of these looked similar to the shape of hoodoos we had previously seen in Bryce Canyon in Utah. The landscape was very Martian, and it also reminded us of the painted hills in Oregon, but without the color. From above, you could really see how many caves and houses were built into these rocks, including the small "pigeon houses." These are small manmade chambers carved into the rock where in ancient times pigeons would live and roost. The pigeon poop from these houses would be collected and used as fertilizer for the infertile soil. Piegons were also used as a source of food and as messengers (before texting :)). Farming in the area included corn, pumpkin, potatoes, and other vegetables and fruit. There are also many underground caves that were and still are used to store crops in the region since these can be climate controlled.
The next stop on the tour was a brief one to visit a jewelry store where we learned about two unique gem stones from Turkey and the region. The first was turquoise- Turkey has a darker sea-colored blue turquoise rock that was different than the Sedona turquoise in the states. The second gem was zultanite, which changes color in the light. We had never seen a gem do this, and it was pretty fascinating. It is only mined in the Anatolia mountains of Turkey, 4,000 feet above sea level, which makes it more rare than diamonds, even though the cost is much lower.
We left the store and headed to the highlight of the tour- the ancient city of Elengubu (known today as Derinkuyu), the Underground City. This underground city, which is the largest excavated underground city in the world, contains multiple levels, extends almost 300 feet below ground, and had capacity to shelter as many as 20,000 people, their livestock, and food stores, for months at a time. In other words, it was incredible. It's not totally clear when construction of the city first began, but it's possible the first few levels were excavated as early as 1200 B.C. The city was expanded over time as the need to shelter people from raids and foreign attacks grew, particularly in the 7th Century, when it is believed that the city was used to its maximum capacity. The city continued to be used over time, including all the way into the 20th century when it was used by Cappadocian Greeks to escape persecution. The city was finally abandoned in 1923 when the Cappadocian Greeks fled to Greece, and it was only rediscovered in 1963 by a local farmer who kept losing his chickens and went to investigate. What he found was the first of more than 600 entrances to Derinkuyu found within private homes in the area!
The guided tour walked us through the narrow tunnels of the first few levels. We saw various types of rooms and storage areas such as livestock holding areas near the top, food storage, kitchens, wine cellars (of course!), living rooms, and even a chapel. We also saw their crazy and ingenious stone wall defense systems that consisted of circular boulders that could block off entrances to the levels and only be opened from inside so invaders could not continue descending (these also contained a hole in the middle so invaders could be speared). Last but not least, we saw one of their really impressively engineered ventilation shafts the water well that allowed thousands of people to survive underground for long periods. Some of the walls and the ceiling of the cave still have left over soot marks from fires and candles. The type of rock helped absorb the smoke which didn’t cause the tunnels to fill up with smoke and also prevented enemies aboveground from knowing there were people underground. It was so cool to walk through this underground city, but it was a little eerie and claustrophobic at times since many of the passageways were intentionally built so that they had to be navigated bent over and in single file to protect against invaders. If you want to read more about this awesome place, we recommend this BBC article!
We climbed back into the light of day and headed to a a brief stop at a crater lake. It was definitely not as cool as the same-named Oregon one, and it really just look like a basic lake. We then drove to the Ihlara valley, and along the way KK bought a large bag of delicious strawberries from a local organic farmer for everyone to share. We walked down into the valley and had a basic but tasty lunch next to the river. After lunch, we had free time to hike through the valley along the river, which was very peaceful. The rocks and vegetation in this area reminded us of Smith Rock in Oregon. Post-hike, we jumped back in the van and headed to our last stop - a spice and candy shop. Here we tried some Turkish delights, nuts, apple tea, and pistachio coffee (not very different from regular coffee) that are popular in the region. Overall, we really enjoyed the tour, even though we didn't think all of the commercial/shopping stops were necessary. The highlight was definitely the guided cave tour. Back at our hotel, we relaxed and grabbed a traditional meal of potato and meat ravioli in tomato/yogurt sauce for dinner. We headed to bed early for a 5:15 am pick up for our balloon ride in Love Valley and crossed our fingers for good weather.
We woke up before the crack of dawn at 4:45am and got ready for our balloon ride. Our sprinter van arrived at 5:30am and we were on our way in the dark to our balloon. It took about 15 minutes to get to our balloon which was located in one of the nearby fields around many of the other balloon launch points. We were given a snack bag and got to watch them blow up the balloon in the valley. It was really fun to watch, especially because we were also surrounded by so many other balloons that were starting to rise out of the dark. Our balloon had blue and white vertical stripes, and once it was blown up it looked massive! We were instructed to climb into the basket with about 20 other passengers, but luckily the basket was divided into compartments and we had a section to ourselves near the pilot. We began lifting up and were about the 10th balloon in the air. We were flying over Red and Rose Valleys while it was still slightly dark as the sun was slowly rising. It was pretty incredible how quickly we rose into the air, but at the same time it felt very slow and peaceful. We thought it would feel more scary, but it actually wasn't at all. By the time we made it to Love Valley there were over 60 balloons in the air. Seeing them all in the air from below was beautiful, but being in the middle of them in the sky above the rocks was a different kind of magic. We didn't even care that it was freezing outside! After a while, our balloon descended into Love Valley and slowly moved low through the valley's fairy chimneys at about eye-level. It was so cool being so close to the rocks and the other balloons. While in the valley, our pilot, who was a bit of a jokester, started playing "My Heart Will Go On" and saying "Titanic Time!!!" An older Greek woman near us said "oh no, the titanic crashed bad choice of song!" but he was clearly playing a joke on us. We then rose above the crowds overlooking the valley and then descended down directly onto the trailer of the truck. We got out of the basket and they deflated the balloon as we all toasted with cheap pink "champagne" which was pretty gross but the balloon company was clearly trying to make it an experience.
After our epic balloon ride, we were shuttled back to our hotel were we relaxed and had our complimentary Turkish breakfast. We told Aslan all about our morning and he told us that he was looking for us since he knows what our balloon looks like and he thought he saw our balloon in the air! We were still on such a high from the ride that we decided instead of taking a nap we would go hike the Red and Rose Valleys which is where our balloon took off that morning. As we walked there were a couple of small basket balloons still in the air which was fun to see. When we got to the main valleys of the hike, we saw rock formations similar to the Badlands with different colors and textures. It was really cool walking along the rock walls because we saw caves, pigeons holes, and even churches built into the rocks that still had murals on the walls. The hike was beautiful but very hot, and we misjudged how long it would take so we didn’t bring enough food. The trail route was also confusing so we had to back track a lot, so we opted to cut the hike a little short and walked back to town. As we walked back we stopped at a large ceramics store where the owner made everything he was selling. We bought some beautiful painted small vases and Melissa got a free lesson on how to make a vase on the pottery wheel.
For lunch we grabbed a kebab wrap and on our way back to our hotel made a reservation and placed our order for dinner at a restaurant Aslan recommended. We relaxed at the hotel until dinner and played cards. Aslan brought local grapes for us to share and did magic tricks, and we shared a bottle of some local Narince white wine. His card tricks were really impressive, and he was very sly and wouldn't reveal his secrets. Melissa and Matt figured one of them out, though, and were proud of themselves.
We stopped at a balcony bar on the way to dinner for another glass of wine. Dinner was original and one of the best Turkish meals we had. The restaurant was traditional, so we took our shoes off and sat on the floor on cushions at a low table. Earlier in the day we had placed our order from Aslan's recommendation for three meat kebab pots. The kebab ceramic pot is cooked for 3 hours and then cracked open with a small mallet and served piping hot on a plate over rice. It was amazing, and we also ordered an array of appetizers/dips to go with it. After stuffing ourselves at dinner, we were thoroughly exhausted after having one of our best days, and went straight to sleep.
On our last day in Cappadocia, we got up early again and hiked about an hour to Love Valley. Once again, the skies were clear and we walked under the stars at 5:15am with our headlamps. As we walked, we could hear the loud fans starting to inflate the balloons from Red and Rose Valleys. As we walked, a large tan dog that was very cute and friendly started walking with us and we quickly grew attached to her and started calling her Nala. We eventually reached an overlook on the edge of Love Valley to watch the balloons and the sunrise that was on the other side of the valley as the main lookout point, so we mostly had the place to ourselves (and Nala). As the sun rose, balloons started to drop into the valley very close to us. It was magical seeing them come in from so high in the air and then drop and stop next to the fairy chimneys. It was the perfect ending to our time in Cappadocia and we felt extremely luckily to have seen the balloons all three mornings we were there. From there, we said a sad goodbye to Nala and went back to the hotel for breakfast and to pack up. Then we just chilled and walked around the town and went to a cafe until it was time to leave for the airport on a shuttle to fly back to Istanbul. Matt was checked extra thoroughly by security due to all the metal boxes he purchased in Istanbul! The Cappadocia airport was small and did not have a lounge, so we had no chance of accidentally missing our flight this time :). Our flight was delayed for unknown reasons but once we landed back in SAW later that night, we said our goodbyes to Matt who was flying out of IST early the next morning. We were so glad he joined us on the trip and we had such a great experience exploring Turkey with him. After our goodbyes, Carson and Melissa jumped on a full bus to Taksim Square. Carson was sandwiched between two Turkish dudes but they were nice and they chatted on the drive. By the time we got to the hotel in a similar neighborhood to where we stayed before, it was 1:30am, but we checked in and Facetimed our friends in Iowa who were together celebrating Dillan's birthday. It was nice to catch up, but we wished the time zones made it easier to talk to people back home since we were exhausted.
We had one more full day in Istanbul, but Carson was feeling like he was getting a cold so we just caught up on sleep and did more trip planning and had lamb shish for dinner next door. Our flight the next day to Singapore was at 8pm, so the next morning we went out to visit the Suleyman mosque which we had read was one of the most beautiful. The mosque was similar to the Blue Mosque but had a red interior. Outside there were more tombs, buildings, and graves of Sultans, and the grounds were very peaceful and beautiful. We then went back to the bazaars to try and find Tukey patch, pin, and postcards. We found a patch and pin in the Grand Bazaar at the end but no luck finding any postcards that weren't terribly photoshopped or AI-generated which was crazy. We took a bus to the airport and then chilled in a massive lounge until our flight. When we boarded, it took a while before they let us on the bus because they weren’t sure if we needed a visa (we didn't). After the gate agents eventually googled what Americans needed to enter Singapore, they finally let us on and we said goodbye to Europe.
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