Captivated in Capadoccia

Ten millions years ago three volcanoes erupted simultaneously -- more or less -- and spewed forth their innards into valleys across a wide arid plane in central Anatolia. Wind and water then proceeded to sculpt the volcanic ash over hundreds of thousands of years into huge delicate cones, chimneys, and other otherworldly shapes that litter the valleys of Cappadccia. These “fairy chimneys” are a true wonder to behold and provide endless amazement and delight as one wanders through the valleys here.

This landscape is wondrous enough, but even more astonishing are the ways in which humans have used them. Early Christians (1st and 2nd Centuries A.D) fled to Cappadoccia to escape religious persecution. In order to practice their new religion they carved into the “chimneys” (they are made of soft, white volcanic ash) to build churches in them, many multi-domed, with rock carved columns and frescoes. One rock formation we visited had been an eight-floor nunnery! Over the centuries the Christians worshiped in these hidden churches, improved on the frescoes (some are exquisite) as they hid their religions (and themselves) from waves of raiding armies. They also built over 40 underground cities to hide in. Ali and I toured one that had 18 floors underground. I got claustrophobic at the third level and so we came up. Around 40,000 people and their animals hid in these underground cities for months at a time.

While in Cappadocia, we stayed in a lovely little village in a cave hotel. It was right out of the Flintstones – even our patio furniture was of rock – rock table, rock couch. What was truly fabulous though was how wonderfully cool it was in our room. While temperatures raged in the high 90s (we are having a major heat wave here in Turkey... and the worse draught in 70 years.) we needed to sleep with a comforter at night because it got down right chilly in there after awhile

Now we are 750 miles away (I drove the whole way because Ali was suffering from food poisoning) on the Lycean Coat in southern Turkey. It’s a gorgeous area…mountainous, reminiscent of Big Sur, very scenic but hot beyond belief because of the humidity. It 's been 36 Celsius (97 F?) but with the high humidity is feels like 115.

Kas however, is lovely town popular with tourists...mostly German and Turkish from the languages we hear. There are no high-rise hotels or anything like that, just small pensions and hotels, so it doesn’t feel oppressive in terms of tourism, really. Today we spent nine hours in beach chairs on the rocky coast, jumping into the exquisitely cool Mediterranean about every half hour. The only way to survive in this heat.

Tomorrow we take a boat tour to a sunken city and some small islands. We have a great hotel recommended by friends of Carol’s with beautiful sea views from our room and balcony. The island directly in front of our window happens to be Greek, so we decided to take a boat over there one day this week. We are here until Saturday when we drive the 600 or so miles to Istanbul.

Right now I am posting this from a beachfront restaurant across the street from our hotel using the restuarant's wireless connection. Very civilized.

Signing off for now.