POOR MANS ORIENT EXPRESS: GOREME

CAPPADOCIA AREA (GOREME)

Oct 8 & 9

There is way too much going here to try and write about. Stuff started a long, long, long time ago. Like, 3000BC for people stuff. For nature, millions and millions of years ago a volcano erupted. Over the years, nature, being rain and stuff, washed away softer soil around the harder stuff and left "mushrooms". Later the locals called them "fairy towers" because people had carved out homes in them and at night, with fires inside, they looked like something from fairly land. The Hittites and those Roman people were big at various times. The Hittites around 1600BC and the Romans 400 AD. Some other people came and went over time also. For more history try Google.com.

Morning in Cappadocia

We signed up for a small bus tour of 12 people. I hate these things, even small ones, but it was a lot cheaper than paying $9/gal for diesel and they threw in entries fees and lunch. We drove a lot. One leg was an hour long.

First stop is one of the many underground cities. These were used originally by the Hittites to hide when the enemy came. In 1964 a shepard found the caves and shortly after that, in 1965 came the tourists. The inhabitants would seal it up and were very ingenious at what they did so no one would know they were around. They went down 8 stories. These were large complexes that they could exist in for up to 6 weeks. Need more, Google.com

My good friend Helen Chappel is a author and the high priestess of the First Church of Elvis, Reformed and she wanted to see some old stuff. I mean really old stuff. So I took these pictures just for her. In her novels, one of the main characters is a ghost named Sam Wescott. Well....I took these pictures in the cave city at the graves. The photos are untouched and published just as they came out of the camera. Honest! I am not sure if the image is Sam or Elvis.

The grave.

The ghost

Again, these are just as they came out of the camera.

Next we went to their Grand Canyon. Churches and homes dug in the walls and a nice walk along a river.

The photographer and his wife quit microsoft to travel 6 months. The photographee's are Kara and Chris She is a custom designer in NY and he is a MBA accountant who quit to sell real estate 6 months ago. He did not get laid off, he actually changed professions.

Next we went to more caves with all the same stuff. Church's, winery, cattle stall, etc., etc, etc,

All finished off at a Onyx factory, where after the demo, you were herded in to a large showroom and the doors locked behind you. It took work to find the exit but we were the first to escape.

Oct 9

When we owned a 4 wheeler Vicki maybe drove it once. But now we must pay to ride she really wanted to go. Me too. So we rented 4 wheelers for 2 hours with guide and took off for Pigeon Canyon in the Natural Park. Our 2 hours turned into almost 3 when at the end, the owner brought 2 more people to ride with us. This was a lot of fun but the most important thing is the Princess enjoyed it and by the end of the ride was ripping along pretty good.