And on to what for me is the highlight of the trip - Cappadocia, which is not a town as many believe but an area about 5,500 km2 and probably the only place in Turkey I had on my radar to visit before we researched this holiday. There will be many, many photos - sorry.
As we were driving through the outskirts of the main area of interest, Ian asked Göksel if there was somewhere we could stop to take an overall view - he really is becoming the group's mouthpiece. After consultation with Aziz we duly stopped at a fabulous viewpoint and had to run the gauntlet of many tat shops, although the stall holders were all very friendly and not at all pushy.
The fruit stalls always look so beautiful.
The walkway up to the viewpoint was made of wooden steps and an easy climb and the view just outstanding - nothing like I've ever seen. I think I might run out of superlatives before we're done here.
The first European account of Cappadocia was left in early 1700 but the area remained largely unknown to the outside world for a further 2 centuries. The geological explanation for the landscape is fairly simple; millions of years ago the 3rd largest mountain in the region erupted smothering the surrounding area, extending 100 of kms, with lava. The lava then cooled and solidified before centuries of floods, rains and winds carved deep valleys and fissures into the lava rock whilst the stones were carved into strange and outlandish cones and columns.
Although the white dust from the rocks looks like sand, it is apparently much more fertile and so trees, vines and vegetables were widely grown and early inhabitants quickly discovered that the stone was easy to cut into and thus began carving entire buildings from rock. Over many centuries the area was occupied by Christians being persecuted for their faith, firstly by Romans and then by many different lots of invading Muslims.
The top "caps" are basalt rock, which is considerably harder and didn't erode as quickly as the rest, which leaves these very phallic formations. It must just be my rude mind though, as they are commonly referred to as Fairy Chimneys.
It isn't every day you get to photograph your husband with what looks like a giant willy by his ear!
