This is the last report which I had promised myself to write about our Turkey trip. It is more than a year since I visited Turkey, but the experience is so green in my memory. As I have some notes which I wrote in my diary, and my memory is helping me write this.
We were in Capadocia which is a very lovely place in May 2009.
After the lovely experience of belly dancing the night before we had to get up very early in the morning of May 28th to go up in the air in the Hot Air Balloons. We had booked our seats (or is it place to stand ) in the Balloon, from KL while making our arrangements for our Turkey trip by paying the cost which was extra apart from the whole tour cost.
Nine of us from our group had opted for this and we had to start at 4 a.m. I was very excited as it was one of my dreams to go up in the Hot Air Balloon.
We were taken to a big open ground and were treated with coffee and biscuits before we climbed on to big baskets tied under the balloons. There were lots of colourful baloons all around us some of them already in the air.
The height of the basket was quite high and I found it a little difficult to climb onto it. 16 of us were accomadated in one Basket . There were four sections, which accommodated four persons in each . All of us had to stand inside the balloon.
The Balloons were blown and were ready to climb up.
The driver or Pilot was standing in the middle. After some basic instrucions from the pilot the balloon started to slowly glide up.
The place is full of small hillocks formed by the volcanic ash . The weather was quite chill and the climb was smooth.
wow, what a lovley ride , gliding up slowly. We went up to 1000 meters , the view was excellent. If there is any other better word to describe this I would rather use it.
We climbed down a little bit and were going in between those hillocks and we could see many colorful ballons in different heights around us. We climbed up again and when we reached the maximum height (I do not remember the exact height, I think it was around 1500 meters) 'Champagne' was opened and served to all of us. It is a lifetime experience to be in such a height in an open basket.
We came down and Balloon was closed and basket was tied to a van now and we were brought to the landing place. We were served champagne again and were given a certificate. haha.
After break fast in the hotel, we were taken to dwellings under the ground. There were about 8 levels and we went upto level 4.
In this place, between 4th Century to 12th Century, Christians were prosecuted. To hide from the enemies they built dwellings under the ground. Since it is easy to carve out the volcanic ash they did it easily. Once it is exposed to air it hardens and so the dwellings were quite strong.
Whole families lived there and stored their grains etc. They worked in the fields and lived on the ground and the moment the enemies attacked them , they went into hiding some times hiding up to 6months at a stretch. They had a place to bury their dead in these dwellings, in case some one died while in hiding . A place to process wine from grapes and store food etc were also there. The entrance was kept as a secret and camouflaged and the enemy could never find the entrance. The place was built in such a way that even if the enemy stumbled upon the entrance and came inside there were weapons which could be used to attack them.
During the period of Sulaiman the great who ruled Turkey, the prosecution was stopped and the underground dwellings were abandoned some where in 12th century or so.
During Road construction in 1965, the underground dwellings were stumbled upon accidentally. It took the government 30 to 35 years to clean up, and open it for public to view the dwellings. Only up to level 4 , are open for tourists and they say there are 4 more levels down. Even now we have to follow the guide carefully and not walk away on our own. It is quite claustrophobic inside.
After lunch we visited another place which is also carved out of volcanic hillocks. There is a church called Santa Barbara church and until 1920s people were living in these hillock houses carving out houses for them inside the volcanic cave. Then the Government urged them to leave it and start living in the city. Now it is an Open Air Cultural Museum which is a World Heritage Center. We could see some old frescoes of Jesus and Mary in the Church on the walls.
We visited some shopping place, bought some precious gems, and potteries .
The next day early morning we started back our long (600kms) journey back to Istanbul via the capital Ankara . There is a beautiful mausoleum of Ataturk Kemal who is the Father of Turkey who modernized Turkey and the first President of Turkish Republic who declared the 90 % Muslim populated country as a Secular Country.
We entered European side of Istanbul amidst heavy traffic jam via the Bridge on the Bosporus.
Next day after some hurried shopping in the (great ) spice market of Istanbul (we should have bought more things which we felt after returning to KL), and thanking our great and nice guide Mr. Ali, we returned to Kl via Dubai and Singapore.
Turkey is one great place to visit.
