Cappadocia, Day-1

The most anticipated leg of the trip was Cappadocia with its surreal landscapes and hot air balloon dotted skyline of the Gorem Valley. It was past midnight when we checked into our MDC cave hotel. The room was a suite with 2 separate bedrooms, a large bath equipped with alien looking elements of a Turkish bath (which would eventually make sense after our Hanama) and a living room. As a cave hotel, the rooms all vary from each other with scanty daylight in the bedrooms. The terrace above the reception and certain rooms offered panoramic view of Gorem.

A lavish Turkish Breakfast after a 30 minute HIIT felt rewarding on waking up to a beautiful cold day. Made to order fresh Turkish paratha with spinach, potato, feta cheese and a tad bit chili with yogurt were the highlight of breakfast which we would enjoy for 3 mornings in a row thankfully the work out streak remained unbroken despite temptations to sleep in. The spread included cakes, savory and sweet biscuits, jams, made to order omelette station, lots of dry fruits, crisp juicy fresh 🍐 pears and other fruits with Turkish tea.

We began our tour with our friendly guide Mustafa who would share the fascinating history of this 1400 years old region where Christianity ✝️ was preserved for centuries against all odds thanks to the topography of the area with thousands of caves. The region had over 600 churches built in the caves. The Gorem open air museum has over 50 churches, small single room prayer areas carved in the caves with Secco and Fresco paintings on the walls. 8-10 people would pray together at a time. Houses were built in the caves as well and clustered together as it was important to be close to a water source. The cave home visits had a chance to use our imagination about how families cooked on the tandoors, stored their wheat in storage pots and ate in dining rooms in the caves. Christianity was taught to kids in schools who would study in the caves and gather around dining tables for meals. The cave cities are part of the World Heritage site and preserved by the government. Owners of cave homes are seen as being rich as their small cave homes which can no longer be used to live are worth over a million dollars. A lot of the caves are converted into Cave hotels.

The first day involved a lot of walking exploring the valley and it’s many vantage points with the cave formations.

The artists at the pottery workshop let the kids dirty their hands at pottery. The intricate free hand designs and the unique pieces blew me away, have never seen pottery art pieces like those before. Lunch at Bizim was laid back like most places so far and delicious especially the vegetables cooked in a clay pot which reminded us of our very own “Matka undhiyu”. With more panoramic picture stops after lunch, our tour ended around 4.30pm.

After a siesta, the adults and the 2 teen girls spent the night at the Turkish nights- a belly dance and dinner show in Urgup. The place was bustling with tourists like us, the entertainment value was high with various dances, so-so food, drinks and a great party vibe with opportunities to hit the dance floor. It was a fun way to end the day with friends and family and get to experience the local party flavor.