Holidays are good. You look forward to them, plan ahead for them. They give you something to hope for through the chores and burdens of your work life. Holidays are much better if you have them with someone special, someone who likes to travel and is fun, someone who will turn your holiday into a whole different experience...I had exactly such a holiday around a month ago, and the sole reason for my holiday to have those qualities was none other than sweet Indri! :) She came to Turkey for a two week vacation and of course I did my best to make it an enjoyable and a memorable one. Here's a brief account of our wonderful time together, the part we spent in Ankara and Cappadocia...Indri arrived in the city I live, Ankara, Turkey on 9 June. I took her around the city, which is a much humbler one compared to Istanbul. It still has its highlights though, like the Atakule (Ata tower) built on one of the high hills that the city is laid out on, so we went there together to check out the view :) .
Next day, we hit the road for Cappadocia, which is a region in central Turkey, some 3 hours' drive east of Ankara, famed for its unique geology and history. Indri is such a nice company on the road, she cheered me up with her jokes and stories and before I knew we were already there! The road to Cappadocia from Ankara is mostly flat (although with the occasioanl hill), with green fields and pastures along the way for the most part of the journey. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy that day to get better pictures...
As part of my plan to impress Indri, upon arrival at our hotel, I ordered one of the best Turkish dishes on the hotel restaurant menu :-P This is a dish called "Güveç", made of a variety of vegetables and chicken...Without doubt, supreme food is one of the many good reasons to for you to spend your holiday in Turkey :-D
Earlier, I mentioned that the region is famous for its geology. Here's why; all over the place, you can see these rock formations, uniquely shaped by the wind over millions of years through the valleys, in a way which has no other example in the world. And yes, before you think of it, everybody smiles when they first see these shapes :-D
As for the history part, the region was one of the first places where early Christians sought refuge from the persecution of the Roman Empire some 2000 years ago. Many natural caves and caverns provided an excellent hiding ground for these refugees. Over time, thousands of people moved in to live in the region, expanding the caves they originally found to suit the basic needs of every day life. Here's an outer view of such an area, along with a snapshot of a mess hall carved in one of the caves.
As time passed, these earlier dwellings proved inadequate for the increasing number of people, so they moved in to much larger caves deep underground in the region. These "cave-cities" were actually also used by various civilisations in much earlier times. These are more than 50 metres below ground and occupy a vast area, so much so that they open only a small section for tourists, to prevent anybody from getting lost in the huge maze any given city makes. Narrow corridors connect one section of each city to another.
On our last day in Cappadocia, we preferred to stay above ground and explore the beauties of an iconic valley in the region, called the Ihlara valley. It is actually more like a canyon, with the Ihlara River running through its entire length, trees and vegetation on boths sides of it from one wall of the canyon to the other. You descend to the floor of the canyon through a looong flight of stairs, going down vertically at least 50 meters until the floor. Once on the floor, in addition to the scenery, there are several very old churches and monasteries along the length of the river as a bonus, all in caves on canyon walls. They are unfortunately in a decrepit state but still full of impressive icons and religious artwork dating hundreds of years, back from the Christian times of the region.
On the 27th October 2007 (Hard Rock Cafe Jakarta - tentative) Indonesian bloggers will be able for the first time to meet and greet with other bloggers.
