Days: 1 day

With whom: with friends

Play: free travel, petty bourgeoisie, humanities, photography, Cappadocia, hot air balloon

The author went to these places

turkey

Goreme

Uchisar Castle

Pigeon Valley

Antalya

Published on December 11, 2013 15:10

In the middle of Anatolia plateau, there is a unique magical land. She has "the most moon like landforms on earth", which is rated as one of the top ten most amazing scenic spots in the world by National Geographic of the United States, and is also recognized as the most suitable place in the world to experience the hot air balloon tour. When you come to Turkey, you have to go to Cappadocia!

Be a caveman

After a ten hour flight to atatuk airport, we transferred to atlas jet, Turkey, and then flew for about an hour to kesseli, which is one of the two airports nearest to kapadocia. Finally, we took atlas jet's free bus to Graeme town.

Tips for free bus: Here I would like to give a serious praise to Xige for her carefulness, which saved us 40 Euro! In all previous strategies, it was said that we must book the pick-up service in advance from kesseli to gremee, including the famous kappa's daughter-in-law on the poor tour, and repeatedly reminded the travelers to book gremee's Hotel pick-up. However, when hsige browsed the airline's official website, he found that AtlasJet actually provided free shuttle bus in kesseli airport

The town of Graeme is full of world-famous cave hotels, some of which date back thousands of years. For thousands of years, a large number of early Christians represented by the Apostle St. Paul, in order to avoid the persecution of the Roman Empire and arab authorities who believe in Islam, dug countless caves in the mountains of the Kapa plateau as churches, residences and monasteries, and gradually formed a large underground city. When you arrive in Japan, you should live in tatami. When you arrive in Africa, you can try tents. When you arrive in Kapa, you will naturally live in caves!

The canyon view hotel we live in is a family inn run by two brothers, which is located on the hillside. In addition to running hotels, his brother said is a hot-air balloon pilot, and his brother musta is a local tour guide. In a word, it's very appropriate for them to rely on the mountain to eat the mountain. Originally, the inn was a residence for the whole family, with a total of six rooms, namely, summer house, winter house, stables, pigeon house, storage room and wine house. Now, all of them are used to receive tourists. Four of us stayed in the largest "stable" suite, with three single beds and a double bed, and the daily price was 270 lira (about 860 yuan). Living in such a cave with hundreds of years of history, although the top of the head occasionally sprinkles some thin dust, but the feeling is quite romantic.

Perfect sunset in the open Church

Good time should not be wasted, although after a long journey, but we make a little adjustment to go out with enthusiasm. The open-air museum is located 1 km north of the town of Graeme. It is regarded as an entry-level guide to investigate the landform and history of Kapa. Speaking of Kapa, a famous world cultural heritage, one thing is very similar to Angkor Wat, that is, they were all annihilated in the long river of history for a long time, and were discovered by missionaries from France in the tide of colonial exploration at the beginning of last century.

Tickets for the open-air museum are 15 lira, including 8 lira for the dark church. I feel a little disappointed when I just walked into the museum. The stone landscape is not as unique as the stone forest in Kunming. Later I realized that what the museum shows is not a simple natural landscape, but the ancient churches and monasteries inside the stone, which are "miracles" of human power. There are exquisite murals in the cavern church, but wind and rain erosion and human destruction are not many preserved today. The dark church is one of the most beautiful. However, we are not allowed to take photos inside the church, which makes us feel depressed.

When the museum comes out, we charter a car (30 lira) to the castle of ushisar. The castle is located on the road from gremay to nefsher. It is a huge volcanic rock with a bulge of more than 60 meters. It is hollowed out and built into a fortress. You can see it for several miles. It is a popular place to watch the sunset. If the open-air museum is a little disappointing for us who are not religious, then the sunset of ushisar will give us a surprise and let us really feel the magnificence and magic of the land of Kapa for the first time.

On the castle of ushisar, there is a strong wind hunting, and there is a feeling of going back. Overlooking pigeon gorge and gremee town in the distance, the vast land is covered with gorgeous orange red gauze in the setting sun. The magnificent mosque minaret adds a bit of sacred meaning to this world.

Flying towards the sun

At four o'clock in the morning the next day, I struggled to get up in order to catch up with the legendary "once in a lifetime hot air balloon journey". We have been struggling for a long time about the safety of hot air balloon flight - 2013 is probably a bad year for hot air balloon flight. In February of the beginning of the year, 19 tourists died in Luxor, Egypt, and a collision occurred in Cappadocia in May. We stayed in the inn, the owner said is a pilot, we decided to take his balloon. When I couldn't help asking questions about safety, he said, "if something happens, I'll die too!"

At half past four, the car picked us up to the suburban valley. When we got there, some hot air balloons had already begun to take off, and ours were still shriveled. We couldn't help fretting. It's going to be bright. Can we catch the sunrise? Our balloon began to inflate. We watched the orange engine flame spray up to the inside of the huge balloon. We were worried that the flame would burn to the balloon. We should know that the accident in Egypt happened like this... Said manipulated the engine, controlled the intensity and direction of the flame spray, and made the balloon gradually expand and stand upright, It turns out that the flame engine in the pilot's hand is the steering wheel, accelerator and brake.

Hot air balloon is ready, let's go, in the basket! Looking around our basket friends, hey, we are lucky. There are 7 petite women in 10 people. If we squeeze into 10 people with high horses and large Europeans, we can predict sardine. When I was just thinking about it, I was surprised to find that the hot air balloon had already been flying!

With the balloon rising higher and higher, gradually began to have a feeling of flying mood“ Although it is still confined in the basket and can not be so free, flying in the sky and overlooking the earth, "relaxed and happy" is no longer a simple adjective.

Said tells us where are Rose Valley, pigeon Valley, lover Valley, and some valleys that can't remember their names. The huge canyons are like scars on the earth, which makes people feel sad. It's sunrise. It feels like all the balloons are flying towards the rising sun. This is the most perfect sunrise I've ever seen in my life! Over the years, I've been traveling everywhere, and sometimes I get up early to watch the sunrise, but not once. I didn't expect to be in Turkey for only two days. I saw not only the perfect sunset, but also the perfect sunrise!

When crossing the canyon, pilots often fly low to show their level. It's really worrying. Some pilots deliberately fly the two balloons very close. They call it "kissing". It's said that the last accident was caused by the collision of two balloons. I don't know why they dare to fly like that now. Said also made a mistake. He forgot to bring his walkie talkie. He went from half airborne to a place very low from the ground to pick up the walkie talkie thrown by the staff. Our basket even touched the ground, which was a false alarm.

However, these episodes did not affect our mood. The baskets were filled with laughter and laughter, and an hour passed quickly. The balloon began to land, and the car that had been running on the ground was heading for the landing point. The most skilled pilot can directly land the hot-air balloon basket on the trunk of the car. Said's technology is really good. He also successfully landed on the car, which saves the trouble of moving the basket on the car. The successful landing, we burst into a burst of cheers, not only for the smooth and safe landing, but also for the unforgettable beauty and experience in life. In the end, the brave also opened champagne to celebrate, got the certificate of hot air balloon flight, and took a group photo of "basket friends". We are also the companions of life and death, aren't we?

A chaotic and fun "red line" tour

After experiencing the exciting hot air balloon, we are looking forward to the next "red line" journey. The so-called "red line" and "green line" are just like the "big circle" and "small circle" of Angkor Wat. They are tourist routes. The real Cappadocia refers to the landforms of Canyon, mountain, cave and so on between three towns of Goreme, yrp and Afano. The red line is the area, and the essence of Kappa is half of it.

There are several ways to visit the "red line". For those of us who are free to travel, group tour is the first choice; The second is car rental, including SUVs, motorcycles, ATVs and bicycles. Unfortunately, none of the four girls can drive, and they are worried that it is too difficult to ride bicycles on mountain roads, so only the most economical and environmentally friendly way is left: walking!

It is said that we are going to walk on the "red line". Mustafa, the innkeeper, explained the route to us and took out a simple map to mark the distance between each scenic spot. We put on thick sunscreen, armed ourselves with scarves and sunglasses, and set out with pride.

Out of gremee to move in the direction of avano, our first goal is "big pigeon room" Wuxin. According to Mustafa's map, we can walk 3 kilometers along the road, but for more fun, we left the asphalt road and walked on a dirt road marked with the road leading to rose Canyon

I don't worry about the vehicles behind me on the dirt road. I feel like I'm on the road. I can see the Rose Valley in the dirt red from a distance. But walk and walk, should have walked 3 kilometers, big pigeon room is still missing. The end of not following the picture is that we get lost.

Fortunately, this dirt road is not far away from the road. After some twists and turns, we went back to the road and finally saw an Inn by the road. We went to ask the way. There were three people at the front desk. After listening to my inquiry, a man gesticulated for a long time. He didn't seem to know how to make it clear. A blonde next to him suddenly stood up and said, "I'll take you there!" Without waiting for me to answer, the girl ran out of the hall quickly. We followed out in fog and water, only to find that the beauty started an off-road vehicle. It turned out that she wanted to drive us. This kind of treatment has only been seen in books before, but it really let us run into it!

The SUV rounded several corners and turned into a small town from the deserted dirt road. The beauty didn't stop and continued to drive for a few minutes. She put us at the foot of a cave church at the exit of the town. The sign at the door showed that the pigeon house is here! Poor English can only express about one tenth of our gratitude. The hearty Turkish girl disappeared at the end of the town in her car.

The pigeon house is a bit like the dark church I saw yesterday. It is famous for its well preserved ancient murals. It was noon when we came out of the pigeon house. The sun was very poisonous. We had dinner in a cave restaurant called "barbecue world" in the small town. The barbecue here is average, but we were lucky to meet a Turkish folk artist. Ali, the owner of the restaurant, an old man with a moustache, left us in a hurry with his stubborn hospitality, wonderful music and sweet Turkish tea. A seven string wooden sass, a silver leather drum, a low vicissitudes of the male voice, one after another beautiful Turkish Folk Songs, loud, shallow singing, constitute a small dreamlike afternoon concert.

However, after the dream, we have to face the "bleak reality". At the end of the performance, Ali explained the route to us according to the map. We learned that zerway was still 4 kilometers away. It was impossible to continue to walk the whole journey! It's hard to take a taxi in a quiet town. When we are about to despair, a life-saving travel agency miraculously appears at the end of the town!

With the help of four wheels and a flick of 4 km, we soon arrived at the zelvi open air museum. After some twists and turns, zerway's tour is a bit sloppy. In fact, it's a big abandoned city. If you visit it seriously, you can't stop for two or three hours. It's really amazing to think about the ancients who dug holes in the valley and built a hidden city. It reminds me of the seclusion places of those mysterious sects in martial arts novels.

I am even more impressed by pashaber. There are many "fairy chimneys" in the wilderness. I don't know the origin of the name. I see a huge stone on top of a towering stalagmite. It looks like a huge rock that has been put up temporarily. In fact, the two are just one. They have become this kind of appearance under the uncanny workmanship of nature. In my opinion, it's more appropriate to call it "mushroom stone" or "capped stone". Or, more obscene, it's called "root of life", because these boulders are most like men's.

After visiting the three major scenic spots of pigeon house, zerway and paxabe, we lost our ambition of hiking in Rose Canyon and took a "black" taxi back to Graeme. This day can be said to be full of mistakes, but again met good people, the journey is not so full of mistakes and regrets, and there are unexpected gains, so it is fun!

Mini version of "green line" tour

In the early morning of the third day, I got up early again to watch the spectacular view of the balloon rising in the small town.

After a long sleep, our plan for today is a "green line" tour. The so-called "green line" refers to a line from gremee to nefsher (opposite to the "red line"), which generally includes one or two underground cities, a hiking Canyon and an ancient post site. The most important scenic spot is the underground city.

There are many underground cities, big and small, distributed on the land of Kapa. The largest are two, dairinkuyu and kemekli. There are more than 30 small ones, and no less than 100 have not been excavated. Why, when and why these underground cities were built is still an unsolved mystery. It is commonly said that they were built by early Christians to avoid religious persecution thousands of years ago. However, archaeological studies show that many underground cities have not only one layer, but several layers. Among them, the deepest remains can even be traced back to the Semitic era, which was 1000 or 2000 BC.

The underground city sounds amazing. However, according to the previous research strategy, many travelers have reflected that it is an interesting rather than a beautiful scenic spot, and the two large underground cities are similar, so you can visit one. Yesterday's "red line" hike was hard. Today, our four girls are going to relax. We choose kemekli, which is closer to the underground city. As for the canyon hike and the ancient post station, just wave your hand. Forget it!

In a word, the underground city is similar to the tunnel warfare that we know very well. Anyway, it's all around the underground. Even if outsiders enter, they will soon be stunned. Now the underground city has designed a standard route. There are eye-catching signs at each fork of the road. Follow the arrow and you won't get lost. There are thousands of cave houses in the underground city of kemekeri. The caves that mark bedrooms, churches, granaries, wine cellars, kitchens and even tombs are not much different to laymen like us. I'm most interested in the narrow and short tunnels. There is a 10 kilometer long tunnel between kemekeri and delinkuyu. What's more, it's said that all the underground cities in Kapa are connected by cobweb like tunnels... Think about it, it's really an amazing underground world.

The magical underground world is not suitable for taking photos. Unfortunately, we put a lot of poses, most of which are wasteful expressions.

Touring gremay

After half a day's "green line" tour, we returned to Graeme. These days, I go out early and come back late. I've been running among various scenic spots, but I don't have time to take a good look at the town itself. I'm leaving soon. Anyway, I have to leave the last time for it.

But on the way back, I went to the small town under ushisar castle for a stroll. It was a very comfortable place

The town of Graeme is built along a small river, with a north-south street and an east-west street, it's gone. But small as it is, it's beautiful! In Graeme, no matter where you go, you will get a kind smile and a "hello" from the host. Every cave inn is an eye opener for us. I really want to stay in every family for a day. And those mouth watering Turkish desserts are really delicious. Among all the desserts, we recommend rice pudding as the best. While we were wandering around, we also met a travel program from a Japanese TV station.

The sun is setting in the west, and the dusk is already thick. On the way down the mountain, there is a garden dog with us all the way, as if to say goodbye to us. Yes, it's time to leave kappa. Here, for the first time in my life, I got on a hot-air balloon, saw the perfect sunrise for the first time, stayed in a cave hotel for the first time, and met friendly Turks for the first time... Kapadocia, as the first stop of Turkey, has made us fall in love with Turkey completely.

Supplement:

1. About FIRIN Express's recommendation: yesterday, it was said that the tinned beef in this shop is just like that. In fact, there is another unique skill, that is, another famous dish in Kapa, Turkey pide, a kind of Turkish pizza. His pide is also recommended on LP, and many local people buy a lot of bread in this shop, including the breakfast bread of the canyon family. Moomi and Xige made a special trip to eat at noon and recommended it to enyaya and me. Moomi even said, "let me eat this every day and I won't get tired of it!" So, before we left by night train, we went out of our way to get a takeout. We have to admit that it's really the best pide in Kapa, even the best pide we've ever had in Turkey. Isn't it worth strongly recommending!

2. About the transportation from gremee To Antalya: our second stop is Antalya, which is also a must for most tourists, so I thought there must be a lot of bus services between the two places. Who knows that when we went to buy tickets in the evening of the first day when we arrived at gremee, we were told by several bus companies (including the famous Metro family) that they were full... Finally, we managed to buy tickets from an unknown company. Later, I heard that at the same time, many donkey friends had to change their itinerary because they didn't buy tickets. The ticket is so tight, I wonder if it has something to do with tomorrow's Eid al Fitr? In any case, if you want to travel from gremee To Antalya, you must start first.

3. Scared by the tight demand of buses, Xige decided to book the tickets for the next trip in advance, but Turkey's long-distance bus tickets can't be purchased in other places. They can only be ordered through the official website of the bus company and paid by credit card. Here is a grand thank you to brother Mustafa, the innkeeper. He is very generous to let us use the computer. He is very patient to help us fill in the ticket information on the Turkish official website. He is also very kind to lend us a credit card to pay (we pay him in cash)... God bless the good people, Amen!

About the travel notes and more photos of kapadocia (the travel notes sent on Ctrip are too long, and many photos are not included), please refer to:

Diaries of Turkey (1): the setting sun at uburg, the land of Kapa http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_ 4b67a35e0101k8r9.html

Turkey diary (2. Part one): a trip to Kapa balloon in one's life http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_ 4b67a35e0101k9mb.html

Turkey diary (2 · 2) red line trip: chaos and fun in the journey http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_ 4b67a35e0101kehv.html

Turkish diary (3): mini version of "green line" tour and ramble in greme town http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_ 4b67a35e0101kfvj.html