I’ve decided to devote some time on this blog to trips of vacations past. And so, Flashback Friday has been born. The first trip I’d like to bring “Back to the Future,” is a trip Mike and I took to Cappadocia, Turkey two years ago. We were living in Adana, Turkey at the time. We were about to move to Germany (our house was all packed up and we were ready to go). So, we decided a short get-a-way, was exactly what we needed.

The trip to Cappadocia, Turkey took place over the Memorial Day weekend (May, 2011). And because they don’t celebrate Memorial Day in Turkey, it was the perfect time to go.

Because Mike had been extremely busy at work that year, we cut back on the amount of traveling we wanted to squeeze in during that time.  And because of his busy schedule, and our early departure time from Turkey (we stayed for only one year), we decided we needed a break.  So, this trip was all about… relaxing.  No set schedule, no tour guides, no plan.  Well, we planned to get there, and Mike reserved a room, but beyond that…no plan.

Okay, so our trip started pretty much like we spent the entire weekend…no real plan. We did some stuff around the house, packed our bags and…went to lunch. See, we were not in a hurry.  After that, we were on the road.  We had never driven any real distance since we arrived in Turkey, so this was our first Turkish road trip.  And it had some exciting moments.  But once we got back on the right road, we didn’t have any problems getting to Cappadocia.

Trying to read some of the highway signs was sometimes a problem

Cappadocia is a beautiful area (comprised of several cities) that was formed by the eruption of several volcanoes, the erosion of a river and the forces of the blowing wind.  That Mother Nature 1-2-3 combination, left behind a magnificent landscape of fairy chimneys and an eroded tuff landscape…that would later become cave dwellings and underground cities.

Fairy Chimneys

A camel shaped rock

Ever since Mike heard that cave hotels existed in the area, he wanted in.  I thought cave meant, “dark, cold, small and scary.”  Well, 1 out of 4 ain’t bad.  The cave hotel we stayed in was beautiful, but it was also a bit chilly (to me).  The Esbelli Evi was so unassuming on the outside, but gorgeous on the inside.  We rarely wanted to leave.  It’s a small place (only 13 rooms), and everyone was super friendly.  Our room was spacious and it was called the Colorband Suite (because of all the colors you could see in the carved rock when you looked around the room).  We ate breakfast on the shared balcony every morning (we also had a private terrace) and sat enjoying the view for a few hours before starting our day.

Esbelli Evi Cave Hotel

Once we finally ventured off the balcony, we drove to the nearby cities (Urgup, Avanos, Nevsehir, and Goreme) took lots of photos, (I think we stopped at every panoramic view point) and we did some shopping. We didn’t really do much of the touristy stuff.  We met several couples that were up and at it before dawn (some getting up at 4am for a balloon ride).  Mike and I lounged on the terrace until about noon each day. ( Side note: If you’ve never been on a hot air ballon, and you’re in Cappadocia, please go. It’s a wonderful place for a balloon ride: the skies are clear and the scenery is breathtaking. Mike and I just weren’t up for it.) 🙂

I thought this formation looked like an old man. Can you see it..I mean, him?

On our last full day, we did make it to one of the underground cities.  Derinkuyu is the biggest underground city in the area.  It has 8 levels, and very tiny stairwells.  It’s believed that this “city” once housed 20,000 people.  I guessed 1,000 to 2,000, while Mike thought 200 seemed about right.  There wasn’t that much room down there for either one of our guesses, let alone the 20,000 that actually lived there.

Underground City living room

Another underground room

When we visited Avanos, we were walking across a very shaky bridge when two teenagers stopped us. They wanted to take a picture with us.  I still don’t know why. (Maybe we’re famous…looking?) Then some lady hoisted her kid into Mike’s arms, so that we could take a picture with him.  I’m still so shocked by this phenomenon, that I rarely get to take my own picture.  Oh well.

I think we accomplished our relaxation goal for this trip.  We are very goal oriented, which means we were also well rested.