Turkish Mosaic circuit. The morning of Day 6 (around Uçhisar, Cappadocia)

9th October 2010

Around Uçhisar Valley, Cappadocia

We had been told some of the hotel guests were foreigners participating in the Peking-Paris old automobile race, but we had (for obvious reasons) not yet been able to see the vehicles they were participating in.

Prior to leaving to Cappadocia we photographed some of those ... and what a sight it was ... I  must salut some of these drivers ..., because irrespective of having adapted their vehicles for the long drive ahead, some of them will have to face some adversities along the way ... (I am sure).

The circuit schedule for the day was slightly changed, firstly because we had to collect some of our trip companions who had left very early to go on an hour baloon ride around the Cappadocia area and the dinner at an Ulasli inhabitant, which had been arranged was substituted by lunch, so as to allow some of us to participate in a folkloric night out.

We  headed towards Uçhisar, Cappadocia's highest hill to visit the Kale Garisi, a castle and fortress offering a magnificent panorama of the region, which has been defined as a basalt rock area covered in tuff by spewing volcanoes thousands of years ago and whose aspect does not ressemble anything we may have seen before, creating an unexpected  and undescribable enchanting mystery.

Different landscape views from the Kale Garisi, Uçhisar (Top Right).

Tombs to be seen outside the caves (Left). Inside the caves (Right)

Dovecotes, which have been seen in Cappadocia since the Byzantine era, are one of its most distinctive features. According to Turgay Tuna and Bulent Demirdurak, well known Turkish authors the fact that the dove has been considered sacred in the three Abrahamic traditions does not provide the most important reason for the presence of so many dovecotes in the region, which they strongly believe to be, the use of their manure as fertilizer, which  Cappadocians have been using on their crops for hundreds of years, and continue to do so.

Uçhisar Dovecotes (Left). Dovecote with multicolour ornamented façade (Right).

It was a seemingly  grayish day, but amazingly  enough there was a rather strange luminosity projected from these basalt rocks. A distinct feeling that it would rain at any moment accompanied us all the way throughout the Uçhisar valley visit, but it didn't ... and had it rained, the magic would still be there. 

Before heading onto Cavusin Valley and Avanos we stopped at some stalls to buy dried fruits, seeds and nuts, consummed in generous quantities  around Central Anatolia ...  and I am not surprised, because they are amongst some of the most delicious I have tasted so far, particularly the cashew-nuts.