Rocks, Underground cities, picture breaks and Katy Perry

At the end of March Barrie, Lore and I (the not sick people from our group) headed out on an eight hour bus journey to Cappadocia! On the way there we passed the time by watching Modern Family and being forced to listen to the weekend mix with the lights on until two in the morning. Our first stop of the day was Salt Lake or Tuz Golu 7:00am. Who wouldn't be happy to get woken up to take pictures of a lake that early in the morning? Tuz Golu is the second largest lake in Turkey and one of the riches lakes in the world producing 300 thousand tons (60% of Turkey's total production) of salt each year between the months of July and August.

Rise and Shine! 

Salt block throughout the lake 

After stopping for a quick bite to eat it was off to the underground cities. They are said to be from as early as 5BC. So far 36 underground cities have been ground thorough Cappadocia. Since Cappadocia lies between two volcanoes the ground contains volcanic ash which makes it very easy to chip away to create these vast cities underground. The contain elaborate pathways and tunnels connecting all of the floors. These cities were created to protect the people of the area from invaders. They were able to go down into the cities for months at a time and were completely hidden to outsiders. We went inside the Underground City of Kaymakli. This city is the largest in Cappadocia. It covers 1.5 sq miles of land. Currently 8 stories have been excavated but it is said to have up to 14. Visitors to the site are only able to see about 10% of the city.

The hanging post inside of the meeting hall..Now that's the way to keep people in line 

One of the bigger hallways. Most of them you'd have to duck to go through.
Talk about claustrophobia!

Cappadocia is known for their wine. What's their secret you might ask? Pigeon poop. They have massive pigeon coops that are passed down between family members where they collect the feces to put on the vineyards as natural fertilization. I'll have to admit the wine wasn't too bad. We finally made it back to the hotel for some downtime. We amused ourselves with Cappadocian wine, free dinner and a turkcell hat. 

Where did had our wine tasting 

Posing with the pigeon coops 

Saturday was an early morning and a jammed back day of traveling around Cappadocia. Cappadocia has a rich Christianity history. There are more than 600 rock churches throughout Cappadocia.  Many Saints have passed through or came from the area such as St. Paul, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nysa and St. Greory of Nazianzus.  We open air museum which was once a monastery. There were many different churches carved inside the rocks. Many of them still contained original frescos depicting many important Christian events such as the Last Supper and Constantine proclaiming Christianity as the official religion.  Along with the churches, there were the living quarters of the monks. 

What's up ruins 

Getting ready for dinner 

Frescos inside of the churches 

This area is also know for their homemade pottery and this art is passed down through generations. We were abel to see first hand a Master Potter working and one of us even had a chance to try. Afterwards we  got the opportunity to look around at all of the pottery they have made to sell. The intricity of the detail was remarkable. On our way back to the hotel we were able to stop many places for "picture time". 

The Master Potter 

All of their handmade pottery 

Photo stop on the top of a mountain 

In the evening we went to experience a Turkish Night. There was traditional dancing, whirling Dervishes, and belly dancing. After the show it turned into a club were they had to turn off all of the lights to get us to leave. We continued our party on the bus to Katy Perry's classic Last Friday Night, The remix and Teenage Dream. 

Turkish dance? 

We love Cappadocia! 

6am came way to fast the next day but Lore and I got up and went on our balloon tour that we promised ourselves we would do before we left. We got a rolls and coffee which helped to wake us up before going up.  Balloons covered the valleys! Our balloon could fit 20 people and once everyone was in we were off! We went 1,400 meters above Cappadocia. We could see for miles! After landing they offered us champaign to celebrate our landing. (as if it's not normal to survive this?) Then it was time to get back on the bus for another 12 hours to Istanbul. 

The view from above

Early morning balloon rides 

It was a long weekend but it was so much fun! I got to meet so many great people and we planned when we would go to our first soccer match. So last weekend it finally happened I got to experience a Turkish soccer game. Galatasaray (from Istanbul) vs. Orduspor. Of course Galatasaray won 2-0. Every time they scored the crowd would go nuts! The whole stadium (which could hold 50,000 people) was filled with canting and screaming. There was a caged off area for the opposing team to make sure that if things got crazy they'd have some protection. I found out that at previous games if the crowd gets too crazy they restrict men from going to the next one and only women are allowed to enter. Once you get inside it's quite but getting inside is the challenge since all of the men still wait outside trying to get it. I've already started to learn the cheers so at the next game I can cheer along with the crowd. After the game we went to the Polish guy's house that we met in Cappadocia for a celebration party (which lasted until 8 in the morning). There was dancing, games and even limbo. I'm already planning on when to go to another game! 

Lore and I all set for the game!

The Stadium  

Barrie, Lore and I during the game 

Limbo at the after party

This is the last week before midterms start. I'm crossing my fingers for easy tests. We're planning on dying eggs and having bunch to celebrate Easter (after my final of course). I'm so excited for Em to come and visit! I can't wait to show her around where I've been living for the past two months. Then it's off to Athens and Santorini Island with Barrie for a weekend to see Andrea. I still can't believe I have less than two months left of my stay here in Istanbul. I can't wait to see what else Turkey has to offer!