Get the Cappadocian High!
So when nothing in our lives was working out and when we were down but not yet out…we decided to take a break! A new show had been sucking the life out of us and for the first time …in ever were the both of us tired and low about theatre! When life brings you downs….sometimes you have to create your own highs! And that’s what we did!
Emptying our bank accounts with no idea how we were going to figure the show or the sponsorships out- we escaped….to Turkey!
Our first stop was Cappadocia… a land of Fairy chimneys and tales untold. Magical and surreal we were looking for this short escape from life and this seemed the perfect stop!
To get to Cappadocia , you must fly to Kayseri. A small airport in the middle of nowhere, we were glad we’d arrange transport to our hotel! Getting outside, the landscape looked nothing like what was promised to us. Barren , flat and boring it was like luck was just not on our side! Infact as we headed off in the car, driving through what looked like dessert we saw the most incredible sight- Mc Donalds! Well that was as un-Turkish as the rest of this miserable trip ! The car ride took about 1 hour and suddenly in the final 15 minutes or so, everything changed! Chimneys appeared from almost nowhere and the land looked like a fairytale come to life! Rock formations in crazy shapes and the car now seemed to be going up and down hill and there was suddenly too much to see and not enough time!The incredible cave dwellings still had people living in them , we were told, and I was really excited now to see where we’d be staying!
And before we knew it we were at our hotel – the exquisite Museum Hotel. Now we had specifically chosen a Luxury Cave Hotel to get the real Cappadocian experience and wow we were in for a treat! Our room was gigantic and our bathroom even larger. We had a small , oddly shaped cave window and every possible luxury you could imagine. Traveling all night and most of the day we were exhausted and we decided to head to the pool to relax. The pool, perfectly placed on the edge of a Cliff almost melted into the blue sky and one quick dip and we were refreshed and relaxed! Suddenly we heard the pitter patter of little feet on the stone and there were two glorious pups frolicking in the hotel. They are the owners dogs we were later told, though they often commanded a great deal more attention than the owners did!
Dinner was pre set and I was worried. This hotel in the middle of nowhere may not really be able to cater to my very difficult tastebuds and I was FAMISHED! I was wrong! The chef was the winner of International food Awards and the food just melted in my mouth! The turkish cuisine was fabulous and I wished desperately that our 5 course meal would last forever! The meal ended with some fabulous Turkish apple tea and we called it a night!
Turkey is approximately 2.5 hours behind us so getting up the next morning at 5 am (equivalent of 7:30 am) worked out okay! I was even to have a quick wash to get ready for our champagne balloon ride above Cappadocia! Now in most cities I would warn against doing anything remotely touristy but in Cappadocia if you don’t do the balloon ride, you’ve really missed on quite an incredible experience! We watched as the balloons got fired up and then headed up, up and away above the
glorious Cappadocian landscape- taking hundreds of pictures and photographing what looked like Google map images of earth! So high in the sky all our troubles were forgotten and as we bobbed in the balloon looking at the tens of other balloons that dotted the sky…life had never felt more colorful and I felt the incredible lightness of being!
Back on ground as we finally got our land legs back we went back to the hotel to have the most sumptuous breakfast ever! Local cheeses, fruits and every possible breakfast delight with some bubbly made the morning perfect! After that Aditya and I decided to do some exploring of our own so off we headed via ATV. Now anyone who knows me or knows my driving knows that an All Terrain vehicle is probably the safest thing for me to drive except when your driving over cliffs and driving down steep roads. I almost lost balance of the heavy vehicle more than once trying to keep up with our enthusiastic guide…. but luckily for me that despite a few near misses and one where the ATV had a wheel over the edge…I survived! This was the coolest way to explore Cappadocia and after dropping our guide back to the town aditya and I continued exploring the narrow lanes and numerous caves ourselves! Stopping every so often for an incredible photograph this is the ONLY way to see Cappadocia and is an absolute MUST DO!
In the afternoon we headed to the Goreme Open Air Museum and visited some ancient 10th, 11th and 12 th century churches. This was fascinating as you could still see the paint on the walls and scenes from the nativity, crucifixion and the Last Supper were painted in glorious detail. Then we marveled at some astonishing rock formations. My personal favourite was the camel because it looked so incredibly natural!
And After that we were off for a quick cup of rich turkish coffee and a fabulous photograph under the Evil Eye Tree!
Dinner was glorious as usual and before we knew it our 3 days in Cappadocia were over! Lighter, happier and calmer we were ready to take on the world. Sometimes all you need in life is a little Fairy dust from Fairy chimneys perhaps to make the whole world seem bright again!
Now that you know what i’m writing about and I am getting such amazing feedback – I’m going to now make this a weekly blog and update it with a new destination, new hotel, airline review on Wednesdays! So mid week get ready to travel…. even if it’s only via a blog and only for a few minutes! after all any adventure starts first with a little dreaming!
Also please vote on what you’d like me to write about next!
Posted on March 30, 2012, in Asia, Cappadocia, Hotels, Personal, Turkey and tagged aditya, air, apple, asia, atv, balloon, cappadocia, cappadocian, cheese, chimney, cobbled, crucifixion, divya, dog, evil, eye, fairy, food, gore me, goreme, gourmet, hitkari, hot, hotel, last supper, magical, museum, open, palat, path, restaurant, ride, surreal, tea, tree, turkey. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Normally I’d be nervous about a balloon ride, but that does look very tempting. 🙂
I agree especially at the height that we were at! I mean…it’s also not as if there was sea or any water even remotely close….you crash….it’s over ;)!
But what a terrain! It was unreal!
Hi Divya,
Nicely written and that touch of being personal and telling ur own story was amazing
It would be great to know abot the cost factor as well especially of hotels etc so we know what a lavish stay might cost esp for this place which seems to be an amazing place to be.
Keep on sharing and keep on writting…looking forward to some plays related to ur such travel experiences too
Thanks Darshan! Thank you for writing in!
I will keep that in mind and add in the cost factor as well for those that i do recollect….though I have tried to link each article to the Hotels so you might be able to see the current rate the hotel is charging for their rooms.
It’s interesting that most of my plays (concept wise and story wise) have actually been fleshed out during my travels! When you are calm and your mind is free …you seem to really be able to let creativity soar!
Keep reading and keep telling me what you want to see!
Love,
Divya
Lovely, lovely blog. amazing to read as always. The pool seems so awesome. Its almost like the pool at the Oberoi Wildflower Hall ahead of Simla. They too have a heated pool on the outside overlookign the vallet…the most amazing experience in the world.
Love riding ATV’s. How did you manage to topple that over (almost) :).
Have made this a must visit in the next 6 months itself. Is there a good time of the year to go there though? maybe a tip to include in these awesome blog posts.
Great to bring the traveller inside me come to life through your blogs.
Thanks for writing 🙂
Respect,
Himanshu
Dear Himanshu,
That actually is a super idea to comment on the time of year it’s preferable to travel in!
We traveled in late September and the weather was cool though veering towards the more chilly at nights. The days were PERFECT! It could actually get quite warm in Cappadocia so I wouldn’t recommend May!
I’d say August -September is the perfect time to travel or if you don’t mind a wee bit of chill you can probably travel in August as well!
About the ATV’s! Well gotta say I am a bit unbalanced but more importantly some of the roads were just about wide enough for 2 ATV’s so if 2 people were traveling side by side together and 1 isn’t the greatest of drivers….well you get the picture!
Thank you for keeping on encouraging me!
You keep me inspired to write
Love,
Divya
PS- I can’t wait to see your Cappadocia photographs!!!! ;)!!!!