Day 1,456
Cappadocia
So the morning finally arrived and how was Tom? Was it to be a lift out and a rest day, hospital, ride? Though clearly not well, 24 hours of bread and bananas were helping and he opted to ride. Well when I say ride I actually mean push! We left via the Star Wars route, past the fairy castles and along the dirt track that took us out of the valley and up to the main road. A shortcut Tom said, in distance yes, but in time and effort probably not. Tom rode a fair bit but the steep rocky sandy surface was just too hard for me and I pushed most of the way. We were rewarded with stunning views and a friendly encounter with a local resident, a tortoise who I named George. He clearly had had a hard life, his shell somewhat battered, but he was completely unfazed by meeting us and we stood for a while, me chatting away to George until he became bored and continued on his way.
George
Finally we re-joined tarmac and back on the bikes we speeded along, surrounded as usual by heavenly displays of wild flowers. Tom had added a short out-and-back to a crater lake, only a mile, but steep uphill all the way. Lake Nar finally lay before us. Several bus loads of tourists were snapping pictures, some very impressed with our efforts getting there. I was just shattered, sometimes when long distance touring we can get a bit weary, we've seen quite a few crater lakes and quite frankly we weren't sure this one was worth all that effort. This though is clearly being unfair to Lake Nar, which is a pretty special place. It's home to a newly discovered species of microscopic diatom algae. It undergoes major changes through the seasons. In winter, cold top to bottom, in spring it develops a warm upper half whilst the lower portion remains cold and without oxygen and, well lots more interesting stuff. There is also geothermal activity in the area, so the lake is surrounded by hot springs. It would make a great wild camp spot too, but we had places to be and more importantly, people to meet!
But first we were heading underground. The rock that allowed the creation of dwellings and churches in the hillsides also allowed the development of cities underground and that we were excited to see. We rode past one, but as Google informed us, the best and largest remains were in Derinkuyu, so we rode on.
The underground city in Derinkuyu was massive. Built to a depth of 85 metres, it could accommodate over 20,000 people along with their food stores and livestock. Like the monastery in Selime, passageways could be blocked by the use of millstones. There were rooms to live and sleep in, wine stores and presses, stables, chapels, even a religious school room. The remains of a 55 metre ventilation shaft were clearly visible, which was also used as a well.
The main reason the city was built was as a place of safety during the Arab-Byzantine wars of around 780 to 1180 AD. It was actually connected to another similar city in Kaymakli via an underground 9 km tunnel. The cities were still in use in the 14th century by the local Christians to protect them from the Mongolian invaders. Even as late as the 20th century, they were still in use. In 1909 to 1911, Richard MacGillivray Dawkins, a Cambridge scholar, interviewed Greek speaking natives, who told of hiding out there after the massacres at Adana in 1909 where 20,000-30,0000 ethnic Armenians and 1,300 Assyrians were slain by Ottoman Muslims. By 1923 the underground city finally fell into disuse as a place of sanctuary after the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, though the tunnels are still used in places for storage and stables.
Four floors remain open for tourists to visit. We spent a good hour walking and crawling along the corridors and maze of rooms. I started to feel rather claustrophobic, just how those poor people lived here for months at a time is hard to comprehend.
We had one more treat in store. Back in Spring 2023 whilst touring through Central America we met a fellow Brit, Matt Pepperdrine. By chance he was touring here too. We had time for a quick coffee and natter before we headed off to bed and he rode onwards to Gorëme to camp out and see up to 100 hot air balloons float upwards at dawn over the valley. We needed sleep, so that treat would have to wait another day. We made plans for a proper catch up tomorrow and headed to bed.
In the morning Tom was feeling pretty good and we headed off to meet Matt. The ride was pretty short, just 20 miles or so. Soon we could see the remains of Uchisar Castle which dominates the skyline for miles around. Believed to have been constructed between the 4th and 1st centuries BC. Used as a place of sanctuary, it could be reached from the outlying town by hidden underground passageways. Used by many over the centuries, it gradually fell into disuse but remains a popular tourist sight, mainly for the awesome views from the top. We had plans to see those same views from the hillside across the valley so carried on. We rode downhill and on reaching Gorëme decided food was needed. I messaged Matt P, and invited him to join us, a joint birthday celebration for Tom and I and a reunion too. Tom planned on a simple meal, maybe a small piece of grilled chicken, nothing more. You can see from the photos how that worked out!
Matt P, and another inappropriate dining session for Tom
Meal over, Matt led us on an afternoon of exploration. We rode along and up many valleys and saw more fairy castles along with many other interesting shapes created over the years. Sword Valley was a particular treat. We all clambered up and into the remains of carved dwellings and churches. Unsurprisingly Tom was starting to feel unwell again, he rested whilst I watched Matt display his rock climbing skills by somehow climbing up three stories without the use of stairways. A fourth floor defeated him, if only he'd thought to bring his climbing gear!
Finally we headed to our wild camp spot. High above the town, up onto a plateau where Matt had camped out the previous night. A perfect spot to watch the hot air balloons. Unfortunately for Matt, none had flown that morning because of bad weather, so we sat up past the sunset and late into the night chatting away before heading to bed. We hoped to rise around 4.30am to witness what Cappadocia is world famous for. Would we be disappointed or would the weather win again?
