I don't know who would say no to the chance of spending New Year's Eve at Cappadocia but that's not me for sure. Late December I catch a flight to Istanbul where my good friend Jale waits for me at the airport with her brother's brand new VW Golf. I always prefer to drive but in the insane traffic of Istanbul I am more than happy that she does it for me. The traffic jam is so heavy that my stomach starts feeling bad due to the polluted air.
We leave mama Europe behind to enter Asia crossing Bosporus while I enjoy the "15th of July" bridge's night lights:
As we leave the traffic behind I take the driver's seat and we continue driving in the cold icy night. I must say I am very impressed by the grip this car offers under such terrain and conditions. Those electronics do wonders. At some point we are stopped by some authorities - it's night and I'm not sure if they are army police or traffic police but Jale rushes to do the contact and give them the papers. I offer to contribute but she says in my ear to stay in car as I shouldn't claim to be the driver or at least that's what I understand. Fortunately in a minute we're done and continue East. After 250ish km we arrive at the hotel of the Fenerbahce complex which is (as far as I can understand) where this football club prepares for the next season. All I can see at night is this:
Everything is under snow's blanket including the local lake. The hotel is rather luxurious and a huge chandelier hanging from the tall roof attracts my eye:
We later step down for dinner to realise that the dinning area at the ground floor is hosting a wedding party. Not exactly my cup of tea but interesting to see that anyway. Great food and nice service from the staff.
Next morning allows brighter shades of white to be captured:
The sun is penetrating and though Jale insists I can't be the model of her dreams:
What you see behind me is the frozen lake of Topuk Yaylasi. I didn't dare to walk it though, we had lots of km to do. Have a look at it:
We take the car and drive a reverse C shape route of 50KM South to visit Abant lake. It's also (partially) frozen and Jale is glad that I am a bit more of a model there:
Lots of snow around the lake:
We get in the car and before we leave the lake behind I take one more picture:
From Abant lake I drive another 500+km South East and that brings us to Goreme at Cappadocia. Before we enter the town at night I stop the car to take a picture:
The picture can't really tell but the place looks unreal at night with all these lights reflecting on these unique rock formations. We stay at one of those cave hotels and living inside the rock definitely adds something to the whole experience. Next morning our Turkish breakfast definitely has a view:
I don't know how but during our breakfast I end up talking with a Californian lady on the next table about Van Halen as she came with her husband to spend the New Year's Eve at Cappadocia as well and she knew guys from the band personally. What a small funny planet ours is...
Breakfast is over, time for a walk around icy cold but fortunately dry Goreme. Those volcanic rocks make the whole difference there with their formations:
I must admit that the local chickens not only make fantastic eggs but are among the cutest I've seen:
I tend to picture the contrast between old and new:
This is how the area outside Goreme looks like:
We visit an earthware workshop later where I see some interesting wine bottles:
The guy in charge explains me how their shape was convenient to serve wine on glasses:
Nice items nicely decorated by hand from those talented girls:
As we exit the place I can't resist picturing this massive copper door:
A short ride around Goreme led us to more interesting local rock art:
Zelve open air museum:
Climb any of those tops around and the view pays back eternally:
If you wonder how the whole area got shaped like this just imagine that this used to be a valley of volcanoes that once got flooded by lava. Then time and elements of nature applied their own artistic touch.
The reason behind our small ride was the fact that normally we'd be having a balloon tour around starting early in the morning but the wind was more than the maximum allowed limit (10km/h) so they cancelled the flight. At noon they told us we were good to go so we enter their bus which leads as to the take off spot. This is me in front of our balloon:
If it looks big to you then wait for the next picture to get a better idea of its size:
Did you see how tiny the guy inside it looks compared to it? And it's not even fully inflated yet. Here's another one in its full size:
And here's ours as we are taking off pictured from inside:
The pilot put all people inside the basket in certain places and I notice that we are like the light ones on one side and the heavier ones on the other. I wondered why...if only I knew why...Keep in mind that I said heavier and not heavy. That's because it's me, Jale and another 20 Japanese guys mainly girls. There's no such thing as heavy in a group like this.
As we take off I am already impressed by how safety is not a priority for these guys since we already collide with another balloon but the view is already impressive and we are not at full height yet:
I get a feeling you'd like a panoramic at this point don't ya?
Here's one more image that gives you an idea about the size of those things:
As we fly over those sharp rock formations they really look like razor blades:
It's so lovely to watch the other balloons colouring the freezing air:
I think it's fair to stop talking and just allow the pictures speak from themselves:
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