Goreme would be our base for the next couple of days. Unlike some of our fellow travelers who resorted to washing in the bath, TC and I chose to avail ourselves of the hotel’s laundry service. One thing that became apparent in our travels was that the hotels where we stayed usually didn’t have guest laundries. Fortunately the cost of getting someone else to wash and dry your laundry was relatively cheap. We washed about five days of gear for both of us for less than 50 TL. We kept the hand washing for later in the trip when we didn’t have enough time to use a laundry service.
Our day started with a walking tour through the bushland around Goreme, including views of Love Valley (so named because of the phallic shaped rock formations rather than any romantic notions. It was a beautiful blue skied, sunny day and every few minutes there was another spectacular view. TC had his camera welded to his face and took an insane amount of photos. We trundled along for probably about an hour or so until we came to a shady sheltered spot. Lo and behold there was a shop there which offered fresh orange and pomegranate juice and flogged English books. Venturing off on our own, we headed up through another valley, through a sort of cave until Mutlu came after us to get us to come back. There were a lot of valleys and trails but also a lot of tourists so it’s pretty unlikely you’d get stuck out here long enough to sell your miracle survival story. I’m pretty sure Goreme is Turkey’s answer to Mission Beach – once a community but now the infrastructure for a tourist industry.
After a bit more trekking we stopped for a bio break at a local market (and undercover rest area). After that we jumped in the bus and headed to Uchisar for lunch. Finally a Turkish food that was just like we get at home. Only better. Gozleme. Traditional spinach and cheese. And potato and cheese. Delish. Washed down with a diet coke. TC couldn’t’ resist the choc caramel ice cream and I dutifully obliged finishing it off for him. We watched as the Turkish ladies made the fresh Gozleme and sat down at a low table on cushions to consume the delectable treat. This style of dining, sitting on the floor is not uncommon in Turkey.
After lunch we went on a guided tour of Uchisar, what was until 20 years ago an actual village that people lived in, carved into the walls. Our guide was our host at the café, whose family used to live there. We wandered through rooms that were kitchens, with ovens carved into the walls. Seats and tables, and stairs or at least climbing holes that went to upper floors. Apparently some of the carvings higher up were actually for pigeon coops. Pigeons were quite a feature of the way of life around Goreme. The secluded valley was quite serene and the local perspective on the dwellings was worthwhile. The girls bought a balloon souvenir that was to become our mascot for the rest of the tour – brightly coloured it came with a balloon that you blew up and put inside the balloon part.
After chilling out in the hotel for a while, we all piled into the minibus once more and headed into town for our dinner with a local family. They welcomed us at the door to their home, where we removed our shoes, as is customary in Turkey and came into their lounge room where we sat cross legged on cushions on the floor around a large table. We ate a traditional soup followed by a Turkish style casserole or stew and salad and bread. It was a simple Turkish meal that an average family might eat. Which was the point. Although it felt slightly uncomfortable and the family didn’t actually sit and eat with us which was what I was hoping for, it was worthwhile. It would probably have been better to get to know some Turks and be invited to their home for dinner. But at least these people were earning some extra money by doing this and it was nice to get have some contact with something a little bit less touristy. (See you Soon – Coldplay – This is from a compilation album called Coastal Chill. Not my usual fare but it was a good interlude in my CD stacker for those lazy Sunday drives down the mountain to Kiama.)
Following our dinner we headed off to experience one of Turkey’s great cultural oddities – the Whirling dervishes – Essentially the whirling dervish ‘dance’ is a trance like whirl that comes out of being in a highly contemplative religious state. The dervishes are part of a highly religious Muslim sect that originated in Konya in Turkey. Curiously now though, in the secular democracy of Turkey, they also ‘perform’ for the mobs of tourists that come through Cappadocia. The most impressive thing was the building where the performance was held. An ancient building of sandstone that was once used as a kind of traveller’s stop, it had a big open courtyard where the animals would have once been in. For the performance we went into what looked like a church in the round. We sat in wooden stalls that were a lot like church pews and watched as the dervishes got themselves in a trance like state (which actually takes a while. They come out wearing long black frock coats and as they whirled they removed them so they were in the traditional white long tunics we are used to seeing. The performance actually goes on for quite some time. We were already quite tired from a busy day of trekking and the lengthy performance and the constancy of the chanting and whirling nearly put me in a trance like state. TC bought me a spectacular Tracy style travelling present though – a whirling dervishes snow globe. Spectacular.