{"id":2260,"date":"2016-12-28T22:40:24","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T14:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/?p=2260"},"modified":"2016-12-28T23:39:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T15:39:49","slug":"20160826goreme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/28\/20160826goreme\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 8 of Turkey Vacation: Red Tour of G\u00f6reme on August 26th, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning, much to our displeasure, we found Metro company dropped us off at the Nev\u015fehir Bus Station (which was on the outskirts of the city of Nev\u015fehir), rather than in the center of G\u00f6reme Town. And to our greater displeasure, we were reminded to get off the bus not by the bus conductor, but by some travel agent guy at the bus station. (One possible explanation other than the bus company\u2019s blatant unprofessionalism was that the bus conductor didn\u2019t speak English very well, which we took it.)<\/del><\/p>\n

Then we were informed (by this travel agent guy) that Metro company would provide us free shuttle to G\u00f6reme Bus Station, but we were supposed to wait at Nev\u015fehir for the Istanbul bus to come, and\/or that the shuttle vans of Metro company wasn\u2019t currently available. Well, since he\u2019s basically the only one at the station that spoke English, we sort of had to trust him.<\/p>\n

That was quarter past 6 in the morning, and the whole bus station was literally a ghost town. The Istanbul bus and our shuttle van came at quarter past 7, and during that hour some magic happened (yes, I was summarizing it this way) and the travel agent guy somehow managed to persuade us to book tours with him, since he was offering better quotes than our hotel (80TL or 90TL for red tour, I forgot the details) and we hadn\u2019t finalized all the tours with our hotel yet. <\/p>\n

Conclusion, tours around Cappadocia should be better booked in person than through emails, and to do that it\u2019s better to arrive in the afternoon (or evening) than in the morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cave<\/a>

<\/br>Cave Hotel Cellar<\/br>The first time my hotel put two beds on separate floors.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n


\nThe images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View of Mountain Rooms from Hotel Balcony<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Cave<\/a>

<\/br>Cave Hotel Interior<\/p><\/div>
\nSo after the Metro company van dropped us in G\u00f6reme and we checked into our hotels (thank God there were rooms available early in the day), we caught some naps and waited for the travel agency guy to pick us up at 10.<\/p>\n

Since we booked the red tour only a few hours in advance, our tour was actually guided by a friend and licensed Turkish tour guide of that travel agency guy, who was driving a family car instead of the standard tour vans. It felt almost like a private tour.<\/p>\n

The first stop of the red tour was G\u00f6reme Panorama, a spot overlooking the town of G\u00f6reme and its neighboring valleys, designated for people to take souvenir photos.
\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View from G\u00f6reme Panorama<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Uchisar<\/a>

<\/br>Uchisar Castle from G\u00f6reme Panorama<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Tree<\/a>

<\/br>Tree of Blue Eyes in G\u00f6reme Panorama<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"G\u00f6reme<\/a>

<\/br>G\u00f6reme Town from G\u00f6reme Panorama<\/p><\/div>
\nThe next stop was Pigeon Valley, just outside the town of Uchisar. Since G\u00f6reme was in some sort of geologically basin, it\u2019s hidden from distant view. People from Uchisar used to send pigeons to G\u00f6reme carrying military information. So to raise the amount of pigeons required for that messenger use, people dwell pigeon holes in the valley so that pigeons could hatch eggs, and since the valley was full of pigeons.
\n

\"Pigeons<\/a>

<\/br>Pigeons at Pigeon Valley<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Town<\/a>

<\/br>Town of Uchisar from Pigeon Valley<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View of Pigeon Valley and Uchisar Castle<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Uchisar<\/a>

<\/br>Uchisar Castle and Tree of Blue Eyes<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Landscape<\/a>

<\/br>Landscape of Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\nThe next stop was \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village. It used to be a Greek cave settlement, but the population exchange after the Turkey-Greece war meant the caves were long abandoned.
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Mosque Interior<\/br>This used to be a Christian Church, and our tour guide told us the concave on the left should point to the Christian Holy city of Jerusalem (or Bethlehem, I forgot). Later Muslims conquered this place and converted it to a mosque, and the big concave on the right should point to the Islamic holy city of Mecca. The problem was that, Google Maps told me these two cities were roughly the same direction.<\/span><\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Decorations<\/a>

<\/br>Decorations inside \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Mosque<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Mosque Interior<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Quran<\/a>

<\/br>Quran Reading Places in \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Mosque<\/br>Since it\u2019s considered inappropriate in the Islamic religion to place Quran below one\u2019s belly, they carved into the wall concaves to place Quran.<\/span><\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village (Converting to Hotels)<\/p><\/div>
\nThe tour guide told us more interesting stories along the way, about the expenses to obtain a “cave permit” to turn them into hotels, and so on.
\n

\"Ground<\/a>

<\/br>Ground Layering outside \u00c7avu\u015fin Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Interior<\/a>

<\/br>Interior of \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Cave overlooking \u00c7avu\u015fin Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Hotels<\/a>

<\/br>Hotels by \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Pigeon<\/a>

<\/br>Pigeon Holes outside \u00c7avu\u015fin Village<\/p><\/div>
\nAfter that we climbed to the top of that hill with some wonderful views.
\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View on top of \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village and the Aktepe<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Top<\/a>

<\/br>Top of Mountain near \u00c7avu\u015fin Overlooking North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Landscape<\/a>

<\/br>Landscape of Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Mushroom<\/a>

<\/br>Mushroom Rocks in North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View of \u00c7avu\u015fin Town and North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View of \u00c7avu\u015fin Town and North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Top<\/a>

<\/br>Top of \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Mosque in the Center of \u00c7avu\u015fin Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u00c7avu\u015fin<\/a>

<\/br>\u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Remains<\/a>

<\/br>Remains of Church in \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Remains<\/a>

<\/br>Remains of Church in \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Remains<\/a>

<\/br>Remains of Church in \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Building<\/a>

<\/br>Building Remains in \u00c7avu\u015fin Cave Village<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Country<\/a>

<\/br>Country Road from G\u00f6reme to Avanos<\/p><\/div>
\nThe next stop was some pottery showroom<\/del>workshop near Avanos. The town of Avanos was famous for its pottery product (maybe this has something to do with the river that flowed through the town). But since I was pretty bad at pottery, I will skip this part.<\/p>\n

Next stop of the day was lunch, buffet style in a restaurant (Han\u2019s) outside Avanos. Since we were a small group that didn\u2019t need to spend time waiting for people, we finished the tours pretty quick, and were the first to arrive at that restaurant.
\n

\"Passing<\/a>

<\/br>Passing Table Mountain in North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Table<\/a>

<\/br>Table Mountain and Farmland in North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

After lunch the next stop was Pasabag, also known as Monks Valley, and it\u2019s said Pasabag has the highest density of chimney rocks in the whole Cappadocia region. There our guide gave us a brief geological lecture about the formation of such rocks (different levels of erosion), and then we roamed the rocks.<\/p>\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"A<\/a>

<\/br>A Very Steep Hill just Climbed<\/p><\/div>
\nMostly visitors to Pasabag would just stay on the ground level, however, my exploration spirits found me this very steep trail up to the top the rocks.
\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View from Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Aktepe<\/a>

<\/br>Aktepe to the South<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/br>Looks like waves.<\/span><\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Town<\/a>

<\/br>Town of Avanos to the North<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Cave<\/a>

<\/br>Cave Dwellings in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Cave<\/a>

<\/br>Cave Dwellings in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Interior<\/a>

<\/br>Interior of Cave Dwellings in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Pasabag<\/p><\/div>
\nThe next stop was Devrent Valley, also known as imagination valley, where the rocks resemble different animals. Since I lack imagination of this sort, I won\u2019t go into details.
\n

\"Table<\/a>

<\/br>Table Mountain in North Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Landscape<\/a>

<\/br>Landscape of Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Landscape<\/a>

<\/br>Landscape of Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Landscape<\/a>

<\/br>Landscape of Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Camel<\/a>

<\/br>Camel Rock in Devrent Valley<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Rock<\/a>

<\/br>Rock Formations in Devrent Valley<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Duck-Kissing<\/a>

<\/br>Duck-Kissing Rock of Devrent Valley<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Villages<\/a>

<\/br>Villages in East Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Villages<\/a>

<\/br>Villages and Farmland in East Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Cave<\/a>

<\/br>Cave Dwellings in \u00dcrg\u00fcp Town<\/p><\/div>
\nThe next stop was some wine shop. The whole Cappadocia region was covered by grape plants where there weren\u2019t rocks. I don\u2019t drink alcohol, and I was wondering how such massive alcohol production could possibly exist in a Muslim country.<\/p>\n

The next stop was Family Chimney, where there were three chimney rocks of various heights resembling father\/mother\/child<\/del> two parents and a child in a family of three.
\n

\"Family<\/a>

<\/br>Family Chimney<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Family<\/a>

<\/br>Family Chimney<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"View<\/a>

<\/br>View of Family Chimney and South Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Aktepe<\/a>

<\/br>Aktepe in the Distance<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Landscape<\/a>

<\/br>Landscape of North-East Cappadocia<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Trails<\/a>

<\/br>Trails near Family Chimney<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Town<\/a>

<\/br>Town of \u00dcrg\u00fcp East of Family Chimney<\/p><\/div>
\nThere was some consensus among everyone in the car to skip G\u00f6reme Open Air Museum, which was the usual final stop of the red tour. Since it was an overnight bus the previous night, we didn\u2019t rest very well (especially true for my father), so we said goodbye with our guide and went back to the hotel room and got more sleep.<\/p>\n

I woke up some time after sunset and did a little exploration of the little town of G\u00f6reme.
\n

\"Rocks<\/a>

<\/br>Rocks of Cappadocia under Sunset<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Hotel<\/a>

<\/br>Our Hotel Entrance<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"G\u00f6reme<\/a>

<\/br>G\u00f6reme at Dusk<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Plaza<\/a>

<\/br>Plaza in G\u00f6reme Center<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"G\u00f6reme<\/a>

<\/br>G\u00f6reme Roman Castle at Night<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"G\u00f6reme<\/a>

<\/br>G\u00f6reme Roman Castle at Night<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Tower<\/a>

<\/br>Tower of G\u00f6reme Town Mosque<\/p><\/div>
\n

<\/a>

<\/br>G\u00f6reme Hidden Cave Hotel<\/p><\/div>
\nAfter that, I took some more photos of the starry night, some of my most satisfying photos thus far
\n

\"Starry<\/a>

<\/br>Starry Night of G\u00f6reme<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Starry<\/a>

<\/br>Starry Night of G\u00f6reme<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Town<\/a>

<\/br>Town of G\u00f6reme at Night<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Milky<\/a>

<\/br>Milky Way<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Milky<\/a>

<\/br>Milky Way<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"My<\/a>

<\/br>My Hotel at Night<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Stars<\/a>

<\/br>Stars Flying By<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Stars<\/a>

<\/br>Stars Flying By<\/p><\/div>
\nEND<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, much to our displeasure, we found Metro company dropped us off at the Nev\u015fehir Bus Station (which was on the outskirts of the city of Nev\u015fehir), rather than in the center of G\u00f6reme Town. And to… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2268,"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260\/revisions\/2268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}