UAE and Al Ain

The last leg of the trip was to stop off in Dubai and go and visit James’ partner Fei in Al Ain. It was HOT, very hot indeed. We were only there a short time but Fei did an excellent job in organising our transport from Dubai to Al Ain and back again, showing us Al Ain and generally making us feel very welcome, including catering for breakfasts, lunches, dinners and, especially, beers.

Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo from our lunch spot in the Dubai mall just outside a vast window looking into the aquarium where we could see sharks and manta rays swimming around, very impressive. Carol was a little disappointed by the light and music show though as she said it was much shorter than on previous visits. Having caught a pink taxi to our hotel the night before we missed seeing the pink painting and writing on the station platform and accidentally got aboard a "ladies only" carriage. Good job it was only one stop as the ladies were quite indignant that Frank and Stephen had climbed aboard with Carol and I. We were much more careful on the return trip!

That building!	Light show just outside Dubai shopping mall
Harvesting dates	Date palms in the Al Ain oasis
Freshly applied henna tattoo	Flamingos in the mangroves near Dubai

The Ihlara Valley and the Selime Monastery

The Ihlara valley is a fertile gorge dissected by a deep green river between steep red cliffs. It is supposed to have some of the most attractive and interesting rock carved churches in Cappadocia but sadly many are almost obscured by graffiti, including one which tells of the punishment that would befall wives and mothers if they failed to do the right thing. (Get bitten on the nipples by a snake if you refuse to breast feed!)

The most direct access to the valley floor and most of the churches is by three or four hundred steps which descend around 150m. The valley can be quite hot and so the refreshment stop along the way was very welcome.

Descent into the Ihlara Valley	Apple tea time
Graffiti – a wife’s punishment	A slightly better preserved fresco

After exiting the Ihlara Valley we drove a little further down the road to the Selime Monastery. The area was settled by monks during the 13th Century and they eventually carved out an entire monastery in the cliff - church (complete with intricate frescos), kitchen, living quarters and even a winery! To get to the monastery proper you have to go through a small doorway, through a tunnel and paths that zigzag up up the cliff.

Outside the church in the monastery	Inside the church (second floor gallery)
More of the monastery	Apparently they filmed part of one of the Star Wars movies here.

Walking with Mehmet

I should point out that these Cappadocia posts are not in the correct order but I don’t think it really matters.

We had arranged to go for 2 x 1 day walks with the guide known locally as Walking Mehmet, and his dog Sarki. We ended up doing a 5 hour walk to Uchisar and back via Love Valley and Bee valley on the first outing and then a full day (7 hours) on the second outing to Rose valley. Both good walks but I enjoyed Rose Valley the best, especially the opportunity to clamber around inside one of the pigeon houses, the “hidden” church and the pomegranate juice stall in the middle of nowhere – at least that’s what it felt like.

going up to get into a church	coming down inside a pigeon house
Limestone waves rather than limestone caves	room for 84 pigeon nests on this level
Looks like just another cave house right?	But there’s a church in there!
Who would have thought!!	Clear the path – Sarki with small stick coming through

Cave rooms, churches and underground cities

The outside of our room “Battal” at the Fairy Chimney Inn

Same windows viewed from inside

There are apparently around 40 underground settlements from small villages to large cities where up to 30,000 people once lived, but only a few of these have been discovered. Derinkuyu was the largest, but we visited Kaymakli which is slightly smaller than Derinkuyu with around 5 levels excavated. Built from the same volcanic tuff as the fairy chimneys these settlements are thought to date back to the Hittite times at least (1900-1200BC). Photos don’t really do these places justice but consider that the large round stone Carol and I are sitting on was rolled in to place to "close the doors" if the city came under attack.

Looking through a “window”

Sitting on the door!

Cappadocia

I have to confess that Cappadocia was probably my favourite part of the Turkey trip but that it was also a bit of a blur. My cough had gotten worse and when it got to the point that I could hear strange noises coming from my chest I thought antibiotics might be required. Yuksel, who had been plying me with lemon and mint tea, took Frank down to the pharmacy on his scooter but as they wouldn’t dispense antibiotics because of other medication I was taking he then borrowed a friend’s car and came back with Frank to take me to the doctors – bronchitis. Yuksel really went out of his way to help, and I was very grateful.

So I’m afraid not many trip notes, and possibly way too many photos but the landscape really is amazing, the people so friendly, the food very good and the walking very interesting. The pigeon houses and the underground cities are fascinating, and so many hidden churches!

Cappadocia landscape

View from The Fairy Chimney Inn

More photos

Sun and moon	Sunset looking towards Uchisar
Panda – The Fairy Chimney Inn pooch	Pekmek – Grape molasses
Uchisar	View from Goreme open air museum
Those chimneys	Balloon sunrise