I got back on Monday from my trip to Kapadokya (the Turkish spelling) and all I can say is WOW. It was an amazing trip. It started on Wednesday when I went to Ankara for an orientation for the exchange students in my district (Ankara district). On Friday my district met up the exchange students from the İzmir district and then we embarked on our 5 hour bus ride to Kapadokya.

There were a total of 43 exchange students: 14 Americans, 18 Brazilians, 8 Mexicans, 2 Canadians, and Louise from Australia. I was expecting there to be more countries, but it was fun just the same. Our tour guide, Ali, was amazing. He was so knowledgeable about everything we saw and he told some really interesting historical stories.

Our first stop on the way to Kapadokya was at the second largest lake in Turkey. It is called Tuz Golu, which means salt lake. This name is pretty appropriate, as it is 33% salt. During the summer and fall, the lake dries out and you can walk on it. The lake is huge and it felt really funny to be walking on salt. Interesting fact: 70% of Turkey's table salt comes from that lake.

Our second stop was at this fortress/medieval rest stop that is well over a thousand years old. It was used by travelers on the silk roads and is still in really good shape. We saw the stables where travelers kept their camels as well as rooms used both for 'VIP guests' and valuable items. One thing that made this fortress unusual was that it had a good size mosque in the middle of the courtyard. Ali told us that although other buildings similar to this one still exist, this is the only one with a mosque in it.

In Kapadokya, there are three types of rock formations: dondurma (which means ice cream and are called such because they look like soft ice cream), layered rock formations, and fairy chimneys. Fairy chimneys are the formations that have a base that is one color and a darker color on top that looks like hat. They have this name because villagers used to think that fairies had made and lived in these formations. In reality, the rock formations were formed by volcanoes millions of years ago. After the volcanoes erupted, the lava covered the hills and valleys and formed these rock formations. The darker top layers were formed by volcanic ash. The formations are continuously being eroded by rain and snow and wind, so they are constantly changing in shape and size.

The first thing that we did when we reached Kapadokya was to eat lunch. The restaurant had a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside but the food was not nearly so impressive. As a matter of fact, it made half of the group sick for the majority of the following day. But Gulin (one of our chaperones) made the sick people eat this weird concoction made of coffee grinds and lemon juice, which they said tasted awful, but it made them feel better.

The next day, we went to an underground city called Kaymakli. It was used by Christians to hide from their enemies and persecutors from about the 4th century to the 11th century. They did not always live underground, they would just hide for a few weeks or a month, and then resurface when they were out of danger. Kaymakli was a large city, it could hold about 3000 people. Excavators did not discover it until 1964, which just shows how well hidden it was.

Our next stop was a valley called Pigeon Valley. Our bus was a little detained in getting us there however: at one point we had to stop because there was a farmer standing with his flock of 40 sheep in the middle of the road. That is definitely not something that you would ever see in America. Once we got past the sheep and reached the valley, we could see little holes in the sides of the valley that serve as homes for the hundreds of pigeons who live there. There was a man who owned a shop next to this valley and he had some pigeons that could perform an amazing trick. While flying, the pigeons would do a flip in mid-air and then fly in the other direction.

Then, we went to a pottery factory in a town named Avanos. All of their products are made, painted, and glazed by hand. Many families in this town have been potters for generations. Ali told us that a long time ago, if a man in this town could not make a pot with a lid that fit on it, he would not have been able to find a wife. The vases and bowls that I saw in this shop were absolutely stunning.

Next, we went to the Göreme outdoor museum. It consists of many caves that monks and nuns lived in from about the 9th century to the 13th century, as well as many churches in other caves that date from the same time period. You can see the different styles of decoration in these churches based on the time period. During the iconoclastic period, symbols were used to depict people and events in Christianity. Later, these symbols were painted over with frescoes, many of which are still in amazingly good condition. There are pictures of angels, saints, and of course, Jesus and Mary. There were also many pictures of St. George slaying the dragon. In one church there was a drawing of an animal that symbolized the devil; it took us over an hour to guess what the animal was. It turned out to be a locust, because those animals were considered very destructive as they could completely destroy all of a family's crops and food.

Our next stop was a special one, because Ali doesn't usually take people there. It was a valley full of fairy chimneys, dondurma formations, and layered rock formations. You could climb to the top of the formations and from there, you could see the entire valley. It was a beautiful sight.

That evening we had Turkish night. We went to a restaurant that was somewhat like a dinner theater. We saw Whirling Dervishes perform a ceremony and then we saw dancers perform 10 folk dances from all over Turkey. The dancers' costumes were gorgeous (Yesodot should try to get some) and the musicians were fantastic. At one point during the evening, everyone (performers and audience) went outside and danced around this ginormous bonfire together. All of us exchange students agreed that Turkish night was the most fun we had the entire trip.

On Sunday, which, sadly, was our last day, we went to the Valley of Imagination. The rock formations in this valley look like animals and people. We saw a camel, some seals, and the Virgin Mary. Next, we visited more fairy chimneys, but the cool thing about these was that you could climb inside them. There were a few stairs, but at some points, you had to climb using handholds and footholds. So, I sort of rock climbed for the first time, but it was in a confined space, which is not nearly scary as the side of a mountain. Monks used to live in these caves as well, and we found a few caves that were still being used. In fact, two of my fellow exchange students, Abi (whose real name is Matt, but everyone calls him Abi, which means older brother) and James found a cave that had a tangerine and a feather inside of it, which we think was part of a monk's lunch...

The last place we went to was a village situated in yet another valley. We were going to hike down to the restaurant at the bottom of the valley, but we ran out of time, so the bus took us there instead. After lunch, we walked around the village. It is a very very small village, with a population of maybe 90 people but it was absolutely gorgeous.

After that, we had a five hour bus ride back to Ankara and we ate dinner at the train station before the İzmir students had to catch their train. Dinner was pretty good, that is until Abi found a cockroach in his food. That was an interesting end to a our weekend.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading about my trip to Kapadokya. It is an amazing place and I really want to go back. Have a good Wednesday everyone!