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| Unique landscape |
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| Clay Pot Supper (lamb is cooked inside of the clay, then the pot is broken to serve the meal) |
We were at an outdoor restaurant smoking apple nargalie with Georgie and Rohan, honeymooning Aussies we’d met a few towns back, when we got a sales pitch for the Green Tour. “It’s a must-see,” they agreed through bites of clay pot supper, a local speciality that is cooked in a sealed clay pot, then smashed open during the meal. They described the green tour route: panoramic views of the volcanic activity that created the cone caves, an underground city, a creekside hike through a green valley, an opportunity to hike through a cave city located in a hillside, pigeon valley, and last but not least… the onyx sales demonstration. Rohan recounted his near-purchase of jade earrings at the sales demonstration. “They were in my hands. I had already drank their tea. The salesman seemed like such a nice guy, and he was offering me such a good deal. I couldn’t say no.” Georgie confirmed his story, “It’s true; he can’t say “no,” so I have to do it for him.”
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| Caves Homes and Hotels in Cappadocia, Turkey |
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| Inside our cave hotel |
Mark and I tend to be too independent for tours, but after hearing how much the Aussies had enjoyed theirs, we were sold. We booked our tour through our Cave Hotel and despite the fixed price of 70 TL per person, we were able to negotiate down to 60 TL ($40 each), not bad considering it included lunch, petrol, a guide, and all entrance fees. We were the first to be picked up on our 9:30 am shuttle. We circled town to pick up a family of 5 Canadians (3 of them pre-teens), a family of 4 from Kentucky/Tennnesee (including an 80 year old Narcissistic grandmother), 3 Aussies, and 3 Koreans.
The sites were outstanding, especially the underground city, a Christian labrynth of underground stables, living rooms, wine rooms, food storage and churches. We went 4 layers deep and only took in 10% of the underground maze where Christians used to hide for 1-2 weeks at a time. In between sites, we enjoyed viewing the green prairies and snow-capped mountains. At one point, the sun was shining so spectacularly on one particular mountain, that Mark asked, “Hey, does anyone mind if we stop for a photo?” “Yeah, sounds great!” we heard from the backseat of the shuttle. We felt proud of our ability to customize our tour to fit our needs and were quite pleased that others were on board with our plans.
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| Mark, exploring underground caves |
We took a 4km hike through a valley where 4-5,000 Christians used to live in the cliff caves. One of the caves was a church with painted icons on the domed roof walls. The guide explained that the front window was used to begin construction in the hillside. By digging out the top of the church first, the painters were able to reach the ceiling before the lower walls were formed. We ended the hike at a 5-course creekside restaurant. Mark and I were tired of white bread, but still managed to polish off a full round loaf of bread between the two of us before the beef casserole arrived. As we pulled out of the parking lot, our guide said, “It’s about an hour drive back into town. Does anyone want us to stop for the toilet before we go back?” Mark and I looked at each other with dessert in our eyes. “How about ice cream?” we suggested. “Sure,” the guide chimed. We felt that it was another personalized victory on a group tour. The driver, the guide, all of the kids, and of course, Mark and I went in the petrol station to get ice cream and came out with big, happy smiles on our faces.
We continued the tour to a hillside city of caves where pigeon holes dotted the landscape. The guide explained that pigeons were important in carrying information back and forth to towns. It felt great to hike around through the caves, and when we finished 20 minutes later, Mark and I were the first to load back onto the bus. So far, so good; this group tour wasn’t so bad. Our next stop was Pigeon Valley, a less than spectacular site. We snapped a few pictures and gathered near the bus. I noticed a vineyard across the street and commented to Mark that it was such a shame we were on a group tour because I’d love to stop in and see the winery. Our driver, smoking a cigarette nearby, must have overheard our conversation because he asked, “Do you drink wine?” “I love wine,” I replied. “Come with me,” the driver motioned. I smiled giddily at Mark as we crossed the street to the tasting room. We tried a few samples of delicious local red wine before heading back to the shuttle. As we crossed the street, we noticed that the van was already full from the front seat, two passengers were giving us the stink eye, like we had personally held up the tour by taking the driver to the winery. We realized that the passengers may believe it was another one of our suggestions to visit the winery, but we consoled ourselves with the fact that it didn’t take too long, and it was the driver’s suggestion, not ours.
The shuttle continued down the road without any further suggestions from Mark and I about ideal panoramic photo opportunities. Eventually we pulled into the Onyx demonstration building. Mark and I weren’t interested in the sales, so as everyone emptied the van, we slipped a tip to the driver and explained that we had enjoyed the tour and would be walking back into town. We gathered our belongings, shook the driver’s hand, and headed back up the hill on foot to take photos. We skipped along the roadside clicking away at the majestic landscape all around us. What a perfect day, we thought. We did a tour, and we did it our way. About 30 minutes later, we were walking back downhill towards town when we again caught sight of the Onyx demonstration building. “Hey, I think that guy pacing there is our guide. He must be waiting for the group to finish buying crap,” I said to Mark. I added, “Oh, some of the people are in the van; they must be almost wrapped up.” Mark thought out loud, “Georgie said the demonstration only takes literally 5 minutes.” “OMG, they’re waiting for us!” I instantly realized. “How long have they been waiting!?!” We felt the piercing glare of everyone in the van. With humiliation we looked at each other, “We told the driver not to wait for us! They must all think we’re jerks!” We burst out laughing. There was nothing to be done. We waved and smiled with embarrassment. From across the street, we motioned that we were walking and they were free to go, but we were pretty certain that they hated us, the self-absorbed, ugly Americans.
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