Troglodyte

That is your word of the day, and it was what I have been aspiring to be over the last week. Get ready for pictures!

Cappadocia trumps Kotor. The place is absolutely amazing. You could spend a lifetime in the little town of Göreme (a tourist town that manages to not feel like a trap), and still never explore all the nooks and crannies in the surrounding valleys. Think Arches National Park in Utah, with a awesome ancient cave houses thrown in. We've also decided it is one of the best places in the world to travel with kids (thinking of you, LSCCers!).



I'll give you the (very) remedial history of the area. A few thousand years ago, the Hittites started making caves to store fruit and grain; the rock is so soft that carving out a piece is no big thing. Christians arrived seeking peace from various oppressors (Romans, etc.) and learned how to make cave houses from the locals. What followed was an explosion of dwellings hidden away in a maze of valleys. Dwellings range from beautiful churches with frescoes and carvings chipped out of the cliffside...



...to underground cities 8 floors deep. These were great, with some floors connected by a single, narrowing passage. These passages end with a guard room that features a giant stone to roll in front of the door. There is a small hole in the stone to shoot arrows or thrust spears at any would be attackers (who barely have space to move).



Our first day in Göreme, fresh off the night bus from Istanbul, we headed for Sword Valley. We walked the road for about 30 minutes before taking a steep path down into the valley (Göreme is surrounded by these valleys, but they are really more like canyons). As soon as we were down, we started seeing cave dwellings. Of course, I wanted to climb to every last one of them, and it was slow going while Morgan waited for me to tromp repeatedly through the underbrush to get to each one. We quickly realized that the seemingly infinite number of caves meant that we would have to pick and choose. Further down the trail I made my first great discovery. By walking under an overhang in the cliff and looking up, I found a vertical tunnel, with hand an foot holds chipped out on either side. At the top was a trap door that was thankfully open. I hoisted myself into the dark room (headlamp again) and looked around at the ancient abode. In the top corner was another tunnel, so of course, I was obligated to climb through again. This room had a window, and I was able to wave to Morgan below. It was awesome to see how defensible the position was. Nobody was getting in unless the current resident invited them.



We explored caves to the end of the valley, ending with a church inside a stand alone rock. Note the worn footholds leading up to the entrance.



My personal favorite was the Selime Monastary, which featured a tower that our tour guide said was too dangerous to climb. Bah! I grabbed my head lamp and coerced my new German friend, Jan, to follow me to the top.



Basically, this is boy heaven. We spent about five days here total, 3 of which were exclusively spent wandering through the different valleys exploring. It was awesome!

We've uploaded a couple hundred photos and a few videos dating back as far as Macedonia- I encourage you to check them out on our flickr page! We can't comment on all of them, but ask a question about a picture and we'll be sure to slap a good description on.