Goodbye Ankara, Hello Jess

My time in Ankara and at the Middle East Technical Institute has come to an end. It's a strange feeling, being done my undergraduate degree, but it's an even stranger feeling to be saying goodbye to my home and friends from the past four months.

My last few days in Ankara were a mix between packing, saying my goodbyes to friends, and trying to show Jess around a bit. I took Jess to my favourite neighbourhood restaurant for ciğer (if you’re a dedicated blog reader, you’ll remember that is liver) the night she arrived, then spent the rest of the evening editing my last undergrad essay and catching up.

The next morning, we went into the old town area of Ulus, which I’ve written about in one of my earliest posts about Ankara. We visited the old Roman baths, which I hadn’t seen yet. They were a little underwhelming, but still cool to visualize a time in which Ankara was a Roman settlement. I also saw and learned about some Roman ruins which were found where I wait for the dolmuş every morning, so that was pretty cool too.

The Roman baths.

The baths

The large pool at the entrance to the baths.

Temple of Augustus and Rome, a Roman temple which is now partially converted into a mosque and partially preserved as it was, which we passed on our way up from the baths to the castle.

Next, we headed up to the Ankara castle again, and here we ran into my language tandem partner, Oğuz, and my German friend, Tobi, with whom we had been planning to meet up on campus later in the evening. They waited while we took a tour of the castle, and then we joined them to explore the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. I had been meaning to hit up this museum for ages – I heard it was really quite good – but as many people know, it’s actually rare that you are a tourist in your own city unless you make a really concerted effort. Anyway, I was glad that Jess’ arrival finally gave me an excuse to go. It was a very cool museum, with artefacts spanning from prehistory to the Ottoman period. It was perhaps the best-labelled (in English) museum I’ve seen yet in Turkey, and there were some really cool gems.

Jess in the Ankara castle.

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. The building itself, which you can see has very high ceilings was once a sort of hotel for Silk Road traders.

In the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

After the museum, Tobi led us through a market which I didn’t know existed, and then to dinner. We eventually all headed back to campus, where we enjoyed a drink of rakı, a traditional Turkish drink that tastes like black licorice, and wine in the METU stadium (which is known colloquially as ‘Devrim’, meaning ‘Revolution’, because the word is painted in large white letters across the seats, despite the best attempts of the university administration – a classic piece of METU student life which I will miss.

The next morning, we returned to campus one last time, for me to bid farewell to the Middle East Technical University campus one last time. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: It’s a truly beautiful campus and a really nice space to complete a degree.

Me at the sign of the Middle East Technical University. I will miss this place dearly! :(

After a period of packing and cleaning back home, we headed out again, this time to Kızılay, the downtown area, to check out Kocatepe Mosque. I had visited the outside of this mosque during my first week in Ankara, I had visited, but I hadn’t gone in. Finally, I got the chance. The mosque is relatively new, but it is still stunning. The inside is spacious, calming and above-all, beautiful.

Kocatepe Camii

Inside Kocatepe Mosque

The ceiling of Kocatepe Mosque.

At the mosque, we met up with my Italian friend, Nicola, and then my German friend, Janina, some of my last friends left in Ankara, and the last two “Diyarbakır Gang” members left. We had a seafood dinner, and just happened to pick a restaurant not 100 metres from where an excited crowd was forming. You see, the night before was election night in Turkey. In a massive electoral upset, the ruling AK Party lost its majority control of Parliament (for the first time since it came to power in 2004). Meanwhile the HDP, a pro-Kurdish, women’s, and LGBTQ rights party passed the 10% threshold (at a comfortable 13%) to become a recognized party in the Turkish parliament. This was a historic moment, since a pro-Kurdish party had never before reached the threshold (of course, the unusually high threshold of 10% was implemented for precisely this reason). So with this electoral result, (pro-)Kurdish and other liberals were ecstatic. People literally cried when they saw the results – many had never dreamed they would see it in their lifetimes.

The crowd by our restaurant was chanting, waving flags, and holding up peace signs. Some people made speeches. It was exciting and energizing to see HDP flags beside Kurdistan flags beside Turkish flags beside the rainbow LGBTQ flag. Leaving the restaurant, we made sure to slide through crowd and feed off some of the energy.

Crowd forming in downtown Ankara

In the crowd, you can pick out the red Turkish flag, the green, yellow and red Kurdish flag AND the rainbow Pride flag, all in a sea of HDP flags. What a momentous event to witness live in Turkey!

Meeting my kitten quota: This lil guy is probably too young to be sold, though we saw him at a pet shop downtown. But of interest is that her breed is 'Ankara'. The fluffy white with stunning blue eyes originate here in Ankara. 

The four of us had a coffee in another little shop, chatting away, but finally it was time to say goodbye. The finality of this goodbye made me the saddest yet, and to be honest I had to blink back some tears.

The next morning (after a long night of packing – it always takes me forever, and most of it is always done last minute. I’ve come to accept it as just a reality) I said goodbye to my fantastic flatmates (though I think I’ll be seeing them again soon, so the sadness wasn’t overwhelming) and we headed out early to the bus station. It took us about five hours to finally reach Göreme, in Cappadocia. I visited Cappadocia back in March with a group of other international students, but this visit would prove to be incredibly different and a whole new experience for me.

As soon as we arrived, we were itching to get out and explore. Two prominent valleys have their trail heads just outside of Göreme, so we thought we’d start there. The sun was hot and intense, and there were only a handful of fluffy white clouds in the bright blue sky (this is going to become especially important later).

We hiked leisurely through the first part of the valley, gawking at the incredible geological structures and exploring caves and cave churches. We met some fellow travellers and had some good conversations with them.

Cool geology, just outside of Göreme,

Jess, awestruck by Cappadocia,

From atop a "fairy chimney", looking out over Cappadocia towards Uçhisar.

Vineyards below huge rock formations.

Looking out towards the distinctive colours of Rose and Red Valleys (which we never reached - do read on).

Stones arches along the path.

Then we signage towards the valleys we wanted became less and less clear. A man selling oranges at a crossroads told us one route was closed, and directed us down a new path, but again it quickly became unclear what the proper route was. However, we weren’t too worried – there was so much to see around us, and we thought we’d peer into a particularly extensive looking cave.

Extensive it was, indeed. It appeared to have been a house or something, and tt was a full three stories, with spiral(ish) staircases and everything. Of course, these huge caves are a little eerie but with a good flashlight app on our phones, we got caught up in peering into every nook and cranny.

Looking out from the cave at the cliffs.

Jess peering from a second-story cave window.

Up on the third level, we noticed there was a narrow path leading along the edge of the cliff, and we thought it might lead to additional caves. We followed it, and while we realized it wasn’t bringing us to more cliffs, there did seem to be some semblance of a path continuing onwards, with more interesting things to explore. And so we followed.

We went over rocks and through meadows and even crawled through a cramped tunnel (seriously, right on our stomachs with no room to move our heads) and were generally having the time of our lives.

Jess climbing into a narrow tunnel.

And then the dark clouds came.

Perhaps because of the cliffs and/or our general distraction, we hadn’t seen them come in. There had been a couple light rain clouds, and there had been some light spitting while we were in the caves, but it had been more refreshing than anything else. Now the clouds were truly ominous and we knew rain was coming.

We checked our phones for our location and the distance back to the nearest real trail. Now is about as good a time as any to really sell what I think is the most incredible phone app since Instagram (just kidding, I think it’s waaaaaaay better than Instagram): Maps.Me. Jess introduced me to this app when she arrived and I have fallen immediately in love (with the app, not her, just to clarify – sorry, Jess). Maps.Me allows you to see your exact location, and has super detailed maps not only of cities but also of a lot of trails and dirt roads in the country. You can downloads maps for literally the entire world. And you don’t need to have wifi or cell service on – it just uses the free location finder on your phone. It has been incredible to travel with this app – it has made life incredibly easy for us already and we’re only a week into our travels.

So anyway, we could always turn back from where we were, but at this point that seemed like it would be longer than simply connecting up with a closer trail, and there was no guarantee we wouldn’t get even more lost and find ourselves stuck somewhere. Not only were the dark clouds coming in, but we were starting to become very cognizant of the disappearing daylight hours – already it was late afternoon, and especially if the sky was obscuring the sun, we didn’t know how soon it might become truly dark.

Using our GPS, we directed ourselves towards the closest trail, and scrambled up some cliffs to the top of a ridge. Then the skies opened up. It didn’t take long for us to be soaked. And we realized very quickly from the ridge we were on that there was at least one other valley between us and the path, and that even getting down from the ledge into the next valley, let alone getting up the other side, was next to impossible. And then there was a lot of thunder and lightning and we realized we were not in a very good place for that to be happening.

The next little while is a bit of a blur, but I remember running, crouched, across a field, and we eventually clambered down a few metres from the top of the cliff to try to consult the GPS in the semi-dryness of an overhanging rock. Of course, now the phone wouldn’t even pick up GPS signal. Anyway, the thunder and lightning moved on a bit in the sky, and there were some (very) brief lulls in the rain, and we reassessed our plan. Instead of trying to cross back to the trail, we figured we could instead follow some dirt roads, used by the local farmers to reach their vineyards, to get back to a REAL road, and then work out a way to get back to Göreme. It would be longer, but at least there was a better path to follow.

Dark clouds approaching.

A valley between us and where we wanted to be.

And so we trudged, through the rain and the cold – it was truly cold now with the wind and rain, and sometimes we thought the rain was in fact hail, since the drops were so cold and sharp – as fast as we could along these windy dirt roads, consulting our GPS frequently, until we finally – FINALLY – emerged onto a paved road. From there, we still had to trek back to a major highway, and the rain just kept pouring down. We sustained ourselves on some ketchup chips which my mom had sent from home via Jess (thanks Mom, it was a huge morale booster at the time). When we finally got to a crossroads, we sheltered in a bus stop. There were two Turkish men there – one told me that the bus they were waiting for would take us back to Göreme, the other said it would not. When the bus arrived, I asked the driver, and he said he’d take us to Nevşehir, the big regional city, not Göreme, but we were so cold and tired that we consented.

When we arrived in Nevşehir, a man on the bus pointed in a general direction and told us we could catch a dolmuş back to Göreme. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite understand his directions, and found ourselves wandering around the city, still cold and still wet. Finally we gave up, and took a taxi back to Göreme. It was much more expensive than we wanted to pay, but at least, finally, we made it back to our hostel, drenched, exhausted and dirty. It was quite the adventure, and we learned a valuable lesson about straying off the path and about preparing ourselves for all weather conditions – we would be much wiser in the days to come.

The next morning, we got up at the ungodly hour of 3:45am. Why? To have the classic tourist-in-Turkey experience of seeing the sunrise over the beautiful landscape in a hot air balloon. And wow, was it ever cool. It was expensive, but oh-so worth it. There’s not much to tell about the process itself, except that to emphasize over and over that it was beautiful. It was beautiful. Really beautiful. Just look at it!

Filling the balloons.

Other balloons filling.

Our balloon starting to rise.

Our captain controlling the heat to begin lift off.

Beginning to rise.

Looking up at the other balloons about us.

Rising together.

First light.

And there is the glorious sun!

The farms below.

Balloons down in the valley.

Panorama of what I could see.

Sunrise is beautiful.

Look at them all.

Balloons over fairy chimneys.

Floating over the scraggly rocks.

Up high.

Up.

The sky just full of them.

After the balloon landed, we thought we’d head over to the Göreme Open-Air museum to see some well-preserved cave churches. I didn’t take too many pictures because a) you’re not supposed to take pictures in the churches, and b) I took most of the pictures I wanted when I came in March. A new highlight for me, though, was seeing the Karanlık Kilise (Dark Church). I had to pay extra for admission but since I get into Turkey’s museums for free (the benefit of being a student in the country for a semester) it was worth it, and allowed me to see something new. Again, there were no pictures allowed, so you’ll have to take my word that the frescos on the walls were simply incredible. Because the church has so little light (hence the name Dark Church), the wall paintings have faded very little over the hundreds and hundreds of years that they’ve been there. Almost every surface of the cave was covered in paintings, and I was the only person inside, making it a very calming place to explore.

After the Open-Air Museum, we also visited the Tokalı Kilise just down the street, also with impressive wall paintings and an interesting basement with old tombs. Again, sorry no pictures L

Engravings above a church door - something I find so fascinating to look at.

The Open-Air Museum. You're looking at an ancient cave nunnery.

On the walk back to Göreme, we decided we still weren't exhausted enough from our early morning rise, so we chose to venture off the road in search of the nearby Saklı Kilise, meaning “Hidden Church”. This is somewhat difficult, since, as the name suggests, the church is hidden. Luckily, as we headed up the cliffs, a man standing nearby who had just recently himself looked for the church was able to give us some pretty precise instructions and tips. The hunt for the church involved a scramble up a steep cliff, and then a walk along a pretty ridge, overlooking Göreme and the nearby valleys, while looking out for a small staircase down to a ledge. We found the church, and while you cannot enter because of a locked metal gate, it was still very cool to peer inside, and appreciate how the church location had been carefully chosen and carved out in order to hide from non-Christian invaders during the Byzantine times.

Jess looking out off the ledge towards Love Valley and Uçhisar.

Looking off the ridge back towards the area we explored (and got lost in) yesterday.

The mystique and glory of the Saklı Kilise or 'Hidden Church'.

Meadow; Uçhisar in the distance.

The afternoon involved a long nap – between the early morning rise for the balloon, and the little sleep the night before that from packing to leave Ankara, I was just plain done.

When we awoke in the early evening, we headed out to the nearby Sunset Point to – you guessed it – watch the sunset. Unfortunately, the sun was obscured by more ominous rain clouds, and we didn’t see much. By the time we got to a restaurant for a late dinner, the rain came down at a torrential rate, and the roads and sidewalks were rivers.

Attempt at a sunset.

Dark skies before torrential rain.

The next morning we decided would be devoted to some serious hiking. We left Göreme in good time, and walked along a ridge of vineyards to the start of Love Valley. I didn’t take a lot of photos in Love Valley, because they’d, again, be very similar to the ones I posted in March, but then as we continued from Love Valley into White Valley, things became new for me. It was a really lovely hike through light forest and meadows between the stunning white valley cliffs, and the only other person we saw was a cheery grape farmer with his tractor. We had a picnic lunch of tantunis (chicken wraps with delicious sauce) in some shady grass, enjoying the smell of wildflowers and the twittering of songbirds.

A new morning, walking through vineyards and fruit trees.

Grapes.

Headed to Love Valley.

We came across a tractor on the path.

Farm walls.

Carved tunnel for rivers and hiking.

Jess, still awestruck.

Love Valley cliffs.

More arches.

White Valley. The view for lunch.

White Valley cliffs.

White Valley path.

 White Valley stretches from Göreme almost to Uçhisar, which has the big cave castle with the best panorama views of Cappadocia, and that’s where we were headed. We emerged from White Valley into some more vineyards, where a man with a fresh fruit juice stand seemed to be waiting just for us, and then walked along dirt roads to Uçhisar.

In Uçhisar, we climbed up the castle for the stunning views, and relaxed there for a while.

Panorama from Uçhisar Castle.

Uçhisar cat.

 To get back to Göreme, we decided we’d hike back through Pigeon Valley, which essentially runs parallel to Love and White Valleys, but on the other side of the highway. I was late afternoon now, so the sun wasn’t as intense, and the light off the cliffs and trees was really relaxing. Again, we saw few others on the route. The section of the valley we hiked was less pigeon-y than other parts of the valley, but that didn’t by any means detract from the beauty. It was nice walk, not too long by any means, and we emerged from the valley right into the town again. After a dinner, we again headed up to Sunset Point for a better view than the night before (though not as perfect as the sunset a few nights later in Eğirdir – you’ll have to read the next post to hear about that).

I thought this old wagon looked cool, leaving Uçhisar.

Looking into Pigeon Valley.

Hiking Pigeon Valley.

In Pigeon Valley.

Jess walking through the trees.

The next morning was our last in Cappadocia. We were headed for Konya in the early afternoon, so we got up in good time to be able to visit the underground city of Kaymaklı. We had to take a combination of bus and dolmuş to get there, but it was cheap and easy to do so. At the transfer in Nevşehir, this is also when we learned how silly it was to take a taxi back to Göreme two days prior during our “adventure” in the rain – the dolmuş stop back to the town had been just steps away from where we were and would have saved us tons of money. Oh well, live and learn.

Everyone knows I'm a cat person, but this puppy kept following me around in Kaymaklı and was just too cute!

 The underground city of Kaymaklı was equally fascinating on my second visit, and the fact that I wasn’t in a big tour group allowed us a bit more flexibility to peer into some particularly dark cave rooms with our phone flashlights. It’s a lot of fun to imagine an eight-story underground city bustling at its height. Pictures in the dark do little good, but Jess did pose as a cave gremlin for this great shot:

A good look for her, no?

Can you spot the demon?

And thus ended our Cappadocia adventure. As I said before, the freedom and the more time outside made it more enjoyable over my last visit, and I was really glad I got to see more stuff there. Then, we were off to Konya for the next set of adventures – hopefully it won’t be long til that post is up too!

P.S. If you’re wondering where I am in real-time, I’m posting this from İzmir, on the west coast of Turkey, 6 nights after leaving Cappadocia. I’m going to try not to get too far behind on blogging, though of course there will always be a delay.