Leah and Bill take Eurasia 2005
Turkey
FAIRY CHIMNEYS AND BIZARRE LANDSCAPES
The unusual landscapes were a big part of what we saw and loved about Turkey, so I'm dedicating a little section to it. Turkey seems to be a conglomeration of amazing land formations sprinkled among a wide selection of the standard varieties.
Istanbul is of course located right on the water -- several bodies of water actually -- the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn, and the Bosphorus Strait which separates European Istanbul from Asian Istanbul. A two-hour cruise on the Bosphorus allowed us to see the former palatial structures and the current homes of the fabulously wealthy, as well as appreciate the beauty of the city as a whole.
When we traveled from Istanbul to Ankara the capital via overnight train, we missed most of the scenery, but the next day were amazed to see that the plains outside of Ankara greatly resembled those of my native Kansas -- flat and brown this time of year -- but these are surrounded by distant mountain ranges and include a giant salt lake.
Capadoccia is a region of central Turkey that is known for its unique land formations and how the local people historically used the soft volcanic stone to carve homes and even churches into manmade caves. The "fairy chimneys" described in an earlier entry above -- and naturally occurring -- are only one aspect of this odd volcanic sandstone-ish stuff; there are entire cities made of the carved out structures:
A "city" of cave homes
Niches carved in cave homes served as shelves inside the home.
Over time, parts of the rock wall have fallen off, revealing
the inside without a front wall.
One area, Goreme, was a gathering of twenty or more Christian churches, many dating back to 600 AD:
Bill in one of the cave churches
As they were used for centuries, later additions even included frescoes on plaster in the interiors. Also at Goreme were a multi-story monastery and a convent, each carved into a single stone with interior stair passages:
Monastery carved out of rock
Convent carved out of rock
Having thought we'd seen the most unusual topography we ever could imagine, we proceeded south and west across the Taurus Mountains, including the Pass through which Alexander traveled on his conquests in 133 BC. Then we found the natural wonder known as Pamukkale. Hundreds of small terraced pools have formed over the centuries, fed by hot springs high in the mountains that flow down from one pool to the next, loaded with minerals and leaving behind calcium deposits that make the pools a shiny white, dripping over the edges like icicles. The entire area looks positively polar.
The natural pools at Pamukkale, frosted with calcium.
Unfortunately, much of the water is currently being diverted while restorations and "improvements" are being made. So many visitors have trod through the pools that damage and erosion are causing problems, but also the area is being turned into more of a recreational park -- wooden walkways, pods of spotlights (a future light show?) and artificial pools are going in all around this natural phenomenon. The area is beautiful and sad at the same time, but we are still very glad we saw it, there can't be anything like it in the rest of the world.
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