Turkey 🇹🇷 ~Cappadocia “Chills and Thrills Near Cappadocia”
We finally arrived in Cappadocia, where we spent one night. We found a hotel for $22. No A/C and too noisy with traffic to leave window open, but the price was right. We were unprepared for just how remote we would go, getting to this destination. We knew things would be sparse, but food was not an easy thing to find at all. We settled for potato chips and walnuts. This was a first in our four months of road-tripping, we did not find a proper dinner. We were honestly so tired, we really didn’t mind. The hotel provided no meals, including no breakfast, because of COVID. Its interesting how that COVID rule is very flexible. This morning, after Mr Terrific gets some breakfast; “somewhere,” we will return to the Soganli Valley for more exploring, then we will drive the rest of the way to Goreme, to get checked in to our hotel and enjoy a fun four days. Goreme is another hours drive away. Cappadocia is a very large area.
Once we left the interstate, things began to get more interesting! I would call the day we had today, an Underground City and cave-home day. We made two stops and had a blast!
It was way dark by the time we got into a hotel last night, so my photos are limited and not perfect for a couple of reasons. I was driving, so just pointing and shooting with my Nikon out the window is a 50/50 chance of being a keeper shot, at best. Plus, the sun was going down so lots of shadows and low light in the mountains. But, seeing was believing. I got chills and had thrills driving this canyon. It was breathtaking! I will never forget the beauty at sunset
Cappadocia, with its Fairy Chimneys, old Stone Churches, underground Cities, and unique views, is one of the most special spots in the world. Perhaps, it is the only place where the lovers of history, architecture, archeology and old-world existence can find everything they find fascinating, in this place..
Cappadocia is a place consisting of multiple different regions. All of these regions have their own characteristics. However, these regions have many things in common. What makes this area special is; all these differences and similarities are in great harmony.
Here, we have the Soganli Valley, one of the lesser known, but very special places of Cappadocia. Soğanlı Valley will offer you both a great natural view and a historical monuments to examine!
This region has the most special soil formations in the world. The active use of the area for centuries has made it a very important historical point. The characteristics of many different cultures still can be observed in this place. Traces and societies who lived here for centuries have contributed to this multi-cultural structure. It’s impossible not to feel the multi-cultural atmosphere when you spend time in Soğanlı Valley.
Because we are so close to our hotel destination, we took the time to got back to the same canyon to take better shots. The cave-homes and ancient caves which dot this region fascinate me. There is so much more to see in this Valley.
NEXT DAY, we went back for more photos of this area.
In addition to the Valley, earlier on that first day, we passed by Tuz Lake. This is a huge body of water, and though a lot is dried up during the summer months, it is so large, it never goes complete dry. We saw a dated resort hotel, with plenty of people, and it is a thing to walk around the “Pink Lake,” but the Pink is a peach color and the lake is very dry, during this time of the year; but still very interesting!
The lake is formed by two streams, however it has no outlet, which increases the saline content in the water, giving it the beautiful pink colour. With the huge quantity of salt deposits, when the Sun shines brightly on the lake’s water, it presents a mirror-like image reflecting the sky in its surface, making this salt lake in Turkey one of the most wonderful sights to witness while travelling around. Normally this is true in the earlier parts of the summer, when the sun begins to shine on the full lake of water. When we visited here, it is September, and very dry. the shimmer is still there, but far out to the center of the water.
The salt crystals shimmer, presenting a glittering sight. Due to the high quantity of Alga-like Dunaliella saline in the water, which produce carotenoids in their cells. From this, the lake’s water turns pink in color. Due to this, Tuz Lake is often referred to as the Pink Lake. The pink color all over the surface gives a surreal view which is a visual treat.
Aerial view of Lake Tuz, Tuz Golu. Salt Lake. It is the second largest lake in Turkey and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. It is located in the Central Anatolia Region, Ankara, Aksaray, Konya.
Finally, we did see a few Refugee Camps; Syrian. We anticipated we would see some, but we did not know they would be so close to Cappadocia. I really hope things continue to improve in Syria, as these people just want to go back home, I have no doubt.
Turkey is home to the world’s largest refugee population, and close to 400,000 refugees and asylum seekers of other nationalities.
The Syrian refugee crisis is the result of a March 2011 violent government crackdown on public demonstrations in support of a group of teenagers who were arrested for anti-government graffiti in the southern town of Daraa. As violence increased, families began to flee
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About Us
Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More