Fairy Chimneys and Underground Cities

Istanbul, Turkey to Sumela, Turkey

06.05.2010 - 14.05.2010 26 °C
View The long way to Oz on neillkylie's travel map.

We have now officially completed Europe and after doing 3,869km from London to Istanbul, we are now on Central Asia soil and heading inland.

After the chaos of Istanbul for 3 days it was nice to leave and head to the Black Sea, camping at a little town called Akcakoca. Our campsite was right beside the sea so the wake up view each morning was great. The coastal town is rather run down now a days but it was nice to stroll around town, finally get your money's worth when buying fresh fruit, eating numerous ice creams and discovering that this out of town place stocks Harbio Marshmellows (a must for bush camp nights when the fires going).
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On the way out of Akcakoca, Ned fell off his sit on the truck and broke his leg. It was mainly his lower part of his leg from just above the ankle down but it meant he was lying down for the journey to Goreme to recover.

It was a long truck drive the next day consisting of around 11 hours sitting on the truck reading and watching the world go by as we made our way down to Cappodocia, an area where soft volcanic rock has been sculpted over the years into weird and wonderful shapes by water and erosion. Our campsite was on the edge of a mountain which had fantastic views looking down into the valleys below where we would spend the next couple of days exploring.

As we pulled in, a big orange truck otherwise known as Uk to Oz were already camping and let's just say that our big blue truck and all the gear that came out of it, put their truck to shame. Over the next few hours we had established that their truck was actually a bus consisting of 41 passengers, 38 of them didn't have visa's for Pakistan and had to find an alternative route, they needed to pay for their eggs if they wanted one for breakfast and had no fridge / library / tables inside. All of this resulted in a few members of their truck asking us if we had any space left so they could join.....Questions started going around about who could we sell to Uk to Oz but in the end we were happy with the group we had and wouldn't swap anyone. We were supposed to be on one of these truck's which left in February but fortunately (now looking back) Neill's visa took longer than expected so we had to pull out.

It just hasn’t been Ned’s luck the last couple of days and upon exiting the underground cave at the campsite, he managed to slip and decapitate himself. With a broken leg and a headless body, he was really in need of some surgery. The local hospital was too far away so a bit of masking tape and a permanent maker had to do as he was off for his hot air balloon ride in the morning.
Ned after his balloon flight, Cappadoccia

Ned after his balloon flight, Cappadoccia

We spent a morning wondering through the valleys and exploring the Uchisar Fortress, the Pigeon Valley and Yeralti Sehri - an underground city of 7,000 comprising of tunnels and rooms which housed people during the times of invasions. After lunch we headed to a pottery shop and spent some time in the town of Urgup before heading back to camp for our cave dinner (we had moved our kitchen down the vacant cave)
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Yeralti Sehri - Underground City, Cappadocia

We have both been to Cappadocia before so our free day was spent exploring the valley below the campsite, watching a carpet demonstration but none were purchased by us and playing a few games of pool in Goreme. We meet up with the rest of the group at a Turkish restaurant where we were entertained by the owner all night.
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The next 2 nights we spent bush camping which is what we both love the best. You are out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by beautiful scenery. Our first night was spent at Egribel Pass which was at the top of the mountain range we were driving through. 2,220m. It took us a while to find a place as a lot of the land is now covered in crops or it’s too close to civilisation or the truck just can’t fit down the skinny roads. In the end we didn’t have much choice but to pull up at the top of the hill which was surrounded by snow capped mountains. As we put up the tents, the fog rolled in and the thermals came out for the first time in a few weeks. The bush fire was a great escape for the night and kept us warm throughout dinner.

Scenery in North Eastern Turkey

Odyssey Overland 2010 Group at Egribel Pass

In the morning it was a different story as the fog had cleared and revealed a beautiful view down the valley.

Our next night was spent out the back of a restaurant on the way to Trabzon beside a river. It was a lovely setting amongst the trees and either walks into town or games of volleyball (southern v’s northern hemisphere) occupied the afternoon.

We spent the good part of a day exploring Trabzon where from our point of view there is little to do but we managed to explore the back streets, enjoy a lovely chicken kebab and Turkish tea and watch the man that decided to commit suicide by jumping off an 8 story building fail. The fire brigade came equipped with an enormous blow up mattress and the streets came to a holt before after a few hours he was pulled inside.

Today we have spent the day exploring the Sumela Monastery which is built into the steep cliffs of the Karadag Mountains and has been here since the 6th century. Neill was rather eager this morning and decided to walk from the campsite to the monastery (which is long and steep) instead of getting a lift to the entrance by the truck, but only managed to get their upon our return down from viewing the monastery. It was a steep walk up to the monastery from the entrance but the view was amazing. The question is though – why do they build them so high up and out of sight – crazy people. Last night Ned finally had the surgery he has been waiting for and is now back to his full bubbly self.

Tomorrow we are off to Georgia to spend 2 weeks exploring the country and all it has to offer.