Kapuzbasi

Kapuzbasi

I had been to Goreme before and whilst I would join in on several tours that I had already seen but years before, I was equally keen to see something else. From Goreme, to the east, we could see Mount Erciyes which at 3,916 metres high is Turkey's fifth talles peak. Its highest peak is Mount Ararat at 5,137 metres high.

I decided to vist the Kapuzbasi waterfalls in the Aladaglar Milli Parki, the Aladaglar National Park. I hired a car. John, Tina and I drove out of Goreme for own own journey of discovery. We stopped en route for petrol and to buy something for lunch. We weren't sure of the facilities available inside the park so we were prepared. There were other options en route but we weren't sure of how long it would take. Google sugested that it was 180 kilometres and would take three hours. Therefore we would visit the furthest point first, the waterfalls and then visit some of the other sights on the return journey so that we could judge time to be back in Goreme before dark. 

The first part of the journey was rolling countryside followed by a flat, rich agricultural plain. The last third was the best as we climbed into the mountains. The roads were surprisingly quiet. We reached the park with its waterfalls. 

There are several waterfalls, all in the same valley. The area ia largely limestone and water has found its way through cracks and fissures. The waterfalls burst out of caves in the valley sides.

A view of one of the valley sides, which dwarfed our hire car.

One of the many waterfalls coming out of a fissure in the rock. The small building in front was a water powered mill.

The valley side above the waterfall. 

Another view of the mill with is waterwheel.

Looking up the river below the first waterfall.

Another waterfall...

...and yet another...

...and so on, all slightly different but all coming out of cracks in the valley sides.

And more...

...and the last one in this section of the valley.

we started our return journey stopping at a lookout above the Zamantu River, which has been dammed but the dam didn't appear on our Google maps. A view down the main river.

A view up river.

A view of the tributary into which the river below the waterfalls flows.

We stopped at another cave with a river emerging from its dark depths. As a bonus we had a swinging footbridge to cross toget there.

There was quite a cold draft coming out of the cave, refreshing on a hot day.

A view of the swinging footbridge.

We passed a road bridge over the main river to the far side. A gravel track weaved its way up a side valley. There was a sign indicating a cave, which didn't have any water gushing from it. Even from the main road, it didn't look very high or deep so we gave it a miss.

On our way to the main waterfalls, we had passed a flowing fountain built next to the road. We had said that we would stop on the way back. As we returned, there was no water coming out. We stopped but it wasn't working so we didn't get out or even take a photo from the car. We just drove on.

But we did turn off the main road to see more waterfalls. It was just a few kilometres diversion off our route. There were more than 300 hundred steps down to get to the waterfalls.

Nothing is wasted and the power of the water is syphoned off to an HEP plant.

It wasn't just one waterfall but a host of littles falls coming out of the rock.
                                       

Some of the smalled waterfalls were overgrown.

                                                

A view down the river below the seies of waterfalls.

John had to stop to have an up close look at some of the wind turbines. We drove up a track built by the engineers to gain access to the turbines for maintenance.

Standing under one of the giant turbines to experience the whooshing noise and Doppler effect that the turning blades create.

John in fron of one of the giant blades. There was also a section of tower that hadn't been used. Inside it is a hollow cylinder with grips for cables and a ladder for engineers to reach the casing at the top of the tower.

Our last stop of the day was for wine. I had only found one place in Goreme the day before to buy wine. As with most things in Goreme, it had gone upmarket. The price for the cheapest bottle was four times the price that I had paid just a few days before. We stopped outside the Turasan wine store in Urgup. It is a widely known local wine producer. I stocked up with a few bottles. It still wasn't cheap but it was cheaper than Goreme.