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.

Goreme

 Goreme

We stopped for a truck lunch at Akarsay where we parked opposite a restored caravanserai. I was tempted to go in but it was only 15 minutes before lunch would be served. We would see plenty more on our route along the Silk Road, so I was not missing out on even the briefest of visits. 

After lunch it was another two hour drive to our next camp site. By the time we reached Nevsehir, the rolling plain of wheat had slowly changed to a few outcrops of limestone. As we approached Ushicar, we saw our first outcrops of tufa and fairy chimneys. These are soft pointed formations that the locals have carved out rooms with doors and windows. Only a few are now used, mainly for novel hotel rooms and B&Bs.

Cappadoccia and Goreme in particular are known as the capital of ballooning. More than half of the group had signed up for a balloon flight. We had some bad news. The weather was predicted to be poor for the next few days and balloon flights had been cancelled.

We reached Goreme and found our campsite, Panarama Camping on the outskirts of town. I would be surprised how the town has changed. I had visited several times but it had been eight years since my last visit. It used to be a back packers haven, full of hostels, camp sites, cheap hotels, street food vendors. 

It has been developed beyond all recognition. There are five star hotels with five star prices. Every former cafe, corner shop and house along the main street is now an upmarket restaurant, five star hotel, souvenir seller or a carpet seller. There are also several ethnic restaurants, with multiple options of Indian andChinese cuisine, signs in Chinese and Russian in addition to many local delicacy options. Many of the old houses have been replaced with new concrete and glass structures.There are a few camp sites and hostels left but none in the centre. There are a few on the outskirts, quite a walk into the centre and their prices have also risen.

Before even putting up our tents, we walked down the road to see our local fixer, Jodi. She ran a tourist agancy and balloon company. She reconfirmed that flights had been cancelled. She had a number of different options on offer. And if we booked up a trip and a balloon flight became available, she could transfer the booking

That made life a lot easier to plan. People could book alternatives and not miss out or lose money by changing bookings. Two local tours were particularly popular. The Turkish evening was also popular. The was billed as an all you can eat and drink evening with entertainment. The all you could drink option was a great pull for the youngsters in the group and it was not expensive. That was booked for the following evening.

With our preferred options booked, we walked back to the campsite and set up our tents. We walked back into town for our evening entertainment. We were going to have dinner in a carpet shop.

The front of Ali's carpet shop.

The back entrance to the carpet shop.

The array of lights inside the entrance.

There was a table set up in the main room on the ground floor. We were served wine. We were served with our evening meal, a beef stew, couscous and a salad.

A view along the table with carpets decorating the walls.

After dinner, we walked down some steps to the shop floor that faced the main road. We were introduced to the carpet weavers skills and the finished products. There were woollen and silk carpets. Some were handmade and some were machine made. Handmade carpets often have a few anomalies, what deriders would call mistakes or flaws but that adds to their charm. Machine made carpets are just too perfect and regular. 

The patterns vary considerably but there are some long standing traditional patterns. Ome carpets are specially commissioned. Even if you like a carpet but it is the wrong colour for your home, you can order the colour of your choice. When most of the world was illiterate, stories were told by pictures weaved into the carpet. There are also traditions associated with carpets. In previous centuries, when marriages were arranged, the promised bride would add knots to the tassels of her carpet which would be on display. This indicated that she was spoken for. Visitors knew the tradition and it avoided loss of face or a declinature as visitors would know that the girl was already promised to another.

The quality of a carpet is based on the number of knots per square centimetre. Numbers up to 45 by 45 knots are not uncommon, and can stretch into two and a half thousand. A lot of concentration is required and carpet weavers working at these levels can only work for a couple of hours a day, hence it takes a long time to produce a high quality carpet.

ALi, the owner of Sultan Carpets, demonstrating the weavers skill.

Just a handful of the thousands of carpets on display and available for sale. I was solely tempted. For the more expensive carpets, insurance, permits, export licences, certificates of authenticity and shipping is all included so you can purchase it and have it delivered and you don't need to carry it home yourself.

Pamukkale and bush camp

 Pamukkale and bush camp

From Ephesus and Attila's Hideaway, we had an early morning start for the morning drive to Pamukkale. As we passed into more mountainous country, the peaks got taller. Despite being late April, there were still patches of snow on the summits of the taller mountains.

                                        

We reached Pammukkale in the late morning. Most people visit to see the travatines which for advertisiers is great pull. But there is also a Roman city built on top of a Greek city which id larger than Ephesus.

                                        

A view of the travatines from the entrance. There was low thin cloud but it bright sunlight, they are dazzling and harsh on the eyes.

Visitors walked up a wide gravel path to the start of the travertines. The benches are there for people to sit down and take off their shoes. There is a secutity guard on duty to ensure tht everyone takes their shoes off. The soles of footwear can damage the travertines, so everyone has to walk up to the top barefoot.

Barefooted tourists carrying their shoes.

                                        

At the top, visitors can put their shoes back on to walk around the ruins. A view back to the town. 

                                        

Thee are more travatines around the top of the site but these are preserved and no one is allowed to walk on them.

At the top, there are cafes, restaurants and gift shops. There are two museums housed in former bath houses. One hosts statues and sacophacususes whilst the other hosts a collection of smaller items found in the ruins.

                                        

To the west of the site at teh top of the hill is the Temple dedicated to Hierapolis. There is also a museum dedicated to this \god but it is not located near the original site.

There are plenty of other buildings to view, but not many that visitors can enter.

                                        

Some are well preserved and have withstood earthquakes whilst the surrounding walls have collapes or have been recycled by the local population using the ruins as a quarry and a source of ready squared off stones.

More arches that have withstood the test of time.

A complete building, dedicated to a god but no access to the public.

A grand gate to a major thoroughfare, now just a stone flagged path with ruins on either side.

A view of teh reverse of the grand theatre, the back stage part of the theatre. Walk up the hill to the top and there are magnificent views.

The main stage backdrop and a view of the auditorium.

A detail of the auditorium to one side of the stage.

I descended the hill to see the Plutonium. En route was a stone grinding wheel used for flour or more probably for this example, for crushing olives to extract olive oil.

A place of sacrifice. It is a spring from where the sulpurous waters pour forth from a spring. Bulls were sacrificed here, suffocated by the fumes escaping from the spring. Ordinary mortals would also die but the priests knew exactly how long they could move about in the poisonous fumes and escape before they too were killed. To the uninitiated, their survival looked like magic.

A (modern) statue of Pluto.

After lunch at Pamukkale, we set off on an afternoon drive eastwards through some fascinating countryside of rolling hills and mountains. Several of the mountain summits still had snow on them. We by-passed the city of Denizli to the north on the D320. At Dinar the route takes several dogs-legs, first going north to Alscatli, then turns southeast and south via Incescu to take a side road north east and east. The road eventually reaches the shores of Eğirdir Gölü, Lake Eğirdir, which was where our bush camp was going to be.

We waited on the tarmac of the road. Mark got out and walked down the track through some almond trees to check out the site. He returned saying that it was free as in not occupied by anyone else and still acceptable as a bush camp.

Alan turned the truck around and inched his way doen the track. The trees had grown since this site had last been used as a bush camp. The branches rubbed against the tall sides of the truck. The truck broke several branches as Alan inched his way down the track. We reached an open area between the almond grove and the beach. There were the remains of several camp fires in the area as it is used by the locals as a picnic site.

Alan turned into the open area and disaster struck. The back tryes sunk into the loose gravel and stones.

Alan tried to reverse but the tyres just sunk in deeper. We got the sand mats out and put them under the tyres for extra grip.

We tried going forward and tried in reverse to no effect. The tyres just dug in deeper.We got the spades out and dug out some of the loose stones and gravel and tried again. The girls sat in the back of the truck for extra weight to give grip and everyone else pushed the front of the truck to give extra power. All to no avail. We had tried for an hour and a half without success. 

We dug an even deeper hole behind the tyres and filled it with large stones. Nothing seemed to work. A small group continued to dig. We only had two spades so by necessity, it was a small group with Paul and Bruce digging directed by Alan. The remainder of the group collected firewood, set up the kitchen, started a fire and put up the tents. The ground was stoney everywhere, uneven and no where was flat. We had to make the best of a bad situation. 

Alan went off to find help. He returned with a local farmer driving his tractor. It is the equivalent of the Overlanders Automobile Association which provides help to stranded motorists. It had seemed quite an occasion and the whole family turned up to watch. It seemed that this was better entertainment that television and computer games.

We had another go. Several trenches had been dug, filled with large stones and covered with sand mats to give a gentle slope up to firmer ground. The tractor was connected with a steel cable to the back of the truck. Every able bodied man pushed the front of the truck. At last the truck was free and standing on the hard packed surface of the track up to the road. 

The cooking fire. Dinner was to be mashed potato and a beef stew

Some of the tents put up on further along the track leading down to the beach.

Uncoupling the tractor from the truck, now standing on the hard packed track. The family went home but the farmer stayed for a cup of tea. Two of the sand mats had failed to do their job. The tyres had spun and thrust them deep into the smooth ground. There was more digging to get them out. 

We had dinner. The farmer was offered some food but he only accepted another cup of tea.

In the morning, we packed everything away. We checked that the fire was properly extinguished. We filled in all the holes we had made to get the truck out. It is all part of the country code to take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints.

We had to inch our way back up the track. We damaged several nore branches as we tried to get back to the road. One branch was just too big and we had to get a saw out to cut it off to let the truck pass.

Guiding Alan past some of the trees.

                                         

We had dragged the deformed sand mats behind us up to the road. We untied them and laid them on the road.

The truck drove over them to flatten them back to their usual shape so that they could be stowed.

The sand mats are stowed between the drivers cab and the main body of the truck. It was a difficult job to get them all back and secured. Paul climbed up to the top of the cab to ensure that they were probably fixed. Whilst he was up there, he also washed the forward facing windows of the passenger compartment and removed a lot of leaves and twigs that had been caught as the truck drove through the trees.

It was an hour later than we had anticipated but we were back on the road for the five hour drive to Goreme and our next port of call.