|
I’m a day late with this email again. I have no excuse, other than general weariness. But better late than never! Last Saturday, I took an early morning flight to the inland region of Cappadocia (Kappadokya, to locals). It’s a very volcanic region known for its rock formations called “fairy chimneys,” so named because of an old legend that posited the fairies all moved underground when they abandoned humanity some thousands of years ago. Folklore aside, the region is nothing short of spectacular. I stayed at a wonderful little boutique hotel built into the cave walls surrounding the city of Göreme called Artemis Cave Suites, and the staff there took excellent care of me during my stay, helping me to set up all of my exploratory activities. During my first afternoon, they arranged for me to take a two-hour horseback ride at sunset through some of the surrounding countryside. I hadn’t gone horseback riding since I was 12. While it was a fun experience overall (saddle-soreness notwithstanding), I confirmed that, no, I’m still not a horse person. I made friends with some cool Romanian sisters about my age though: the elder of the two is an LA-based backup dancer for music videos and concerts, while the younger one works on yachts in Miami. We exchanged numbers to keep in touch. On day 2 in Cappadocia (last Sunday), I took an 8-hour bus tour of about half of the region, exploring some of its most historic sites. Most notable of these was an underground city at Derinkuyu, which was first carved out around 800 B.C. Over a thousand years later, it was used by early Christians numbering to escape persecution for weeks at a time, sheltering up to 20,000 people as well as livestock. We went down to 150m below the surface, with some passageways only about 3’ high, so we had to bend over completely to get through them. I don’t think of myself as claustrophobic by any means, but… let me put it this way: if I thought lockdown was bad last April, I cannot imagine what it would’ve been like to spend weeks at a time underground. I was ready to surface by the end of the hour. We also stopped by an ancient city built into the fairy chimneys in the village of Selime that included a winery, a monastery, and a cathedral. We were turned loose to explore it on our own, so I had a lot of fun Indiana-Jonesing my way through passages that connected between rooms and structures. After that, we had a late but authentic lunch in the valley of Ihlara, which was a lush oasis in the otherwise arid region. Before heading back to Istanbul for work on Monday, I got up at 5AM for a hot air balloon ride over Göreme. The wind ended up drifting us over a collection of fairy chimneys that make up what has been affectionately called “the valley of love.” I’ll let the reader ascertain the reasons behind the name (see photo below). I don’t have much to report from Istanbul this week. Truthfully, I’ve been feeling pretty burned out between work and travel, so I’ve been easing off of the latter in favor or hanging out in my little rooftop perch over the city, watching the 1995 Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth for the zillionth time. I did muster up the energy to check out the Dolmabahçe Palace just down the street from me, which is a huge 19th century complex including an entire second palace for the sultan’s harem. Both buildings were richly furnished, and I got to see some examples of high ranking women’s dress for that time period, which is always of interest to me. Two rooms in particular stood out to me: the sultan’s private hammam, and his “clothing room.” Not a closet, a clothing room. #goals Apologies again for getting this email out a day late, and for being a big bore last week. I’m planning to get back out there more this upcoming week! Hope you’re all doing well 🤗
|
