hiya

here's the next instalment of my blog - it'll do for now, it's the end of my turkey.  i havent thought of a name for it yet. erm... end of turkey... tail end of turkey.... east end turkey... leaving turkey... turkish farewell... you make one up if you like.

We drove from Olympos towards Goreme in the Cappadocia region and the scenery changes from trees and mountains to stacks and rocky cliffs which used to be home to villages of cave dwellers. We took a walk through the Ilhara Valley which not only has lots of cave houses but also a selection of beautifully decorated churches. These caves come in various forms, some much deeper than others, some have shelves dug out or even entire rooms branching off, most are inaccessible as they are situated high in the cliff face. There may be some foot holds or a chimney dug out to climb up to the cave.

We also visited the underground city of Derinkuyu, a far more impressive show of excavation where an entire village could exist underground when the area was under attack. The city consists of 8 levels in varying depths with some long tunnels and staircases connecting the different floors. Cave sizes also vary, sometimes we were on our hands and knees crawling into the darkness or we could be in the deep underground meeting place and church with a ceiling of 8 or 9 feet high. The furthest we could reach underground were the graves, it appeared as just a small empty room to us so presumably the rest is blocked from the public or buried even deeper. I found it interesting how fresh it felt so deep below the ground and in such confined spaces but all passages and rooms are also connected to their ventilation shaft. 

Cappadocia is a very touristy place and high on the bucket list is the hot air balloon rides around the area, viewing all their stacks and rock formations and mostly their interesting 'fairy houses' which are caves excavated from the stacks, they look very much like a cone castle made by dripping wet sand into piles and are now home to hotels and restaurants. I got up to watch the balloons at 6am and watched as around 75 hot air balloons glided around dipping in and out of the valleys. Its a very picturesque area and the rock formations remind me very much of the Grand Canyon where you can see the different layers of coloured rock stretching through history.

Before leaving we had to take part in the obligatory Turkish Night with all the food, drink and dancing needed to keep our spirits high over the following alcohol free countries. As we continued east we visit Nemrut Dagi, a mountain over 6000ft with huge statues at the top dating back to 1000BC. Some of them have suffered from the weather but all are in remarkably good condition and are made up of huge boulder bases, bodies and then heads on top. They're massive versions of a child's toy where they have to match up the right body with the right head and shoes.

We've driven through Gule Gule and near Batman and camped at Lake Van, high in the hills and surrounded by mountains which played host to our night's entertainment. Around 11.30pm the thunder and lightening began and it bounced around the mountains all night, still going strong when we left the lake at 7am the following morning, we didn't get much sleep but at least there was something to watch.

We drove through Kurdish towns and cities including one which had been devastated by a large earthquake within the last few years, some are still living in temporary housing and rubble takes the place of what used to be homes and shopping centres. The landscapes are still very beautiful, especially in the mountains but it's sad to see the rivers and streams lined and clogged up with litter. The fields are worked by bent over locals, sheep and goat herders are dotted around the landscape with their flocks. The friendliest looking people in the east are the soldiers manning their posts, I've never seen so many tanks as I have since I arrived in Turkey. Our final stop in Turkey is fairly close to Mount Ararat, from here we go to cross the border into Iran. Say goodbye to alcohol, goodbye to Facebook, BBC, Google and blogging, say hello to our hejab and being covered from head to toe day and night. We also have to give the truck a good clear out to make sure there are no offensive items left on board, several books and magazines have been thrown out for mentioning religion or bad words or having pictures deemed risque, decks of cards binned or hidden. It's going to be different.