Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK whY

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Next stop - the nearby Basilica Cistern (not covered by Museum Pass ), an underground reservoir built by Emperor Justinian in 532AD. 80,000 cubic metres of storage, the water came into Constantinople via the aqueduct system.

After walking down the access steps, there is a series of boardwalks, niftily lit.






At the far end two columns have a Medusa as a base - reasons unknown, if I recall correctly.




Moving right along, next stop the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, just down from the Topkapi Palace. What? Another museum you groan? C'mon - there's 2,000 years of history here

But wouldn't ya bloody know it - under renovation! There are 5 museums, one entrance fee (Museum Card); this time a serious chunk of the exhibits were unavailable at the Archaeology Museum . A Medusa greets you at the café.




Thankfully (as I specifically wanted to see them) on display in the Archaeology Museum were the Phoenician anthropoid sarcophagi from Sidon, present day Lebanon, dating from the 4th and 5th centuries BC;

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

A last look at Istanbul before we go on my 'electrifying' visit to Cappadocia.

Also in the Archeology Museum some amazing carved marble sarcophagi from various places around the medeterranean (former Ottoman empire - Libya, Ephesus etc.) From 2-3 century AD.




Across the way is the Museum of the Ancient Orient - Babylonia and the like (also former Ottoman Empire).

Reason I include these is that I've seen the same in the British Museum, but here, they are much more in context and you can understand what the heck is going on. lots of exhibits and explanations, which I wont bore you with here. The lion is nifty - a positive relief, in glazed tiles.






I caught a taxi to Istanbul Airport (IST) - much closer than SAW! A 30 minute, 60lira (A$15) trip from the Novotel, with the highway having moderate traffic only.

Check in at Turkish Airlines domestic was poor. I had checked in on-line, but wanted a proper BP and directions to a lounge, so I approached one of the check-in counter. Lady behind the desk pretty clueless. Not interested in my print-out of my on-line BP; I eventually worked out that she wanted my passport. then: "Where you going?" - I again showed here the print-out. She got annoyed. "Where you going?!" "Nevsehir" I say, as clearly as I can. She scowls, looks at the print out and eventually prints a BP. Her response to my question about a lounge (I'm TK Elite now, courtesy of a status match), was simply to point over her shoulder somewhere. I ask further but she just starts talking to one of her colleagues.

I go through security and eventually find some-one to ask. Oh, there is a lounge, but landside somewhere. Oh well. After wandering around a bit, I spy a CIP lounge. I wonder ...?

YES! Its a Priority Pass lounge. Thank you AMEX .


Its not bad; OK wi-fi, OK to good snacks and plenty of space. there is a bar, but no-one attending.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Here's my flight route.



A TK domestic service. Tthere were great views over Istanbul after departure, but as TK have a 'phone off' policy for take offs and landings, I only got the phone fired up to take this last glimpse. An OK snack for the 1hr 15 min trip.





Cappadocia is served by 2 airports - Nevsehir and Kayseri. My TA had problems finding the Nevsehir flights on the GDS - had to go through a Turkish tour supplier to get the booking IST-NAV. My inbound landed at Nevsihir, which was quite small, but did the job. I had a pre booked transfer to my hotel in Urgup. There are about 4 towns in close proximity serving the famous Cappadocia caves etc. Urgup is the largest, but most of it is unseen by tourists. If I went again, I'd choose to stay in Goreme - its much more the centre of the tourist activities and definitely livelier.

On the left - Nevsehir airport. On the right, my 'digs' for three nights - the MDC Cave Hotel. The rocks in the area are very soft - you can cut them with a knife, so 'cave hotels' are the go.




The bathroom, totally in the cave was enormous; there is a shower and toilet behind me. the outside on the right- you can see the little exhaust chimneys on the side of the hill.




I had dinner at the hotel, and it was very nice. The hotel is pretty big, but not many guests when I was there. very good front desk service.

 

[Deena]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Love trip reviews, thank you. I can only dream that one day I might be rich enough to travel like this.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Love trip reviews, thank you. I can only dream that one day I might be rich enough to travel like this.

The great thing about AFF is that it shares so many tips to travel better, cheaper.

A couple more looks at the MDC Cave Hotel. Its one of the larger ones in the area, but on the edge of town.




As usual in these types of countries, I leave a tip for the house-keeper. Unfortunately I only had 5 TL ($2.50) notes for the first two mornings. The housekeeper obviously was most appreciative, but I think she may have gone a bit far the second time :shock: :shock:




One of the main attractions for me in Cappadocia was the ballooning. The other attraction there are the 'fairy chimneys' - distinctive rock formations caused by erosion of the soft rock I mentioned before. I chose 'Royal Balloons' and their Deluxe King tip. A max of 8 pax and a 90 minute trip Vs up to 28 pax for 1 hour for most other trips.

Up at 3:45am, for a 4am pick-up and delivery to their office in Goreme for breakfast and a notional 5am departure for the launch site. The weather was forecast to be, and was, overcast and showery when we were picked up. The showers cleared but we had a delay of 45 mins. There was a screen hosted by the Turkish Civil Avation dept which controls the go/no go decision. Eventually we pelted out to a launch site where many were already well into the launch process.




Our guys worked hard, but already I noticed that things were different to other balloon trips I had been on. There was little control on people wandering around, and wandering off.

 

[JohnM]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Love the housekeeper's response!

Do NOT love the chaotic look of that ballooning!

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Love the housekeeper's response!

Do NOT love the chaotic look of that ballooning!

You haven't heard half of it yet!

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

On my last balloon trip, in Burma, we had a crusty ex RAAF guy who wouldn't let the balloon take off until he was absolutely satisfied that all the pax - especially the non English-speakers - knew the balloon rules and especially the 'landing position'. The landing position was demonstrated first by one of the helpers, and then we had to all 'assume the position' and two guys who were joking around nearly got turfed off. I had absolute confidence in that trip.

On the Cappadocia one, there the landing position was described to us while we were in the basket, and after half hearted attempts by most of the 8 pax, we lifted off into the wild grey yonder, with me a little apprehensive, but it should be OK. Clouds were still low but the wind was very gentle.

It was crowded at the departure point and several of the balloons 'kissed'. At least we weren't on one of those 28 capacity monsters!




There are two main things to see in Cappadocia. First the cave dwellings and the cave churches especially. Lots of UNESCO World Heritage ancient Christian cave churches. Also multi level cave cities. These aren't very good examples, but gives the idea.




The others are the 'fairy chimneys' - these . .. er, ... um ahem! shaped pillars caused by the erosion of the soft rock being different for various layers.




... moving right along, there are lots of roads, towns and villages in the area, and lots of power lines. We generally kept low, obviously to get a better view but also I think to avoid the stronger winds higher up. But I soon got a bit apprehensive of how close we got to some power lines. The pilot can't control the direction, but he can control the height and we seemed to go un necessarily close to some power lines (bottom of both pics).




It was at the following point that I got genuinely apprehensive. We only cleared these multi-strand power lines by a few metres, yet we all saw them coming for a while. I started photographing the power lines for the record.

 

[JohnM]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

You haven't heard half of it yet!

I do recall your sparks encounter! The crowding of balloons is bad enough.

 

[Pushka]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Liking, but totally scary - like watching a potential tragedy in slow motion and no influence or control. Power lines -

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Finally, as I recounted elsewhere, we actually drifted into a power line. Only a single, fortunately. The basket snagged against it, then broke it with some sparking and on we sailed. I gave the pilot a long look but he wasn't acknowledging anything.

Afterwards, I e-mailed the business owner, who I met after the trip. His response wasn't altogether dismissive, but essentially said sorry, but not a big problem, flying authorities not worried, power authorities grateful that they were told of the 'fault'.

On we sailed. there are about 100 balloons licensed to fly in the area, down from over 250 previously.




After an hour, most of the balloons were landing .. where they could.




We however sailed on. And on. And on. We managed to drift right along a wooded creek area, which of course was inaccessible to the ground crews. Eventually after 2hrs (90 mins planned) he plonked it down in a spot barely big enough. It was rough! No pics as we all assumed the landing position squatting down in the basket and hanging on for dear life!




All that excitement happened before 8:30am!! I went back to the hotel and had some stuff to do, before heading out to explore the town. For lunch I made my way to 'Ziggy's', one of Lonely Planet's recommendations. It was a good choice; the pics don't really do the meal or the experience justice. lovely views on a generally fine and warm afternoon.

 

[Deena]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Gee I think I would have needed a change of underwear, hitting a power line

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Continuing a fairly uninspiring walk around Urgup. Lots of caves, some occupied, some not and some quite fancy (hotels).






In the early evening I ventured out in search of sustenance. The town centre was quite busy.



Eventually I settled on 'Cappadocia restaurant', also a Lonely planet recommendation. Lots of tables on a terrace, and as the day had fined up completely, that was a good choice. Lots of families. Unfortunately although it was still early (a bit past 6pm), they only had a few dishes left - I later discovered that it was an 'early' place, catering for families.

The meat-and veggie stew was more than adequate, and I ducked around the corner for ice cream - apparently its a bit of a local speciality, with some interesting colours and flavours! But all nice.





Then the 15 min walk back to the hotel. I mentioned it was on the edge of town, so there were some back streets to navigate. Not threatening at all, but some I think may not want to do it.

 

[drron]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I would have needed more than 1 Efes after that balloon ride!

 

[Major]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

What type of rock is it that allows them to dig out houses, churches, hotels etc.? Is it some sort of limestone ?

 

[GarrettM]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Stunning photos RooFlyer. Thanks.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

What type of rock is it that allows them to dig out houses, churches, hotels etc.? Is it some sort of limestone ?

Thank you for asking . Technically its a volcanic tuff. Ash, grit and sand ejected out of a volcano in a very big eruption millions of years ago. Remnants of the volcano can still be seen. Normally this stuff would turn into hard rock by heat and/or pressure with the addition of more layers on top (kilometres of them). But this stuff got only lightly squeezed so it only just hangs together and can be dug pretty easily. I'll show some pics later of some ancient church caves which have had to be armoured outside with concrete in modern times as the roofs were being worn away.

 

[love_the_life]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I would have needed more than 1 Efes after that balloon ride!

I'd need a Bex and a good lie down! :shock:

Edit, I got the quote wrong - just remembered it now (the old brain kicked in):

A cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

So, the next day, I did the balloon trip again.

:shock: ?

Several reasons: 1) The weather on the first trip was carp - ballooning in grey overcast skies isn't worth it. 2) Obviously the pilot would be sacked, and that was the main problem I think and 3) The business owner met the balloon on day 1 for après 'Champers' (would you believe Turkish sparkling!?) and we chatted. I mentioned that I might do the trip the following day and he immediately offered it to me for half price.

So, for the second day in a row, it was a 3:45am alarm and a pick-up at 4am. Gawd! But fortunately this time the weather was fine, as forecast .

I was shocked to see yesterday's pilot in attendance at the office where we met for breakfast. Fortunately the Chief Pilot had already introduced himself and said that he would be taking us up today.

We got the all clear to fly on time so headed out. These are plots of the two trips. Day 1 on the left - a long journey, ending up in the wooded creek area. Day 2 on the right. Departing from much the same area, but a completely different route, and shorter because the winds were calmer.





Inflation:




There is no doubt that ballooning is a bit of a con. Its the massed balloons that are equally spectacular as the scenery . A fine morning makes all the difference.






Up over a town. See the rocks to the right in the LH pic - you can see right through them. Another of the larger hotels in the RH pic.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Gosh it was a good trip - sunny and serene and no power lines in sight!










Many balloons drifted over the plateau and had to go way on until they were over the other side, so the ground crews could meet them. Looks like bad piloting to me - we all left from about the same area, yet our balloon and others managed to skirt the plateau (coming from the right as we look back here), see some great rock formations and have a nice flat area to land on.



After an hour, other balloons in the area started to land - we had a bit to go yet (theoretically 30 mins longer trip). That's our pilot (Royal Balloons Chief Pilot)