Photo Safari Goreme

Monday May 2nd Photo Safari.

Today we had booked a photo safari with Heritage Travel and they added in a visit to Kaymaklı Underground City.

It was built by the Chrıstians to hide in times of persecutıon. The city is built on seven levels of which four are open to the public. İt was well worth the visit and Deniz our tour guide was wonderful. She was extremely informative and did her best to avoid the huge crowds that were there. We arrived at about 9.30 and already there were numerous tour buses there. They say that the city was never meant for continuous occupatıon but to be used only in times of danger. There are 14 known underground cities in the region and it is believed they could house up to 30,000 people at any given time. However they stored their food there in readiness for times of attack, so that in times of danger they just had to move in. The temperature inside the caves remains at a constant 15 degrees and so to this day the numerous caves that dot the region are still used to store crops. This area provides 60% of Turkey’s potatoes. The underground cities included churches, kitchens, stablesand wineries in addition to the normal living space. They also had big stones to close off each level in times of attack.

Kaymakli Underground City

We arrived back at Kelebek to find Jules, a professional photographer, waiting for us in an old World War II jeep. Our Photo Safari had begun. Now this was my idea of an organised tour. We were asked what type of photos we wanted to take. İn Cappadocia, for me, it had to be landscape. So she planned a route based on where we would get the best light. All İ can say was the day was amazing. We left the world of tour buses behind and did some light hiking around the valleys with nothing but birdsong to be heard. Jules is so enthusiastic about photography, willing to help and guide if required, but very unobtrusive. Amazing for someone with her professional background to have such patience and sense of fun with two amateurs.

Rose Valley

We broke the day with lunch at the Anatolian restaurant in Göreme and once again it was delicious. Then back to trampıng up and down the valleys. İ restraıned myself and only took 489 photographs and that doesn’t include the ones I deleted on the move.

Jules' Donkey

Uchisar

All I can do is talk in superlatives since we have arrived. I’ll let the photographs say the rest. This is the link to some more of my photos Cappadocia.