What can you possibly do for excitement once you’ve nearly been frightened to death in a tent in Kenya by wild animals?
For me and my guy, the answer was obvious: Sleep in a cave in Turkey. Well, not just any cave, but a cave hotel in Cappadocia, a region in Central Anatolia, where the rocks date back 16 million years.
When I’d first heard of Cappadocia, an area filled with crazy lava and volcanic ash formations that had been hollowed out and used as dwellings by ancient peoples, I knew it was a place I had to visit.
Flying into Cappadocia takes some planning — and guts. Turkish Airlines flies from Istanbul to Nevsehir airport every Wednesday through Friday, plus Sunday. Flying in takes nerves of steel. I’d heard about the wild wind shears that surround the region, but I wasn’t ready for such white-knuckle flying. But once we got to see the space-scape we’d landed upon, the bumpy ride was clearly a small price to pay.
Cappadocia is one of the planet’s most gloriously odd places. It looks like Mars — if Mars had been designed by Disney. It’s filled with completely natural (if artificial-seeming) formations called “fairy chimneys” that rise into the sky. These erotic-looking “chimneys” were created by volcanic ash and lava that once covered the whole area.
The biggest deposits — the size of large hills — were carved by ingenious ancient settlers: Persians, Assyrians, Greeks and Hittites all dug into the hardened ash to create dwellings after the wet seasons had softened the rock. Whole underground, air-shaft-fed cities were created so people could live underground for months during various invasions.
For our stay, we chose the Gamirasu Cave Hotel, (gamirasu.com) one of the first cave hotels built after the residents moved out, which wasn’t until the 1950s.
I expected damp, and braced for bats, but was ready for anything. I mean a lot of bat guano builds up after a few million years — right? Wrong.
Luxury has a new name: cave.
The hotel was fairly empty when we visited (early spring), so we were upgraded to a big suite with a hot tub, fireplace and, I swear, disco lights that can — thank God — be turned off. Added benefit? The food is all prepared in-house and all organic. Yup, inside a cave.
Rates range from $195 for a double with breakfast, to the Roman King Suite for $650, to the Byzantine King Suite at $1,475.
On the first night, we ordered Turkish wine, and perched ourselves on the terrace as the muezzins were calling the faithful to prayer. Cappadocian drummers played in the distance, and the scent of baking bread lulled us into one of those rare magical moments of peace.
The next day, we discovered the wonders of Cappadoccia — hiking for miles up and around the formations, ending up in “Pigeon Valley,” where thousands of birds fly around and live in the cavern walls.
On the second day, we climbed down and down into an ancient Hittite city that was brilliantly engineered, complete with ventilation shafts, plumbing, kitchens, bedrooms, stables for animals, storage, winery, a cistern for prisoners, and yes, ancient toilet facilities! The cities can be as deep as eight stories underground. Best of all, the caves are always at a perfect 50 degrees.
As we descended down through eight stories of one underground city, it became as scary as those wind shears — yet bizarre and exciting, too, as though we were passing through time into the intact world of people who existed thousands of years ago.
Next came St. Basil’s, an underground cave church and monastery carved in the third century AD. We were bowled over to be able to stand just inches from 1,700-year-old cave paintings of saints (it was forbidden to depict Jesus ).
In summer, you can hike, horseback-ride (Cappadocia means “land of the beautiful horses), and climb. In winter, there is skiing. A must any time of the year is a hot-air balloon, a 90-minute ride over this magical world. Sure, you may have taken a balloon ride before, but seriously, how often will you getto fly over Mars?
For more information, visit cappadociainformation.com.