Turkey

Where the fairies live

You have to get up early for a hot air balloon ride.

(Bild: Nataliia Vyshneva - stock.adobe.com)

Unique tufa landscapes have shaped the lives of the people of Cappadocia in Turkey for centuries. Seen from above, the fairy chimneys look like something out of a magical fairytale landscape.

Who hasn't seen them, the colorful hot air balloons over the rugged landscape of Cappadocia in Turkey? Almost every advertising brochure for the region features them. With a little fear of heights in your luggage, or at least a certain respect for heights, it may not be the best idea to take a balloon ride. But should you really miss out on this experience in this special place? No, definitely not!

We set off early in the morning. It is still pitch dark when the balloons are filled with hot air in the open air and their envelopes slowly rise into the air, brightly lit. Just in time for sunrise, we glide gently over the unique landscape - sometimes very close to the tuff formations created by volcanic activity, so that you almost want to touch them. And then again at an altitude of up to 800 m, from where a magnificent panoramic view makes you forget any fear of heights.

Ismail and Emine still live in their "stone apartment" in Uçhisar from time to time.

(Bild: E. Salvador)

(Bild: Dmytro - stock.adobe.com)

It is almost unimaginable that people have lived in the caves, which they painstakingly dug out of the soft rock, for centuries. Ismail and his wife Emine still do this in Uçhisar today. They also run a small café and a souvenir store here. Ismail's family has lived here for four generations - he himself was even born in one of the "stone dwellings".

Entire cities lived underground during sieges
Entire towns and monasteries can still be visited today. For example in Zelve. An entire village stretches across three valleys, including a mill, mosque and churches, some with murals from various eras and symbols carved into the stone. The last residential caves were still inhabited until the 1950s. The population also continued to expand underground.

In times of siege, entire towns could retreat there, along with all their livestock - because there were also stables and storage rooms here. The discovery of the underground city of Özkonak was actually a coincidence. Latif Acar, the muezzin of the local mosque at the time, discovered it while gardening. Today you can squeeze through the narrow corridors and discover parts of it for yourself. It's hard to imagine what life must have been like here.

The fairy chimneys were formed by volcanic eruptions.

(Bild: e_polischuk - stock.adobe.com)

Away from the open-air museums, the surrounding area can also be explored on walks and hikes. Through the "Liebestal" or past the "3 Graces" (three particularly beautiful fairy chimneys). It is said that you can even spot a camel in the rock formations. However, we weren't so sure whether it didn't look more like a snail. It is probably more in the eye of the beholder what he actually sees or wants to see.

INFO

Offer:
Istanbul & Cappadocia: 8-day trip with Turkish Airlines from €1399
Dates: 3. 9., 17. 9., 8. 10., 22. 10., 5. 11., 19. 11. 2024

Info, details and bookings:
Austria-wide in all Raiffeisen and Geo travel agencies
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail]

Chez Galip pottery & hair museum:
www.chez galip.com

The Chez Galip pottery is a little quirky - not because of the pottery itself, but because of the somewhat different "hobby" of master potter Galip Körükçü: He has founded a "hair museum". Sounds strange, but it is. And even earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of Records in 1998. For over 40 years now, he has been collecting strands of hair, which he cuts off his students and labels with their names and dates - naturally only with their prior consent. There are over 16,000 of these "exhibits" to date, and he has never tired of collecting them.

Turkish ceramics have a long tradition
But back to the actual pottery. Here in Avanos, on the Kizilirmak (Red River), it still provides the basis for the traditional craft, which can be traced back to the Hittite period, around 4,000 years ago.

According to an old pottery tradition, a man was only allowed to marry if he was able to shape a perfectly fitting lid to a pot (or jug) without any problems and without having to measure it precisely, i.e. only by eye.

For Master Galip, such a task is no longer a great challenge; he is the sixth generation of his family to make pottery and is happy to pass on his knowledge to anyone who is interested. You just have to be prepared to "pay" with a strand of hair in return.