Trippin'

I just got back from an action packed 3 toured trip. Everyone else on the trip was AT LEAST 30 years older than me and I went alone so that was.. interesting. Still enjoyed myself loads. Saw amazing things. I cant really go into too much detail of everything because it was a lot so I'll try to break it down.

-Leave Aegean Coast town of Ayvalik ("home")
- First place we went was Hacıbektaş - A town in central Anatolia named after the Islamic mystic/thinker/philosopher who lived from 1209-1271. He lived there. His museum is there. Eh. I was a little unimpressed but the mosque was pretty all right I guess. Theres pretty much nothing in that town. Moving on.

-Cappadocia. I dont really know how to describe this place. Its a whole different world. No picture will ever do it justice because it has to impossible to capture something so... grandiose? So... out of this world? ... with just a snapshot.

Cappadocia is packed with so much historical and geological .. stuff? Its crazy! Tim! You have to go! I have to steal from wiki to explain it.
So here:
The Cappadocia region is largely underlain by sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams, and ignimbrite deposits erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately 9 to 3 million years ago, during the late Miocene to Pliocene epochs.The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. The volcanic deposits are soft rocks that the people of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out to form houses, churches and monasteries. Göreme became a monastic center between 300—1200 AD.

Anddd thennn people went and lived in these rocks.
-Cave labyrinths. Super complex and scary cave labyrinths. The walls breathed and there was such a smart system of air circulation that it's insane.

- Also! Cave churches and chapels! Like painted scences from the Bible of everything you know. Pantocrator/Deesis and the Transfiguration and Crucifiction... There was one that I went to that blew my mind. I was alone in this fairly large church with frescoes made of lapis lazuli that dates back to early 10th century. But the color is still so bold! This one was called the Buckle (Tokali) Church. Mind-blowing, honestly. You couldnt take pictures in the churches though :/

- Also went hiking down Ihlara Valley (which was beautiful) and there were churches in caves as well (not as cool as the ones in the open air museum) that were from made by early Christians escaping Roman soldiers.

- Ate in a restaurant inside a cave... pretty neat. I ate the most delicious meat I think I've ever had. I'm also pretty sure it was prepared in a terra cotta amphora of some sort.. No idea how.

- Wine tasting. Self-explanatory.

-On the way back we stopped in Konya, the final home of Rumi. Went to the museum/mosque and saw his mausoleum. I was in awe. So ornate and intricate. Blew my mind.

And now, "home"

Pictures will come sometime soon. Its hard to even understand what I am saying without some sort of imagery. And I know this post is really scattered but so was my trip. So much history to explain with each of these that I couldnt possibly cover...


So glad I went. Being a history major and visiting places like these just reconfirm over and over again how much I love what I've decided to do. Sometimes I forget back in America because its never really in my face, but here it's everywhere.
.. Now how can I import my goons here to make my life perfect?...