I've posted quite a bit about my adventures in Turkey, including Istanbul, Bozcaada Island and Kas. Perhaps one of my most atmospheric journeys in Turkey was walking and hiking in the Cappadocia region. Typically, visitors sign up with a tour group that either drives from village to village hopping off at key sites or they take a hike with a large group that wanders through some of the most popular valleys. Still others take to the skies, floating over the land in multi-colored hot air balloons. Others stroll the trails on their own, hoping to soak up the atmosphere with no particular agenda in mind and probably also missing some historically significant but off-the-radar sights. But traveling with Walking Mehmet is perhaps the most authentic way of learning about this area with its cave-carved churches, monasteries and chapels with curious monoliths termed fairy chimneys adding to the exotic aura of this area.
I recently wrote about my day of Zen-like hiking in this area on National Geographic Traveler's Intelligent Travel blog.http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2009/11/16/mindfully_meandering_in_turkey/
I recently wrote about my day of Zen-like hiking in this area on National Geographic Traveler's Intelligent Travel blog.http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2009/11/16/mindfully_meandering_in_turkey/
