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Tuesday, November 12th - Aksaray to Guzelyurt - 14,239 km
I talk the boys into do a tour of the Agzikara Han caravanserai in the centre of town before we leave this morning. I think they are a little reluctant to get on the bikes this morning. Their legs are still tired from yesterday’s ride. Mine are a bit too. I suggested a walking tour would be a good way to warm them up. The admission is modest and there isn’t a lot to keep us occupied. Mostly, it is a square with four walls, an open court in the middle and a covered court around the edges for bad weather times. We spend less than half an hour exploring it.
Then it is off to the Ihlara Valley, a 16 km long canyon cut into the volcanic plateau. It is 30 km to the south-east and the first attraction we see in Cappadocia. The traffic and bland scenery beyond the outskirts – except for the volcano to the south, Mt. Hasan – belie the surprise that is waiting. I suppose places like this exist all over the world unknown to us unless we have been there. Ihlara Valley is one of those secret places that dazzle me when I find them.
The canyon walls are high, anywhere from 30 to 130 m. They are either vertical or close to it, while the valley floor is flat or gently rolling. We enter it at one end and snake our way with our bikes along the trails its whole length. The canyon walls and pastoral valley floor are enthralling enough but then you see what millennia of history have done to them. The walls are made of hardened volcanic ash, which becomes soft when wet and will fall when nothing is supporting it, which is why the walls are near vertical.
Through the centuries, people have moistened the ash and then chipped into it to make homes. They have also carved dozens of churches, some of their entrances hidden from view. The pre-Byzantine Christians fled the Romans into the canyons and valleys of this region to build their secret places of worship.
Whenever we spot something interesting, Coen, Vincent and I stop and walk our bikes up to the base of the canyon walls. I will watch their bikes and gear while they tour the site and then they watch mine. This takes double the time so we only see a few. That is enough though to get the basic idea. There are no tours, no roped off walkways. We are free to climb around inside the cave homes and temples unsupervised. My favourite is a three floor church carved 10 m into the walls windows on the upper levels.
One of my childhood heroes is Tom Sawyer, who was brave enough to venture into a darkened cave. I have always been drawn to caves, as I have mentioned before in my blog. Ironically, I am also claustrophobic and terrified of being caught in a tight, dark place. I cannot even watch a film where someone is buried alive, caught in a tunnel or nailed into a coffin or the trunk of a car, even for their own good, without running out of the room to get away from the thought. Still, caves are incredibly appealing to me, as long as I think I am safe.
These made-made caves have doors and windows and are never too deep to allow for total darkness. Given that so many of them have crumbled or parts fallen off over the years, they are probably more dangerous than the ones that frighten me, but I love exploring them and wish I had a week to do so.
Time is running tight after three hours of this so we cycle the rest of the valley and out the far end. It is another 15 km to Guzelyurt, a village at the south end of Cappadocia with great views of Mt. Hasan, at least from a distance. The town lies at the foot of tall ash cliffs. Dozens of caves have been dug into the base of the cliffs above the town. They are all around us – way too many to explore. Coen and Vincent don’t want to take the time to explore them. They say the real ones to see are near Goreme, in the heart of Cappadocia. 
It is approaching dusk when we roll into town, and a ceiling of clouds has moved in this afternoon and further darkened the cliffs so I don’t get the best pictures. We search in vain for a place to sleep but the two inns in town are full. We ask a local merchant how far it would be to ride to the next town to find the next nearest hotel. After hearing him confirm there are no others, and he takes pity on us and lets us sleep on the floor of his unfinished guest room for free. There is only a sink to wash up in and nothing open where we can eat, but we make do with what we’ve been carrying in our bags. 
Coen and Vincent are part of a Dutch riding club and they approach me this evening about doing an article for their newsletter about my trip, which they think is quite extraordinary. I suppose it is, so I agree to do it. I promise to write it over the next three days. Tomorrow, it’s on to Goreme. I can hardly wait.
PHOTO 1: inside the Agzikara Han caravanserai
PHOTO 2: at the edge of the Ihlara Valley (gorge)
PHOTO 3: Ihlara cave church entrance
PHOTO 4: decorative front of the church
PHOTO 5: inside the church
PHOTO 6: Ihlara Valley residence, main floor
PHOTO 7: cave hallway, connecting adjoining rooms
PHOTO 8: entrance hole to second floor
PHOTO 9: entrance to another Ihlara Valley church
PHOTO 10: more Ihlara dwellings with second floors
PHOTO 11: 3800m (13,000 ft) Mt. Hasan, extinct volcano
PHOTO 12: arriving in Guzelyurt
PHOTO 13: cliff caves above Guzelyurt
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