ELTIPS AV R T
It’s no wonder this area doubles as the Wild West from time to time when film crews arrive. The wilderness stretches as far as the eye can see, and the horse riding is among the best I have ever experienced.
I had never even heard of Cappadocia before I’d visited this beautiful region, right in the middle of Turkey, a 90-minute flight from capital Istanbul and to the east of the more popular beach destinations such as Bodrum and Marmaris.
I visited in dusty July, which was impressive enough, but when spring arrives the area is turned into a stun stunning sea of wild flowers and I can’t wait to experience it then.
The Ottoman Lieutenant, starring rring Josh Hartnett and Hera Hilmar,ar, is set here in 1914 and tells the storyry of an American nurse who o moves to the area to help with a medical mission.
It’s easy to see why the film makakers thought this area would be so perfect for such an epic horsebackack drama – everything here is on suchuch a grand, sweeping scale, it takeskes your breath away.
Cappadocia is now a national onal park but since the 6th century BC it has been a meeting place for travel- avel- lers to shelter, rest, trade, and sometimes hide from persecutors in the caves that litter the area.
It often feels that little has changed in the intervening years – the countryside is still vast and remote, and there are farmers using donkeys, horses and carts.
But the tourist industry has grown. We stayed at the lovely Queens Cave Hotel in Goreme, where rooms are built into caves.
The caves stay at a perfect 12C all year, even when the mercury is pushing past 40 at the height of summer or dipping well below freezing in winter.
Our wonderful guides from the Akhal-Teke Horse Center met us there with our steeds for the day and we rode through the small town of Goreme before heading out into the wild. Marvelling at eagles and tortoises and at the ever-changing rock formations, we went deep into the heart of Cappadocia.
After riding for a couple of hours, we were hot and thirsty and thrilled to come across a picnic area where our generous hosts had driven ahead and set up dining tables, a traditional clay oven on an open fire, and a machine for squeezing fresh oranges into mouthwatering juice.
The food in this area is a fabulous fusion of European, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian cuisine. Everything is extremely fresh and tasty – some of the nicest food I have ever eaten. DON’T forget to take a bum bag on your horse trek so you can easily reach for your camera. You’ll want to take plenty of pictures. LEAVE laptops and iPads at home, or pack them in your case. New laws mean you can’t take them in your hand luggage on flights back to the UK. THE Akhal-Teke Horse Center can arrange transfers from the airport to your hotel, and tours to sights. They also offer camping trips to the caves if you feel adventurous.
Dervish
After lunch, my companions decideddec to hack slowly back on their horseshor but I was itching to see what thesethe horses were capable of – after all, they are world-beating enduranceanc horses, trained to canter fast and furiously for hours in the heat. So off I galloped, kicking up dust anda stones as I let the brakes off my gorgeous Arab-Anatolian horse Melek, whose name means Angel in Turkish – and she certainly was. That night, we went to watch a W Whirling Dervish display, an Isl Islamic ceremony in which member bers of a brotherhood spin round and round in circles in an act of devotion to God. A spectacular sunset at the Red Valley Lookout followed, where locals and tourists gather to watch the sun turn the mountains a gorgeous shade of red – hence the name!
We drank some very nice Turkish wine there and could quite easily have drunk more, but we had an early night while setting the alarm for 3.30am – for the next day’s balloon ride.
We took off at dawn and we spent the next hour floating over the “fairy chimneys”, the region’s famous rock formations that look like city rooftops from above.
Our balloon, among 100 filling the pink and purple skies, was virtually silent for the journey apart from the odd “wow” and “amazing”.
We were too overwhelmed to speak very much.
All too soon, we were back on dry land with a bump.
Our short stay in this mystical, marvellous land was over all too quickly. But it really was a true Turkish delight.
Flights from London to Kayseri, via Istanbul, from £331 per person with Pegasus Airlines. Seven nights in a superior room at the Queens Cave Hotel from £420, queenshotelcappadocia.com. To book a horse trek, call the AkhalTeke Horse Center on +90 384 511 5171. The Ottoman Lieutenant is out on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow.
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