Two days ago, I did make stops at the two archeological sites I wanted to see, Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe. The first one was similar to my visit to Boncuklu Tarla, in the sense that it was a very low-key dig. Also, like at Boncuklu Tarla, I met and spoke with the head honcho at length, using google translate. It was very interesting to get his insight on what the people might have been thinking as they transitioned from hunter-gatherers to agriculture and permanent settlements.

Göbekli Tepe was amazing. Because more of it has been excavated and the site is well-known internationally, it’s a destination, and a slick one as compared to the first two sites I visited, but for good reason. Although the other sites are older, what went on at this site was more advanced, as evidenced by the structures, but it’s really not at all understood what the heck the people were doing there. More on that later.

At Göbekli Tepe, the inscription on a bag a woman had caught my eye, something you’ll relate to:

Yesterday I drove to a well-known place called Cappadocia. Maybe you know of it, a place where people lived in the stone towers. It’s an incredible place, even though it’s overrun with tourists.

Last night, I slept in a cool cave in Cappadocia, with everything carved right into the stone:

(click all photos to enlarge)

Got up this morning at oh-dark thirty and did something I’d never done before, which was to pay for a balloon flight. It was well worth it! It was also the biggest balloon I’d ever flown in, with sixteen passengers plus the pilot. The biggest balloons here carry 28 passengers. There were 150 other balloons flying over Cappadocia today.

Ballooning in Cappadocia was all started by British friends of mine in the 1990s. An average of 3000-3500 passengers fly daily, with over 200 flyable days each year. It’s huge tourism business, not only the revenue brought in by the flights themselves, but especially with airfare, hotels and everything related all added in.

today, I’ll go to a place called Çatalhöyük to see more recent civilization, from about 7500 BC to 6400 BC! From there, to Konya to see whirling dervishes.

Something worth mentioning is that if any Tenters are interested in keeping track of my adventures and would like to be on my mailing list, I’m happy to add their email addresses.

Another thing worth noting is the book I brought on this trip is one suggested by a Tenter a while ago (was it pedro?):

It’s an excellent book, detailing the string of stupidity that led up to the German hyperinflation. We’re dealing with different details now, but the stupidity is of the same overall nature. Or maybe worse…

Although I’m only halfway through the book, I highly recommend it.

All the best to you!

Bill

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Fully’s Note : To follow the Adventures of Goldbaloon send me an email and I will forward to the baloonman

gmag@live.ca