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The Cappodocia region of Turkey is a completely fascinating place. The topography is a mixture of phallic looking sandstone pillars,delicately fluted ridges, fairy chimneys and sheer cliffs many of which have been carved out as homes. One area has entire underground cities that housed many thousands of people and went as much as 6 stories underground. In other spots the individual pillars have been completely carved out into homes with a dozen rooms, while the largest pillars look like apartment blocks housing many families each with their own balconies.
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We visited dozens of major historic sites in Turkey such as Ephesus, Aphrodisias, Side, Tilos and Kekova. In addition a great many of our anchorages had ruins that were hardly on the maps and we could climb all over them. In most countries they would be of major historical significance but since Turkey has thousand and thousands of ruins there are way to many to protect and restore so many act as silent sentinels of history.
In the coastal town of Olu Deniz they hold a yearly air fest that attracts pargliding pilots and sky divers from all over the world. In 2009 the Turkish Stars military jet demonstration team was on hand to give an exciting opening performance. The paragliders and sky divers included many of the best in the world and each day brought more loops, formation flying and incredible stunts. One jaw dropping effort was 2 sky divers jumping free from a triple paraglider and then doing a free fall formation followed by opening their high speed parachutes less than 200' above the ground and landing within inches of each other while still going about 35 miles an hour.
