Even just walking around the hallways is interesting.

2000 years ago Mount Erciyes erupted in Central Turkey, spewing ash and lava over the Cappadocia region. When the disaster had settled, the terrain was covered in soft-rock pillars that eroded away over the next few centuries.

When people returned to Cappadocia they discovered that the rocks were easily carved, and began creating churches, monasteries and dwellings inside the pillars. They decorated them with Christian paintings, sculpted intricate patterns and turned them into wonders of ancient architecture. These underground cities have stood the test of time and today are one of the most fascinating sights in the area. Something that people dream about when researching a trip to Turkey

Any itinerary to Turkey should include at least two attractions – Exploring Istanbul, the historic capital city, and flying in a hot air balloon over Cappadocia. The latter is one of the best “bucket list” items you can do, and there is nothing quite like floating over the fairy chimneys of Goreme.

But besides the hot air ballooning there are also a lot of other excellent activities in the region, such as hiking, mountain biking, visiting underground cities and horse riding. At least a few days is needed to enjoy everything, and when trying to pick somewhere to rest your head at night there is no better choice than Kale Konak Cave Hotel in Uçhısar.

There are plenty of beautiful decorations around the hotel to add character.

Only 2km from Goreme and situated at the base of the Uçhısar Castle, the Kale Konak Cave Hotel offers an incredible experience with impeccable service. In a place where hundreds of cave hotels have opened to cater for the huge numbers of tourists that visit each year, Kale Konak has taken a step above all and become one of the best boutique hotels in Cappadocia.

Outdoor Patio View Kale Konak Cave Hotel Uchisar Goreme Best Boutique Hotel Cappadocia

The patio by day.

The central courtyard.

Caves with character!

Even just walking around the hallways is interesting.

From the moment we arrived the attentive staff greeted us with a snack plate and cups of fresh apple tea. They went above and beyond to make us feel welcome, which was much appreciated after our long overnight bus ride from the town of Trabzon. The manager Abdullah soon joined us and we chatted and talked for almost an hour before getting a tour of the boutique hotel. Being early December, the hotel was empty except for two guests, so we had the chance to have a look at almost all the immaculately decorated rooms. We were blown away with just how much attention to detail has been put into Kale Konak, and how they have succeeded in using the existing porous rocks as a building frame for creating pure luxury.

We were then shown to our special cave suite, and were blown away from the moment we walked in. The cave room was spacious and tastefully decorated, with subtle lighting throughout the room and lots of comfortable sitting areas. Besides the huge bed (it was seriously massive), we had a couch, table, chairs, a TV, entrance hall and a large bathroom. Unless you suffered from severe claustrophobia, it would be impossible to feel cramped. We even had free wifi in our cave. We’ve been to a lot of caves before, but never before could we check emails while being underground.

Our amazing cave room.

 

If one chanced to go out of the cottage after nightfall for anything

My grandfather (the kingdom of heaven be his! may he eat only wheaten rolls and poppy-seed cakes with honey, in the other world!) Could tell a story wonderfully well. When he used to begin a tale you could not stir from the spot all day, but kept on listening.

He was not like the story-teller of the present day, when he begins to lie, with a tongue as though he had had nothing to eat for three days, so that you snatch your cap and flee from the house.

I remember my old mother was alive then, and in the long winter evenings when the frost was crackling out of doors, and had sealed up hermetically the narrow panes of our cottage, she used to sit at her wheel, drawing out a long thread in her hand, rocking the cradle with her foot, and humming a song, which I seem to hear even now.

The lamp, quivering and flaring up as though in fear of something, lighted up our cottage; the spindle hummed; and all of us children, collected in a cluster, listened to our grandfather, who had not crawled off the stove for more than five years, owing to his great age.

But the wondrous tales of the incursions of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the Poles, the bold deeds of Polkova, of Poltar-Kozhukh, and Sagaidatchnii, did not interest us so much as the stories about some deed of old, which always sent a shiver through our frames and made our hair rise upright on our heads.

Terror possession

Sometimes such terror took possession of us in consequence of them, that, from that evening forward, Heaven knows how wonderful everything seemed to us. If one chanced to go out of the cottage after nightfall for anything, one fancied that a visitor from the other world had lain down to sleep in one’s bed; and I have often taken my own smock, at a distance, as it lay at the head of the bed, for the Evil One rolled up in a ball! But the chief thing about grandfather’s stories was, that he had never lied in all his life; and whatever he said was so was so.

I will now tell you one of his wonderful tales. I know that there are a great many wise people who copy in the courts, and can even read civil documents, but who, if you were to put into their hand a simple prayer-book, could not make out the first letter in it, and would show all their teeth in derision.

S: https://plenary.ensarislamoglu.com/st-johns-eve-part-2/

First, you need to know the official story as told by Anoka Halloween

POKE AROUND THE RIGHT parts of the internet for a few minutes and it’s easy to find what is supposedly the first city in the United States to hold a Halloween parade: Anoka, Minnesota, the self-proclaimed “Halloween Capital of the World.” Dig a little deeper, though, and the story turns out to be more complicated.

First, you need to know the official story as told by Anoka Halloween, Inc., the non-profit organization that promotes Anoka’s history and organizes the annual festival. According to legend, the town’s parade dates back to 1920.

“Anoka, Minnesota is believed to be the first city in the United States to put on a Halloween celebration to divert its youngsters from Halloween pranks,” the history page reads. “When Anokans awoke to find their cows roaming Main Street, windows soaped and outhouses tipped over, they decided something had to be done.”

The people of the town organized a costume parade and block party, so the story goes. A man named George Green came up with the idea along with city leaders like the Anoka Commercial Club and the Anoka Kiwanis Club.

The parade was a success, with bands, clubs, and city groups taking part. There was popcorn, candy, and peanuts. At the end, a sanctioned bonfire raged at Bridge Square. “Celebrations have been held every year since 1920 with the exception of 1942 and 1943 when the festivities were canceled because of World War II,” the Anoka Halloween page states.

A 12-year-old boy named Harold Blair is responsible for launching Anoka’s campaign to be recognized as the “Halloween Capital of the World” by the rest of the country, when he wore a sweater with the title sewn onto it during a trip to Washington DC in 1937. A modern Minnesota congressman, Bill Luther, helped make the title official. In 2002, Luther asked Congress to reaffirm the proclamation that Anoka is the “Halloween Capital of the World,” according to congressional records of the House of Representatives.

“Anoka is thought to be the first to put on a citywide celebration and parade to provide families with alternative activities and fun on Halloween,” Luther told other members of the House. He briefly mentioned the above history before stating, “Due to the celebration’s size and community significance, Anoka first proclaimed itself the ‘Halloween Capital of the World’ in 1937.”

However, history, as it often does, gets in the way.

“Many older celebrations were before Minnesota became a state (1858) or the city of Anoka existed (1878),” Gary Munkholm of Anoka’s Halloween, Inc. wrote in an email. “We are probably the largest and longest celebration presently and that’s the Halloween capital designation.”

I he man had an ashy pallor

Brayton lifted his right foot free of the floor to step backward. That moment he felt a strong aversion to doing so.

“I am accounted brave,” he murmured; “is bravery, then, no more ilia pride? Because there are none to witness the shame shall I reheat?”

He was steadying himself with his right hand upon the back, his foot suspended.

“Nonsense!” he said aloud; “I am not so great a coward as to fear In seem to myself afraid.”

Malignant head

Lie lifted the foot a little higher by slightly bending the knee, and it sharply to the floor an inch in front of the other! He could mil think how that occurred. I trial with the left foot had the same result; it was again in advance of the right. The hand upon the chair I nick was grasping it; the arm was straight, reaching somewhat backward. One might have seen that he was reluctant to lose his hold. The malignant head was still thrust forth from the inner coil as before, the neck level. It had not moved, but its eyes were now electric parks, radiating an infinity of luminous needles.

I he man had an ashy pallor. Again he took a step forward, and another, partly dragging the chair, which, when finally released, fell upon the floor with a crash. The man groaned; the snake made neither sound nor motion, but its eyes were two dazzling suns. The reptile itself was wholly concealed by them. They gave off enlarging rings of rich and vivid colors, which at their greatest expansion successively jt vanished like soap bubbles; they seemed to approach his very face, and anon were an immeasurable distance away. He heard, somewhere, the continual throbbing of a great drum, with desultory bursts of far music, inconceivably sweet, like the tones of an Aeolian harp. He knew it for the sunrise melody of Memnon’s statue, and thought he stood in the Nileside reeds, hearing, with exalted sense, that immortal anthem through the silence of the centuries.

The music ceased; rather, it became by- insensible degrees the distant roll of a retreating thunderstorm. A landscape, glittering with sun and rain, stretched before him, arched with a vivid rainbow, framing in its giant curve a hundred visible cities. In the middle distance a vast serpent, wearing a crown, reared its head out of its voluminous convolutions and looked at him with his dead mother’s eyes. Suddenly this enchanting landscape seemed to rise swiftly upward, lik the drop scene at a theater, and vanished in a blank. Something struck him a hard blow upon the face and breast.

He had fallen to the floor; the blood ran from his broken nose and his bruised lips. For a moment he was dazed and stunned, and lay with closed eyes, his face against the door. In a few moments he had recovered, and then realized that his fall, by withdrawing his eyes, had broken the spell which held him. He felt that now, by keeping his gaze averted, he would be able to retreat. But the thought of the serpent within a few feet of his head, yet unseen—perhaps in the very act of springing upon him and throwing its coils about his throat—was too horrible. He lifted his head, stared again into those baleful eyes, and was again’ in bondage.

Source: https://turkey.tourguideensar.com/the-man-and-the-snake-part-4/

FURIOUS REPLICA CAR

Building a Fast and Furious Replica Car can be a fun but challenging endeavor. The enthusiasm is understandable, given the excitement that still exists for these movies. It’s the same type of enthusiasm I had for cars as a teenager.

In fact, I couldn’t until I got my driver’s license before I

started working on cars, so I worked on friend’s cars. My buddy had a ’78 Ford

pickup with a 351C and I changed the carb on that. Another buddy had a 69

Mustang and I installed a Paxton blower on that. And so it went for the next 20

years. I had a day job, but after work, I was tinkering on cars.

At 18, I rebuilt my first engine by myself using nothing but

at Chilton’s repair manual. The car was a 1973 V6 Capri with siamesed exhaust

ports and nylon teeth cam/crank gears instead of a timing chain. That was fun!

I learned a couple of things early on:

1) If you don’t have the money to do it right the first

time, you sure as hell don’t have the money to do it a second time.

2) If you don’t know what the fuck you are doing, hire

someone WHO HAS PROVEN RESULTS doing the exact job you need done.

Case in point – remember that V6 Capri I just

mentioned?  I sure as hell didn’t try to

bore the cylinders at home – I sent the block to a proper machine shop. Know

your limits and your capabilities. If you’re struggling to come up with the

cash to buy a part or get a certain job done, you might want to consider

another hobby – or another career.

Judging by some of the work I’ve seen on replica cars around

the world, it’s clear that some builders are in over their head. It’s a damn

shame too, because some cars are being ruined for collectors because of shoddy

replicas and it affects others in the hobby.

Parts are nearly impossible to find and those that are available

are often double or triple their original price, so when someone gets a rare

set of wheels and slaps them on a shoddy replica, it’s frustrating.

People often ask me what I think of replicas. The short

answer is that I admire those who would go to such trouble. The long answer is

that I don’t understand why some people are willing to settle for shoddy

workmanship and building a car that’s supposed to be about passion.

Let me explain.

Common sense in automobile customzing means that you only do

what can be done right. If you’re going to try to replicate a movie car’s

interior, you don’t cut out pieces of leather and glue onto door panels.

A movie car replica should be put together with care and

attention to quality. To do anything less is an insult to the fans and it’s

selling yourself short.

I’ve traveled to many countries and seen many replicas. Some

are done so poorly, they look like they were built on a dirt road in Mongolia.

I just don’t understand why anyone would build a car with no attention to

detail and no concern for quality. Morevover, I just don’t understand why

someone would showoff a car that looks like it was built by monkeys. It’s

embarrassing.