Talking Turkey 2, Cappadocia

My travelling Biddy and I enjoy the views in Cappadoicia

June 19th 2010 Saturday

Istanbul Ataturk airport, flight to Kayseri at 07:20 with Turkish Airlines TK2010. Upon your arrival in Kayseri at 08:45 you will be met at the Kayseri airport by our ground handler and depart for the full day regular Cappadocia tour 1:

This was the plan but things don't always got to plan. We got on the plane and had a pleasant flight, we both agreed that this was better than an overnight bus. We arrived in Kayseri refreshed and ready to go. But we had trouble finding our ground handler. There was a party waiting for 2 people who were flying in from Istanbul but the name he had was Myna Hanes. We waited, they waited finally he agreed to take us. Half way to Cappadocia we get a phone call telling us that our tour had started without us but not to worry because the driver will drop us off with the bus for our tour and we will met them at the end of the trek.

Fairy Chimneys, these were peoples homes.

The Rock Formations were amazing

As it worked out we got the opportunity to have an explore and play in the valley while we waited. When we met up with the guide he said we were lucky because it was very hot. The rest of the day was spent visiting areas and viewing some amazing geological formations. The higlight being the cave houses and the underground city.

This round rock was a door that kept the Christians safe underground.

Up to 3000 people lived for months at a time in this underground City.

It went down at least 8 levels.

We were dropped at our hotel after the days tour. It was a cave hotel so it had the feeling of being in a cave. A very nice hotel with friendly people.

A local Tractor parked for the night.

June 20th 2010 Sunday

My favourite Balloon shot

At 05:00 you will be picked up from your hotel for the Standard/Short Hot Air Balloon flight(if there is wind your

flight will be postponed to tomorrow) and drive to the launch site in the early morning. While you have your open

buffet breakfast which includes coffee/tea and snacks the balloons are prepared on the ground. Once again that was the plan, but for some reason we were left behind and the balloon company had to send someone back to pick us up.

Before take off, I was intrigued by how many balloons flew that day.

Up, up and away!

When we got to the launch site the buffet was eaten, most of the balloons were inflated or inflating. We had a couple of minutes then we were told to go to a balloon and loaded on board. The conditions were ideal so there were 60 balloons flying that day. The wind was gentle but couldn't decide where it was coming from. We got more than 90 minutes flying

Pottery and Ornate tiles are everywhere,

Even the pigeons have incredible tiles.

We got back to our hotel and breakfast was still on. So we enjoyed a good breakfast and then we were off for another day of tripping around and exploring Cappadocia formations. Goreme Valley had a fantastic outdoor Museum. THis valley had many churches where young peoplr trained in religion then they went out and spread christianity. Some of the churches were spectacular. It was surprising what had carved into the rocks.

Pigeon valley was interesting. The pigeon houses had been carved into the rocks so that the pigeons would roost there and provide lots of pigeon pooh for manure. Apparently it was seen as a profitable commodity.

The vineyards were interesting. No tying back here.

We finished earlier and had some time to explore Urgup. The locals were very friendly and seemed keen to talk with us. We enjoyed sampling various nuts and tasty treats. We ended buying a big bag of nuts coated with sesame seeds. We ate out in town the food was good and a reasonable price. It was interesting to sit in town and watch the tractors drive through town. A busy little centre.

Check out the cotton tree,

The white are strips of cotton material,

Tied to the tree they show a wish.

I hope they all came true.

June 21st 2010 Monday

A morning in town then we drive back to Kayseri to fly to Izmir to picked up and go to Kusdasi.

We had two days of sightseeing and tours in the Cappadocia area, it was not enough. We felt we would have liked to spend more time exploring on our own. I think it would be easy enough to do too. One guy I spoke with came here for two weeks five years ago. Now he spends the summer here and the winter in Spain.