Cappadocia, 14 -16 March

After an overnight bus trip from Istanbul, we arrived in Goreme, in Cappadocia, Kapadokya in Turkish. This place is incredible and more than lives up to any pictures you may have seen.  We are staying in a very small place called Goreme Mansion. It has only been operating for a short while and is run by retired baker Ali and his wife Emine.  They are delightful - so courteous and generous.  They are building a second level with three more rooms above the existing three, and another level on top of that for a rooftop restaurant.  Their son Cem helps out, as well as running his balloon business. He also is a lovely person.

There is so much to see and do in Cappadocia, and with its caves and valleys, it is a young boy's dream. Joseph has been looking forward to this so much, and he is not disappointed. Nor are we.  Our first morning, we head out to the Goreme open air museum. The area was home to communities of religious orders during the Roman & Byzantine era, and there are chapels, churches, homes and stables carved into rock. Terrific stuff. Niches and pits for store rooms, ovens etc, and even refectory tables and chairs, all cut into the rock in made-made caves. In some of the churches and chapels, there are still painted friezes.  Interestingly, in many of these the faces of the people have been scratched off.  Not sure why - iconoclasts or later Islamic people maybe?   Most construction occurred between the 4th and 11th Centuries and erosion occurs at the rate of 1cm per annum so the dwellings and churches would have been much larger than the present. 

We encounter a group of young teenage girls at the museum.  Or rather, they encounter Joseph and are smitten by him. They ask to take photos with him, and some even ask him for a kiss. He obliges with the photos, but declines the kisses. These are lovely girls, exuberant and confident, and very nice to Joseph. One of them 
sneaks a kiss on to his cheek, anyway.  This sort of thing has happened a lot with Joseph while we've been away.  He is very popular with the Iranian and Turkish people.

Afterwards, we attempt to walk some of the valleys. There are some walking maps 
available but they are really bad. The valley we attempt is Zemi, and all is well for a 
while, but then it peters out and we have to retrace our footsteps. 

The next day is a 5am start for Joseph and David for a hot air balloon tour. A perfect cloudless day, we rise to 800 metres where the gentlest zephyr takes us in one direction before we descend to be taken by a whisper of wind back past our starting point. Several cycles of this and the scale of the sites becomes clearer and makes the surreal even more so. We drift down valleys, eyeballing  portals to the churches and dwellings, wondering how and why, before rising to take in the colours, shapes and feeling a little other-worldly ourselves. No wonder it was used as the film set for Tattoine in the original Star Wars. 

In the afternoon, we set off along Rose Valley for a walk.  We had a terrific time.  The 
valleys all creep around the rock formations, and there are rooms carved in the rocks 

all along the way.  There's plenty of opportunity to scramble up following hand and footholds carved in the rocks.  One of the places we come across is, we all think, the best church by far.  It has a cross and decorations carved into the ceiling of one room, which is all beautifully cut and detailed, as well as friezes.  It seems incredible that these are just there for the viewing if you can be bothered walking through the valleys to find them, and being neither preserved nor vandalised. 

It is a very cold day, and there is still ice on the puddles in some sheltered parts of the valley. But it is lovely walking.  We meet a man tending his small plot of land where he is growing grapes, apricots and walnuts. He shows us through the plot and explains 
what he can about what he is doing.  He then directs us up and out of the valley via 
an incredibly steep scramble up a slope, to the other side where Emin, a relative and "younger man" has a cafe.  Here we have fresh orange juice and tea, before heading  back down into the valley.  We see more old rock carvings, including dovecotes and an apiary, and emerge at the end of the valley with just enough time to run up to the top of a rise and watch the sun set over Cappadocia.  Beautiful. 

Dinner that night is the best meal we've had since we've been away. This trip has been cheap eats for a few days then a proper meal (though not necessarily expensive). Tonight is a bargain-priced treat at a restaurant called Top Deck in Goreme. Family run, parents in the kitchen, a shared mezze of vegetable and yoghurt-
based dishes, then lamb and vegetable mains. Superb end to a wonderful day. 

Our last day in Cappadocia we visit the underground city of Kaymakli, one of many of various sizes. As with Nushabad, these were used by the local people as a place to retreat to when under threat of attack.  They could live there for ages, and this one accommodated 20,000 people. It was a bit claustrophobic, but fantastic.  One thing, we were pursued by the most aggressive guides trying to get us to use their services. We were accosted at the entrance to the city, and they just wouldn't take no for an answer. One followed us right in, crouching down in the tunnels and telling us without losing breath about the benefits of using his services. 

Back to Goreme, to say goodbye to Ali and Emine, and Geoff and Mei, who were also staying at Goreme mansion while we were there.  Then on to Gaziantep via overnight 
bus.