Last stop was Goreme in Cappadocia (or Kapadokya in Turkish). To get there, you have to fly to Kayseri or Nevsehir, and we chose Kayseri. From Kayseri its a 45 minute bus or car ride to Goreme. The place is famous for the ‘fairy chimney’ rock formations that give a surreal look to the entire countryside. To take in this scenery, the best thing to do is to go hot air ballooning. You need to start at 5 am since it becomes hot during the day. I have acrophobia and was apprehensive about going up in a balloon, but the ascent was so smooth that I didn’t feel scared even for a second. Quite unbelievable. The trip cost a bit, but the experience was well worth it and its something I highly recommend if you are considering visiting Cappadocia.
Hot air ballooning
After the ballooning, we considered the local tour options – Red and Green. We took the “Green tour” which covered slightly more far off places and ended up seeing sights like the Derinkuyu underground city which could house upto 20000 people over 17 levels in ancient times and the Ihlara canyon which had churches in caves that dated from the 9th century. One of the most interesting places was Selime cave monastery which consists of a number of caves in a hillside that monks expanded into a monastery.
Selime cave monastery
One of the best Turkish dishes I tasted was Testi kabab which is made by cooking lamb in a clay pot with vegetables and spices for a long time. The end result is tender and tasty meat. Goreme in general was a relaxing place where evenings tended to be quiet. As we arrived during Ramadan, we were unfortunately subjected to the call to prayer at 4 am which ended up shattering the calm!
In terms of hotels and service, all the places we stayed were really good and the people friendly and helpful. All in all, a very good holiday.
