Pigeon Nesting and Survival of the Cutest

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The next morning I woke up more well rested at 8am - the heating was working alittle bit plus I had kitted up more in my sleep. We ordered the Green Tour in the morning to visit a few places in Cappedocia which were a lot easier to get to by car.

First port of call was the beautiful panoramic view of Cappedocia where we rode to the edge of Goereme. From there we hoped back into the car and rode on to Derinkuy one of the many underground cities of Cappedocia.

Our guide Ephesus told us that the underground cities were estimated to be built around 2000/700BC and were used until about 11C AD.

We went into one of the underground cities that went down 8 floors - although some of the cities were known to go down 20 floors. People lived in these cities usually 7 to 10 days - though on some occasions up to 6 months.

I think it would be difficult to live there for 6 months or so as you would get quiet a hunch back like bending down all the time to get around.

What suprised me was inside there was a church, stables and even a place for missionary school and where the baptisms occurred!

After Derinkuyu we headed to Ihlara valley were we did a 3 kilometre hike through the valley and witnessed some nice nature areas and even some pigeon nests.

Following the hike it was time for lunch.

Lunch was very tasty, first a soup, then salad followed by a chicken/fish or vegetarian goloush.

I took the chicken option.

Most of the people in my tour, myself included took turns of feeding the kittens and puppies that kept crowding around to get a feast.
We all agreed this is how the animals probably sustained themselves - the survival of the cutest theory was evidenced in action.

After lunch we visited a monastery and pigeon valley and saw were pigeons nested.

After this we went to see the way opal rocks were refined for jewelery making and have the Turkish sales man make the sales pitch to us to buy the jewelry.

We ended the tour back at the bus station and went to the try to buy a ticket to Konya. To our dismay they were all sold out!

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