Who Said Cave Men Were Backwards?

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27-4-08

We arrived at about 8 in the morning and found ourselves some accommodation. We ended out at a pretty cool hostel, which was carved into the rocks. The breakfast they served in the morning was also the best breakfast I had in my travels. Ahhhh menemen.

We decided that day we would just go for a walk. After some walking, and a ride in the back of a truck, we ended out at some great caves. Here we embraced our inner Indiana Jones and spent hours exploring the churches and homes carved into the rocks.

That night we decided to go to the Turkish Nights dinner. This incorporated a lot of traditional dances, including James getting some lessons from a belly dancer. Funny Stuff. We then headed out to Flintstones cave bar, where a “Best of TV” show was on. There we saw some old Price Is Right with Larry, and a VB ad. Quality!

28-4-08

Today we went on a tour that explored the area to the south of Goreme. This was really good value and showed us a lot of things we could have never seen on our own, with the time limit that we had.

Our first stop was the Goreme Panorama, which gave a view over the whole area. It was then on to Derinkuyu Underground City. This place was pretty amazing and went down very deep. The local people only used it in time of war, so it was only rediscovered some 60 years ago.

We then went to the Ihlara Valley for a one-hour hike. This was very pretty. The area around the Valley looks pretty dry, and then you find this lush gorge. Here was also an old church that was dug into the rock. This one still had most of the frescos in it. The faces had been scratched off though by the Muslims. After out walk along the gorge, we stopped at Belisirman, which is on the river and had lunch. It was tasty. We had meatballs.

Our next stop was then the Selime Monastery. Yes, more rock churches. It was still fun to explore though, and this was where some of the first (the 1979 one) Star Wars was filmed. Finally we went to overlook Pigeon Valley and got a demo at an Onyx place.

That night we pretty much crashed, after we saw Nick off on his way.

29-4-08

Today was a big walking day! We pretty much walked around the whole surrounding area from 9am - 4 pm. We covered ground going to the Open Air Museum, through the Rose Valley, across to Love Valley then back to Goreme through the Pigeon Valley. Very tiring!

That night it was onto the night bus and back to Istanbul.

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Photos

Snow Capped Mountains
I think the was the third biggest. Weren't expecting to see them.

Lunch on the River
Our table was on a platform, in the river.

Comments

[Shaun]

Love Valley
Is it called Love Valley because all the rocks look so phallic?