Blogs from Göreme, Cappadocia, Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

When we went walking around the town of Goreme, we were intrigued to see the variety of cave houses, many of them amalgams of both human and fairy work. We were also impressed with the prevalence of solar hot water heating (we were told electricity is very expensive here) and the town was like time travel all in one place, with caves/cars/satellite dishes/hot air balloons/giant Mercedes tour buses/solar panels/restaurants/ATMs and people from all over the world. Cappadocia is the second most visited place in Turkey, after Istanbul. On our second day in Goreme we took the "Red Tour", which loops to the north. First we visited an abandoned Greek cave town. In the 1920s, Turkey experienced (sanctioned/endured) a massive population exchange. People of Greek culture were expelled to Greece and the Turks in Greece were returned ... read more

Day 16: We got picked up and shipped off to our hotel in Goreme. It is called the Shoestring Cave Hotel, one of many cave hotels in the area. We had to wait until about 1030 to receive our room which is as stated, in a cave. Naturally, after another 10 hour bus ride, we took a 3 hour nap when we got our room. Here are some facts regarding caves, the positive thing about sleeping in a cave is you never get too hot. The bad thing, the cave is very humid and without a dehumidifier things get very damp. We have started to store our clothes in plastic bags to keep them relatively dry. When we awoke we decided to venture around the town and see what it had to offer. We stopped at ... read more

We got off the aırplane at about 2am and checked out of taxı optıons. Nothıng unless you want to pay a hundred bucks. We decıded to sleep ınstead ın the aırport and then fınd transportatıon ın the mornıng. We spent the nıght on the metal benches ın the departures check-ın area. It was uncomfortable but we have both slept ın worse places. In the mornıng I wandered upstaırs to fınd tea and dıscovered large comfortable couches ın the small cafe. I could have crıed. We crashed up there for another hour and at about 7am we took off. We pıcked up a woman named Betty who was supposed to have been pıcked up by her hotel but never got her rıde. We took a cab to the bus statıon and a bus an hour over to ... read more

Day 11 Cappadocia We have a smooth landing into a tiny little airport when we arrive in the Cappadocia region. It seems like the entire staff of the airport comes out to the tarmac to watch our arrival. I am guessing they do not see very many private jets come in and out of this airport. In fact, our airplane is the only one in the entire airport. I bid the other passengers goodbye for now. A short time later we load into a small shuttle bus and head out to our hotel. Some of the streets are well paved and others leave a lot to be desired but the landscape of the mountains is amazing. We can see why this place might be a popular destination. We arrive at the hotel and initially think we ... read more

We got up and ate breakfast (yogurt, finally!!!) and were ready to go exploring around Cappadocia. Dora said at breakfast that she got up early and was amazing by how many hot air balloons there were in the sky! She was so impressed by it that she is going up in one the next morning. I asked what time they were going out so that I would get up the next morning to see them since she talked about it so fondly. We were soon all together and on the bus to go to the underground cities that the Cappadocians dug out of the soft rock. (We all have asked a dumb question at one time or another, and Dora took the day’s prize for asking if the Cappadocians dug the underground cities, this was just ... read more