A bargain belt followed by highway robbery!

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Day 1 Friday 24th September 2010
Arrived in Istanbul very late on Friday night. It was very humid when we arrived in Turkey and quite warm. In Istanbul I bought a leather belt for 84p, good value, then was ripped off by a taxi driver who charged us £15 for a fare that should have been £6!
Day 2 Saturday 25th September
Spent morning exploring the city . Went to see Blue Mosque but did not go inside due to massive queue and shortage of time before flight to Kayseri.
A mini bus drove us from the airport to Urgup, a vibrant colourful town, where we checked into our hotel. The view from the hotel is of a big hill which has been excavated and homes dug out of the rock. Put our bikes together ready for riding tommorrow. Straightenend wheels on two bikes due to slight damage in transit.

Day 3 Sunday 26th September
Had a very good day today, rode 30 miles and saw close up the 1000s and 1000s of holes carved in the rocky hills where people and animals lived. The whole thing was colossal!. Already taken at least 100 photos of this amazing place. The temperature was 41deg C but dropped down to 34deg C by 4:00pm. Spent the day drinking lots of water and slapping on masses of suncream. Went ot visit old castle at Ortishar buit could not go in since it is unsafe and awaiting restoration. Went to Uchisar and had the most expensive coffe in Turkey (£4.20) in rooftop cafe for tourists who know no better (us at the moment). Cycling up through Goreme we experienced cobbles at 10% gradient, which caused some walking. I got up but was nearly balked by a car which passed me and stopped right on the apex of a steep hairpin. i just managed to ride up his inside while he scrubbed his tyres trying to restart. Dave thought he was on a time trial and grunted up on his pedals.
Still in Urgup at the same hotel. Had fish for evening meal, bream I think. There are 10 in the party altogether. Aim to cycle 30/40 miles tomorrow and visit a museum of churches carved into the limestone rock hillside.
That's all for today.

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Photos

P1010360
Blue Mosque courtyard