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As we drive the final few Kilometres we turn a corner and are presented with an amazing sight, fairy chimneys, rock columns and valleys of cascading cliffs. As we arrive speechless in Goreme, don’t know what we were expecting but here we are, looking forward to the next few days. Arrive at Kaya Camping after a tour through Goreme and up the very twisty, narrow cobbled road from the centre to our campsite! The campsite is busy but we manage to get a couple of sites beside each other and get settled in. The campsite dog and cat welcome us and sit around waiting for some food. There are hundreds of wild dogs and cats in Turkey so there are normally at least a couple of each in each campsite. The dogs wander all over the place often on roads, we have even had to slow down for a couple of tortoises crossing the road!
Decide to have a quiet day to catch up on washing and household domestic stuff. We have been on the move constantly since we came to Turkey, not really sure why except there always seems more to do and see! It’s good to have a
chill day. About 4 o’clock we walk down into Goreme, find the all important 1001 books and buy six books - 3 for Noreen and 3 for Calum. Calum barters for some Turkish Cay glasses but they are too expensive so he says no. Doing some further market research in a cafe (tea, carrot and chocolate cake ‘yum’ and a game of draughts) Calum discovers you can pick the glasses up in supermarkets for a fraction of the price the tourist shops are asking. After a wander round we head back up the 3.5km hill to the campsite. Arrive back just in time to stick our steaks on Ricks BBQ.
Up early next morning we are ready and waiting for our tour bus to pick us up. The driver arrives only slightly late, we are first on so get the pick of the seats. First stop is for a panorama view of Goreme and the opportunity to buy some ‘Turkish’ souvenirs. After that we head to the underground city of Derinkuyu, home to some 10,000 in times of attack from the Persian and Arabic armies during the 6th and 7th centuries. The city is a maze of narrow tunnels
and rooms over 7 levels at a depth of 65m. There are ventilation shafts, wells, communication tunnels, churches, meeting halls and schools as well as plenty of traps for unsuspecting enemies.
What an experience.
After that we were off to the Ihlara Valley, down 360 steps to walk 3km along the gorge, stopping to visit a church built into the valley wall before having an enjoyable lunch at Belisirma. The penultimate stop on our tour was at Selime Monastery at the end of the valley. This astonishing rock cut structure is well worth the steep climb in the heat of the day to get to it.
The day is rounded off by a ‘visit’ to an onyx factory for a demonstration on how the onyx is carved and polished (carving is shaped like an egg). Calum was given the egg as a present, for him a great way to end an awesome day.
Back home tired but happy. Up early next morning to watch the balloons flying over the valley.
Then it’s off, heading for Istanbul via Ankara.
Arrive in Istanbul on Sunday, it is very wet, busy and the traffic is manic. We
have directions to a car park on the coast close to the Blue Mosque. Eventually find our home for the night and wait for the rain to stop before going to explore. After a couple of games of Rummikub we walk to the Blue Mosque for a look see. Wander round and eventually find a small quaint establishment to have our ‘goodbye’ dinner with Rick and Verena, they are headed to Bulgaria and us to Greece.
After a restless night, it is still raining the next morning and I mean serious rain, we decide to head back to Greece. Getting out of Istanbul is stressful and fully tested our ‘no blame culture’! But we survived and arrived at the border to have our campervan searched by customs before getting back into Greece. Arrived back at the campsite in Alexandroupoli having travelled another 3200km over 20 days. In need of a few days R&R to catch up on the blog (must do it as we go and not leave it 3 weeks), do some washing etc.
Oh and plan where we head next.
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