After our 3 day visit in Istanbul we flew to Kayeseri. From there a shuttle took as to the doorstep of our AirBnB cave room in Goreme, Cappadocia. The next morning at 4 am we took a balloon ride over the valley. The views from high above is simply indescribably.
Later the day after a quick nap we walk to the open air museum, but before we could get there a taxi driver convinced us to take a ‘tour’ with him for a very good price. He showed us some amazing sites like Pasha valley and the Zelve open air museum, but the next day we realised we could have gone to the same places by bus for 1/10th of the price.
The afternoon we hired ATVs for four hours to explore some of the other valleys. We only realised while we were driving that the ATVs isn’t allowed inside the valleys and that there are only specific places where you are allowed to drive, so we drove almost every possible road and still finished in under 4 hours.
The second day we relaxed until 11am before heading to the Open Air Musuem a second time, this time we made it. We spent almost 4 hours at the museum looking at every fresco in every church.
At 22:00 we got on a night bus to Antalya.
Pide with ground beefOur cave room at the Lalezar Hotel in GoremeView from our hotel porchRose and Red valley as seen from the lookout point close to our hotel.Rose and Red valley as seen from the lookout point close to our hotel.Mezze platter for two. Humus, Herb yoghurt, Beans, Spicy minced tomato, smoked aubergine and stuffed vine leaves.Sunrise from hot air balloonBalloons over Cappadocia, Paşabağı valley in the foreground with Cavusin and Goreme in the background.Balloons over CavusinDirectly over Cavusin, the oldest 'town' in the Cappadocia region.Love valleyLove valleySmiley face balloon over the love valleyOur pilot did a perfect soft landing right onto a trailer.Balloon opening up to let out the hot airOn our way to the open air museumInside PaşabağıBig cave with natural water seeping through at the top.Walking to the entrance of the Zelve open air museum.Manti in the makingInside ZelveAncient mill stone inside ZelveEntrance to the fish and grape church, you can still seem some frescoes on the outside.Inside the fish and grape church, you can still see the cross on the roof.Wine making cave. The grapes were pressed in the big opening to the left and the liquid then ran through an opening in the right corner into the smaller hole.Zelve ValleyInside ZelveColumn church in Zelve.Gozleme (Turkish savoury pancakes) in the makingGozleme with potato fillingFamous camel rockProfessional pottererATV riding outside GoremeRose valley in the front and red valley in the background.View over GoremeWhite valleySunset over the rose valleyChicken casserole set menu with soup and salad.Long stone table in dining hall cave at the Open air museum. It could seat 40 to 50 peopleOpen air museum. The frescoes in this church differs from the others as it only has 'abstract' drawings directly onto the stone.In front of the Uchisar castleUchisar castleView from the top of the Uchisar castleView from the top of the Uchisar castle with Goreme in the backgroundPanorama from the top of Uçhisar Castle.
