Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey

Tuesday 31st August

Yesterday evening, Driver Gav took us to a carpet shop where they gave us free dinner and red wine, probably as as inducement to buy a carpet, but honestly the guys in the shop were really friendly and honest and didn't hassle us at all; so different from in Morocco where they almost force you into the shop and then get stroppy when you dont by anything.

So we are camped right among the fairy chimneys of Goreme, so very nice to get up to this morning. We had already been woken by about 4am by, in order, a cockeral cock-a-doo-a-dooing, a dog barking, the call to prayer and then hot air balloons taking off right above our tents. Nevermind. It costs about $200 to go in the hot air balloon so gave it a miss. We hired a guide and he took us out on our truck for the day. First we stopped at one of the underground cities, called Derinkuyu. The cities went eight levels down and were first developed in the 2nd century, then used atfer the 4th century by chistians and until the 13th century, always for protection from invaders. We were underground, in the tunnels for about 45 minutes. It was not claustrophobic for me but couldnt help thinking that they have lots earthquakes in Turjey! The people who used to live there were very organised and had water and air shafts and kitchens and a missionary school and animal traps and stables. Most of the time we could stand up but there was some crouching.

We carried on to the Ihlara valley/canyon. We walked down to and along the narrow river for about 3kms and it was very green and pleasant, as opposed to all the dryness and sand of the middle east. We stopped at a church in the cliff that had christian frescoes from the 10th century. At the end we had lunch.

After lunch we carried on driving along the lovely countryside. Lots of farmsteads and locals in the fields. And tractors. We stopped at the Selime Cathedral which is inside the rocks. There are frescoes there too. The view from up there was great. Finally we stopped for another panoramic view of the fairy chimneys (check out facebook photos if you are wondering what the heck a fairy chimney is).

It was a long and enjoyable day, the guide was cool and didn't overload us with information. I asked him, and he said he became interested in English when got into English rock music such as Muse and Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys. The guide and the carpet guys have given me a good impression of Turkey, and the countryside is great so i think i will be in Turkey for a while.