Sarah smiles in Cappadocia
We got to Cappadocia after a little too much drama with air tickets for the wrong day, and terrible food poisoning which hampered our movements there (so to speak). But it is an amazing place in the center of Turkey, full of beautiful "badland"-type landscapes with wierd rock formations that the early Christians carved out into churches, such as these ones. Obviously too much time on their hands back then.
Rock Monastery
The Hittites, Christians and their successors also created underground cities in which to hide from raiders. We stayed in a hotel that was more or less carved out of the rock in the cute town of Goreme. (Photos of Goreme here)
The Rock Hotel "Local"
We took a tour of the underground city where the inhabitants hid out from raiding Arabs about 1,000 years ago. This was serious stuff. The city had 7 stories and lots of air supply. It also was used for weeks on end. Photos of the underground city are here
Underground City Room
On the way back from the Underground city we took in a few sights, including a part of the Star Wars set and the Ilhara River Gorge (which we hiked down to lunch). Here are some photos of that forced march!
Ilhara Gorge
We also stopped off by the "Fairy Chimneys" -- Gorgeous in a southern Utah kind of way. Here are the photos of that excursion
Fairy Chimneys
One highlight of the trip was an early morning ride in a balloon. There are lots of photos here (especially of the end when Sarah got hold of my camera), and this artsy movie. (Again, be aware of the long download time!). Our pilot was Suat Ulusoy from Goreme Balloons.
Ballooning over the eerie landscape of Capadoccia
And of course Sarah bought Wallhangings and Matthew bought a carpet!
