Yesterday we flew from Istanbul to Kayseri (1hr) and obtained a ride to Goreme. After being ushered out of our transport with very little English instruction, we were met by a gentleman from the travel agency that owns the hotel we were staying at. All in all, the trip to the hostel worked out great, despite our skepticism! We were very pleased with our hostel as it looked exactly as it had in the pictures. We stayed in a CAVE! The hostel had a small patio with a great view of the surrounding area. Despite a cramped space, the hostel served us well, was a lot of fun, and was definitely an interesting experience.
After sleeping in this morning, we switched hostels to mix things up as we had always planned to and moved to a hotel owned by the same owner of the hostel we were at. We liked our first place, but we LOVE this place. Our room is much larger, is definitely still in a Cave, includes a fireplace, sitting area, and very modern bathroom including a turkish bath! We're on a secluded side of the "hill" and feel like we have the whole place to ourselves. There is an amazing view just outside our door and from the patio in the hotel. We'll post some pics on facebook.
After getting settled, we took in the "Open Air Museum" which is an excellent example of the unique terrain and cave homes/churches which were built within them. While treacherous at times, we enjoyed climbing into numerous caves - some of which hosted vibrant fresco paintings which were painted over 1000 years ago. The colour still looks great.
This evening, we were guided through Rose Valley. Rose Valley is a perfect example of why this area is so special. You can check out a short video from one of the many vantage points we enjoyed if you like - we've attached it in this blog.
The hike was about three hours and we took endless pictures. The rock formations are like nothing that we've ever seen before, and the variety of colours and variations in elevation are fantastic. The hike concluded with a very high view of the valley below, the beautiful rose valley hosting its pink rock formations and of course, the SUNSET! Jessica thinks this is VERY romantic. Steve was too busy taking pictures to realize this fact.
After an exhausting 8 hours of walking between the museum and hike, we sought refugee in our hotel where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner including our ever present ice cream desert, and equally ever present vista view!
We're off to bed for now, as we'll need our rest for a full 8 hour day of touring the area tomorrow. After that, we're off to the turkish coast!
Bye for now! J and S.
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