Day 1 - 5 July Arriving in Cappadocia

 

The first real day of the holiday! And off to a quick start, up at 3.30am for our 4.15 bus to the airport and a flight to Cappadocia - essentially the centre of Turkey. The domestic side this time, but it was just as big and sprawling. We got a packed breakfast, most of which we ate at the airport gate waiting to board. Considering how big the building was, I was surprised that we were then bussed out to the plane (a Turkish Airlines A321). Lynn and I were both trapped in the middle of our respective rows as seats were preallocated and the plane was full. Luckily it was a short flight.

We landed at Nevsehir, a very small airport. There were five buses of Viking passengers but the buses were only about half full so Lynn and I sprawled on the back seats some distance from our nearest neighbours. Travelling in a tour group is pleasantly mindless, you just follow instructions. The downside is the endless waiting for the slowest (or distracted, or lost) members of the group.

Anyway, we were on the ground by 8am and underway by 8.45am. Our first stop was the ‘outdoor museum’ of Goreme. A long sandy valley of rocky cones that were homes to Christian hermits around the 11th Century. We trudged up the hill to inspect a couple of compulsory caves, those with the best paintings of saints then wandered the rest of the site. There are many other lesser cave-homes without paintings (where we were allowed to take photos). By the time we left around 11am it was getting hot and crowded.




Stopping on the way for a few more photos we were taken to a local restaurant for an okay but unremarkable and not very Turkish lunch.



Our first stop in the afternoon was at Pashabag to walk amongst the rain-carved, basalt-topped rock formations.



A few had been lived in but the main attraction is the weird geology of the area itself. A couple of photo stops to see the area from different angles.



Then we arrived at our hotel, Yumak Evleri, by 3pm. This seems to take up much of a hillside in the town and comprises caves and scattered buildings. We ended up in a building, which may be more comfortable than a cave room and was extremely pleasant. We fell asleep for a while but eventually found our way up to the lovely rooftop bar where we spent an hour before another fairly unremarkable meal at a table with chatty Americans.


Location: Musaefendi, Balcı Sk., 50400 Ürgüp/Nevşehir, Türkiye

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