Pictures of Cappadocia

As promised here are some of our pictures from the village of Goreme and the surrounding area of Cappadocia.

 Picture of our cave suite. It was the biggest room of our journey thus far with a HUGE bed perfect for practising my spread eagle. Lance did not notice the size of the bed as my sprawl sent him to the edge of the mattress.

 Other view of our cave suite which looked onto a ground level garden terrace.

 Beginning of our walk into Love Valley.

 Along the walk, we could see remains of old houses where the people of the area used to live. The homes were built into the rock but are generally no longer inhabited as people have moved into modern type houses. On one of our tours we visited an entire village that had been relocated out of the caves and fairy chimneys into a modern village for safety concerns (the soft rock is eroding and starting to crumble and deteriorate).

 Lance being a perv with the camera...OR taking inspiration from the Valley....

 More of Love Valley

 Lamy!!! We were a sweaty mess during the hike. Very hot (thermally) for these Canadians :)

 View of the village of Goreme from the terrace of our hotel's restaurant.

 Lamy again! We have determined that black and white photos make us more desirable looking - less pasty.

 We took a day tour that included a stop at a monastery built into the rock. Below is what they figure to be the communal dining area. The long strip of rock was the dining table.

 We also visited the only known ancient city found so far in Cappadocia. The site is under excavation but is a slow process due to lack of funding. There were some beautiful preserved mosaics but neither Lance and I can remember when they dated from. Typical.

 The "Domed Church" in Soganli valley.

 Trying to make a run for it in the underground city of Derinkuyu (the deepest underground city in Cappadocia - approximately 85 meters deep)

 Lance at the bottom of a very steep and very small stairway leading to one of the lowest levels we were given access to in Derinkuyu.The stairwells were built to be particularly narrow to minimize the ability of invaders to make their way into the lower levels of the city.

 One of the common areas in Derinkuyu which also had living quarters, kitchen areas, a wine cellar, a schooling area, a chapel, a place to house the animals and also a very small and kinda scary area to store dead bodies when it was too dangerous to bury them outside.

 Tiny bathroom to accommodate a tiny bladder. Right after this photo was taken, I walked into the piece of plywood at the top of the outhouse. HARD. Like, full blast. I was no longer smiling.

Inside the tiny bathroom with low ceiling. Where's the toilet you ask? Yah. It's quite normal in many parts of Turkey. No conventional toilet. Just a hole with foot placeholder thingy's. Makes for an interesting visit when the Sultan is around.

 Hot air balloon ride day! So exciting! We got to watch our balloon being prepped for flight. We had to get up super early that morning (4:30 am) for a 5am pick up. Apparently the weather conditions are perfect early in the morning.

 Looking down from our balloon once in flight.
                                      

 Between 70 and 80 balloons go up every day in Cappadocia making it one of the most busy places for balloon rides in the world.

 We arrived alive after our 70 minute flight. I didn't know it when we went up but found out afterwards....apparently people die in these things. A couple of years ago there was a crash and someone plummeted to their death. Doro and Euny, don't worry. We are fine.

Celebration for not dying! Champagne!