May 29, 2012 - Goreme to Damsa Barja

Tuesday 29/5/12 Goreme to Damsa Barja 24ks, quite hilly Yesterday we didn’t leave our camp, cos Ahmed our host warned us about heavy rain forecast. We weren’t sure if he was serious or just wanted us to stay. As it was near lunchtime and we’d been awake very early last few mornings , we decided to do a walk and then get an early night. Ahmed offered that we sleep in a little lounge area in the restaurant so we could keep the tent dry. We lost the main track in Pigeon Valley, named for the pigeons that live in the caves. Had to do a steep...

Oct 6, 2011 - Ballooning to start the day

Today's the day for ballooning....how exciting. I didn't tell the family we intended going as I didn't want them worrying. We were collected at 6.40am by the balloon company and headed out to the take off point. Pete counted about 30 in the air as we arrived and our guide told us there is often 50 - 80 in the air at any one time. The baskets take 20 people so those of our group who opted to go were able to go in the same basket. We climbed aboard and our 'driver' (don't know the correct name for a person who controls a balloon) gave us...

Oct 5, 2011 - Another day around Cappadocia

I forgot to put in  yesterday's diary that they do not put the grapes on trellises, for a different reason to Santorini. Here, because it is so cold in winter (it often freezes), they bury the vines. I woke at 5 today so had a bit of time to kill before breakfast. Updated the journal and did a bit of reading. Had a shower (it is a great shower and we are making the best of it) and then headed for breakfast. Georgia wouldn't have liked my breakfast today either (except the boiled egg) as I had a boiled egg, cucumber, tomato, olives and fetta...

Oct 4, 2011 - Ankara to Urgup (Tassaray)

Serdar knocked on our carriage door about 6.30am to let us know we were getting close to Ankara so we needed to have our gear all packed ready to alight when we arrived. It was fun seeing 4 of us trying to get organized in a very small compartment. Finally we we re off the train and had our luggage in the back of our bus. There's only 15 of us on the trip plus our guide so we have a mini bus. It is this year's model however we don't have a huge amount of space each. We headed for a cafe to have some breakfast and to kill some time before we...

Sep 21, 2010 - Cave churches and old Greek towns

Dear Family and Friends A long time since the last entry as again we have been on the move. Having made the decision last time to never travel without lap top, I would say this time never travel without two as sharing has its limitations! In this entry I will tell you a bit more about Cappadocia. We have actually now moved on from there and are now in Istanbul. In our last couple of days in Cappadocia we visited Goreme which has in its caves cut into those weird chimney geological formations, some very ancient churches - the earliest ones...

Sep 14, 2010 - Urgup in Capadoccia

Dear Family and Friends Yesterday we took the bus from Ankara to Urgup in the middle of Capadoccia famous for its strange geological chimney like formations and cave cities. The bus ride was 5 hours but I like to take a bus and get a sense of the landscape and the small towns and not so small that dot that landscape. Otherwise you only experience little pools with no sense of the space and place in which they exist. We had booked a cave hotel and the proprietor had seemed a helpful woman in internet dealings but on arrival proved to be...

Jul 5, 2009 - Urgup, Cappadoccıa

We arrıved ınto Nevshıhır ın Cappadoccıa area off the bus at 7am...not feelıng too sharp. We then got a mınıvan to our town of Urgup near Goreme. and arrıved to our nıce hotel. An amazıng room we have made out of stone. Thıs plaze ıs bızzare! We got on our day tour at 9.30 feelıng pretty shattered..but very good. We saw all the faıry chımneys and strange shapes made by the volcanıc tufa rock and basalt...quıte somethıng to behold. we dıd a 4 km walk through the valley of all the rock formatıons and saw houses ınto the faıry chımneys. we had...

Jul 22, 2007 - Cappadoce et autres aventures...

Apres une nuıt de reve dans un hotel magnıfıque, on the road agaın, comme on dıt... Nous reprenames la route en dırectıon de la Cappadoce. Nous voyons poındre les chemınees de Fee, formatıons rocheuses quı sortent de la terre. Une vallée complete en est remplıe et c'est tres ımpressıonnant. Nous vısıtons donc plusıeurs sıtes de ces formatıons rocheuses et, afın de se reposer un peu, nous allons vısıter une école de tıssage de tapıs. Nous ne pouvons resıster et procédons a la négocıatıon de haute lutte de notre tapıs. Par la suıte, portés...

Jul 12, 2007 - Scenes of Star Wars in Cappadocia

From Olympos we drove to Antalya so we could catch our overnight bus to Cappadocia. Antalya, well all of Turkey really, has been hot. Hot, to the tune of 38 plus, and pretty humid. We are pounding back the bottles of water and have given up buying the little single serving bottles. I think I am going to develop my arm muscles just from lugging around the 1.5 liter bottles everywhere we go! So, the great thing with an overnight bus is you go to sleep in one place and wake up in another, and waking up in Cappadocia is like waking up in a...

Apr 5, 2007 - To Cappadocia

We had the alarm set for 6:00AM but that was pointless since the call for prayers jolted us awake at about 5:30 anyway. We got ready by the time the echoes subsided and dragged our bags to the tram station, just missing one. We caught the next and I began to wonder if we'd catch our flight in time. This anxiety increased when after transferring to the subway, we only went one stop before the entire train emptied leaving us alone with our bags. Fortunately, a kind local (they were nearly all kind) informed us of the technical difficulty so...