Cappadocia

Cappadocia is one of the great treasures of Turkey. Many early Christians lived here, hiding amongst, in, and below its fairy chimneys. This was the view from my hotel room in Goreme.

Sarah and I stayed in a cave hotel.

There are many UNESCO sites in Cappadocia, and most of them are overcrowded with tourists. One such site is the Kaymakli Underground City, which consists of a labyrinth of rooms connected with child sized tunnels. It was interesting, but hard on the knees and not fun to navigate when filled with tourists.

There were lots of wineries down there; with tunnels that small I understand why.

Sarah and I rented a scooter in Goreme and drove to Soganli to avoid the crowds. Along the way we saw many amazing cave settlements.

We also found an abandoned church.

It still had some frescoes inside. Only in a place like Cappadocia could there be so many ancient churches that some are still not documented archeological sites.

There were very few people in Soganli, and it was just as amazing as Cappadocia's UNESCO sites.

Although we had to drive through hail at one point, riding the scooter to Soganli was my favorite part of our Cappadocia trip.

Pigeon Valley was right next to our hotel. The monks used to raise pigeons in the cliffs here.

This dog followed us through the valley, and when we sat down it would roll onto its back and try to kick us up out of our spot. Weird.

We hiked from Goreme through Pigeon Valley to Uchisar.

The view from Uchisar was breathtaking.

We didn't end up riding a camel.

Uchisar Castle was first hollowed out by the Romans.

The Goreme Open Air Museum was nice, but too crowded for our taste. The walk there from Goreme was beautiful though.

The cave church next to the Goreme Open Air Museum had some beautiful frescoes inside.

Uchisar Castle had the best view.