Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey – 2019 – Day 4

02/16/19

We had continental breakfast upstairs and it features an outdoor terrace with a lovely view. We aired out our clothes from last night on the balcony but alas, the smell of smoke fumes wouldn’t shake off. The weather was crisp settling around -1°C and maybe went up to 3°C. Having the sun out helped but when you weren’t in the sun, you could sure feel the chill in your bones.

We booked the Green tour for the day with pick up at 930AM. We had Rafiki aka Sunny as our tour guide. We booked with Woop Woop Travel. We paid 35 euros for this full day tour. The tour goes from 930AM-6PM that includes lunch, english speaking tour guide, hotel pick-up/drop-off. On the Green tour we visited:

Göreme Panorama – All the tour vans were here bright and early. The view was very nice as the sun peaked out. There are a few spots that are the best angles for shots including one on an almost round rock. The rock formations were great places to hide. These formations are formed similar to the sediment of the grand canyon and took millions of years to create the rich formations.

Onyx Jewelry Factory – I guess every tour has an obligatory stop at a factory that sells products the country is known for. We are obligated to purchase anything but we did look around. We left the factory and walked across the street to Pigeon Valley.

Pigeon Valley – Pigeons were used as messenger pigeons for the longest time. This valley is especially known to have them as they would fly between certain homes depending on the painted colour outside. Today, you can still see the huge amount of pigeons (and even feed them) but the valley is gorgeous to look upon.

Derikuyu Underground City – We went about 55M deep into the 80M deep tunnels. There are labyrinths of underground tunnels. They also have sliding doors and make the tunnels tight so enemies can only attack one by one if they break in but then they get kebaped. They only lived in the tunnels during dangerous times that could range from 1 week to a month or two. They would send signals to other cities of enemy attacks from the tunnels; they would set fire signals at the top of the castles. There are also no possible earthquakes in Turkey so theses tunnels remain. The tunnels are also quite temperate with a average temperature of 13°C and also was cooler in certain areas so no modern fridge was needed. We were able to go down 7 floors and at certain points, the tunnels were really tight and you had to be in a crouched position to walk through.

Ihlara Valley hike – It is the second largest to the Grand Canyon. It’s the deepest gorge in Turkey.

And last but not least Selime Monastery – It is a rock-cut monastery with the biggest religious buildings in Cappadocia. There are also monk and kitchen sections carved out in this into the rock. It also served as a fortress like structure and also inhabited camels at one point in time.

I have to say my favourite was the Selime Monastery because it was for the most part empty and climbing rock formations are always fun.

We got back to the hotel and just tried to recharge a bit and journal before we went for dinner. We went to One Way Cafe & Restaurant where you have the option to be seated lower to the ground on beanbag chairs and a low table. I ordered the Lamb pottery plate (35TL). It was actually very light and so good. We ordered some ice cream and banana with nutella crepes to end off the night.