Akuzun Hotel Urgup

... i cannot identify of yellows, oranges, pinks, lavenders, whites etc. really a pleasant stunning and picturesque walk. probably the highlight of the day.
we then toured an underground city. chisled out of rock beginning about 400ad. multiple rooms connected by tunnels, areas for livestock, supply storage, wells and ventilation shafts. one of them goes down at least ...

... that the air was filled with blowing dust and sand. We retreated back inside as the open lobby of the hotel filled up with dust. Luckily it quit as quickly as it had arrived and we took a slightly windy stroll back into town. We decided to splurge for our last day and ate again at the Alturka. After a great Anatolian lunch we retreated to the Kismet to see about accommodation all the stuff we have bought. Tomorrow we fly back to Istanbul

... two front panels. The front panels are sewn together across the bottom, slightly shorter than the side panels. The waist is elastic. They are funny looking hanging without the elastic and different looking when worn. At first I thought they were a skirt and looking closer realized they are funny pants. No leg inseam. Maybe I'll have to get a pair for photos. We caught a bus to Nevsehir and stopped there for lunch at a new restaurant just ...

... you can't really climb to the top anymore as it is quite unstable). You would think looking into cities that have been cut into cliffs would get old after a while but it doesn't. They are all just stunning. The second day we went to the Ihlara Valley where we bush walked next to a lake and there were all churches cut into the cliffs on either side. We also went to Derinkuyu which is an underground city ...

... been walking and traversing for about 4 hours in the heat. Our water was running low and we just wanted to jump into the pool at our pension. We chose the most likely to be direct route back down the valley (do you think we chose right after reading this story?). An hour later, we were back. Let's have a ...

... later we arrived in the town of Goreme - the heart of Cappadocia and it was spectacular. Our first stop was for those who wanted too to book a hot air balloon ride for the following morning through Kapadokya Balloons. The English lady there was fantastic and I was sucked in straight away.... By now we were all pretty desperate for a shower so we trudged up the hill to Hotel Lazalar and we were in for a great surprise ...

... much died. It was meant for the guards to go up and down, for communication, to get rocks out and food and water in. If intruders somehow got in, they would be welcomed with boling water, boiling oil, darkness, arrows, knives and swords. It was amazing to see how complex the ancient people were. Our hour tour was over, and it was time to go get lunch. We went to the same pottery place we had gone to lunch ...

... were shuffled into another part of the building where we were shown many carpets which we could buy if we want to. Many many. And we drank apple tea and looked at carpets, compared quality, different types, sizes etc. At some point we were handed over from our initial guide to a man who was much more sharply dressed, much slicker. After the men had shown us about 40,000 carpets it was time to talk turkey, so to speak. 'How much are these?' I asked ...

Having another day in Cappadoccia, we had planned to rent scooters, but due to another snow fall and looming rain clouds (which then proceeded to produce hail and sleet) We opted for another day of car rental. We did test drive the scooters, and Dan quickly went from uber excited and confident to slightly iffy, in the slippery and icey conditions. Our first stop was the open air museum at Goreme. It was similar to the Monastary complex at Selime, but ...

Bill: We are currently in central Turkey. The area is known as Cappadocia and is covered in amazing natural sandstone formations. We took the overnight bus from Istanbul, which wasn't that bad. I managed to stay asleep most of the way. On arriving at Ürgüp we only had an hour before a full day tour of the sites around the town. The tour included a 4km walk in which we saw our first underground church. I'm not just talking about a little cube ...