Cave Hotel Saksagan Nevsehir

... the "Camel," a rock formation that looks like...well...you guessed it...a camel.

We got into this valley on the scooters that looked, for lack of a better way of putting it, just so Cappadocia-like. It was full of the rock formations that look like fully formed extra large hardened drip-castles that you make at the beach when you are a little kid. The road was so cool that I just kept stopping to take pictures of the road itself. I'm not sure the name of that ...

... s he doing Jeremy?"

"I don't know...we weren't going to stop here..."

Aleem popped back in a minute later with an enourmous loaf of beautiful Turkish bread, warm and fresh and delicious, for the bus to share.

The drivers, though unable to speak much English at all, really do care about their passengers, which is quite nice.

The ride to Cappadocia that day was long, very long. A lot of people do it on the night bus from Olympos, but I'm kind of ...

... served ın tıny tea cups) ın a local shop and we spent a good half hour loungıng on pıllows and mattresses on the floor. Afterwards, we explored the caves and rooms carved out of a rock sıttıng on top of a hıll – the crown jewel of thıs town – and we dıd ıt all on foot, on our own, free of charge and free of any other tourısts. Thıs was magıcal. It ıs not often that you stumble on a ...

... Roman and Arab invaders. They could enter the city from tunnels from their houses and could live there for up to 6 months. The city was a complex maze of narrow passageways, large rooms and was a really cool (no pun intended) environment. After the underground city we hiked in the Ihlara valley (narrow canyon) which had steep cliffs, a river running through it, and some more caves to explore. After a relaxing lunch, we headed to the ...

... the morning checking out the Goreme Open Air Museum, and were even able to briefly meet up with Atacan for some tasty Turkish ice cream at the cafe there. He is in the area with his tour group for several days, and we were lucky to cross paths for 15 minutes! The Open Air Museum is an outdoor museum which features several large caves which were utilized as churches back in the 9th and 10th centuries. Many of them featured superb Byzantine frescoes depicting biblical scenes ...

... The next day we had lunch with Ali and finally decided upon a rug... a 60 year old rug completed by Armenian Turks that had settled in the Goreme region... with Ottoman and Persian design elements...   Late Sunday evening we arrived back home... with fond memories and a bit of Cappadocia to unravel on our apartment floor... making our own little cave just a bit more "homey"... as we continue to settle into our new life in this beautiful country...   

... for the air balloon to be ready, not up in the air. There were 9 balloons from another company getting blown up next to us, quite impressive. Then we got into the basket. There were 13 or 14 of us and I ended up with a group of Singaporeans! We had to wait for the other balloon next to us to be ready otherwise we could have flown into it! So we took off slowly and quickly made our way up as the sun was rising! Cool! The scenery was beautiful ...

... be a group of 'WhooHoo! We're-18-and-life-just-started-and-we'r e-going-to-party-and-tell-everyone-abou t-it tourists or - if you're really unlucky, you might just have a tour with Boobs MacGilligy and her sidekick Blonde Ambition. (Names have been changed to protect those involved). This last one was our fate. Considering this tour had a 3km hike, a climb up the side of a mountain and a cramped descent 83 meters down into a cold Underground ...

... can get to the top and look out. A bedouin family lived nearby to where we camped and they invited us over for tea after dinner. Han, me and two of the girls from the truck - Zoe and Lıv - accepted their hospitality and spent a surreal hour drinking sugary black tea looking at lots of photos of Mohammed, their 3 year old son, on his pet camel. After two failed attempts Han and İ finally plucked up the courage to sleep outside under the stars ...

... Each rotation takes them past the sheikh. This is the place of Mevlana Rumi, and the sheikh is understood to be a channel for the divine grace. At the start of each of the four movements of the ceremony, the semazens bow to each other honoring the spirit within. As their arms unfold, the right hand opens upward to receive God's grace. The left hand is turned towards the earth in the gesture of bestowal. Fix-footed, the ...