Selcuklu Evi Hotel Urgup

... the inside wheel on a turn has less distance to cover than the outer wheel, then you will know what I mean by the squirly feeling. On a motor scooter you lean into the turns...on an ATV the turns lean you. I'm sure that on the proper off road track though the benefits of an ATV are more than obvious.

Back at the ATV rental shop our guide had a hose with hot air to blow all of the dust from the ride off you. Kristen and I chose to just deal with the little bit of ...

... of the smaller churches that had beautiful examples of the more-simple iconoclastic style of adornment. I wondered what dear St. Basil would say about these churches if he had seen them active in their day. Then I began imagining what a conversation would be like with Basil and one of the leaders of the Byzantine community that thrived here several centuries later. I stood in this simple space carved out of the rock trying to imagine if it ...

So far we have travelled down from Istanbul; where we endulged in a Hammam [a turkish bath] to the ancient Roman ruins of Selcuk and the Mediterranean town of Fethiye. We are currently dwelling in caves in the magical land of Cappadocia. A region of Fairy Chimneys and Hobbit like dwelling. This evening we are setting out for the Syrian Boarder. All is Well/ Julia and Sam

... a few monasteries, and a turquoise jewellry shop... The best thing about goreme was the 3 Lira chicken kebabs. We had quite a few... The local specialty is a stew cooked in a clay pot called a Pottery Kebab. The cook comes out and smashes the jar at your table (rather softly disappointingly...) and picks the bits of clay out of the food before serving. Tasty stuff. We got to Goreme by overnight bus and left the same way. Tiring...

... animals. After that we went to the Zelve Open Air Museum, it was nice, but I prefer the Göreme as it was nicer done, a few paths at the Zelve were also closed as the had recently had some rock slides. After Zelve we had lunch. Both the valley and the Zelve were really nice places, as you can see on the pics once I upload them, but after a while you just get a little rock out. In theafternoon however we all went wauw as we went to the underground city ...

... to chat and helping ourselves to some of the hundreds and hundreds of fresh apricots hanging, ripe for the picking from one of the many trees in the area, he guided me in the right direction. I had the valley to myself. The scenery was fantastic. Glad I took some water. I thought I knew where I was going and was comfortable that I had my position in sync with the coordinates on the ...

... of the hotel, and were all given hot choclate and cake. It was very comforting. My parents unpacked while Gracey and I explored the labyrinth type hallways and passages of the hotel. Then it was time to do what we had come to Turkey for, exploring!! First drove to see fairy chimmeneys. Fairy chimmenys were made when Mount Erc erupted thousands of years ago. Then the lava dried into rock-like substance ...

... musicians accompanying the couples. They performed four styles or themes and a belly dancer was lowered from the ceiling too. There was a lot of spinning, clapping and chatting in every dance. There was a wedding story dance, a dance that took everyone outside to dance around a bonfire and the finale was the male dancers dancing in the Whirling Devinshire style. There was way too much food and drink for us to finish or even comfortably enjoy. We ...

... on my balcony. It's cool and quiet. I can hear the murmur of voices in the distance, a few crickets and the occasional sheep. Across from me are some more caves dug into the volcanic rock and they are amazing to me and up above is an incredibly black sky because we are truly in the middle of nowhere as far as modern civilization goes. So, I'm pretty much going to stick to a few anecdotes about the journey and expound on Cappadocia after our tour tomorrow ...

... one... not those new ones, the classics that were actually good!). This area has got so many centuries of civilization and they all just built on top of each other... or right into the rock. It all dates back to 2000 B.C. and the Hittites. It's breathtaking! And the natural rock formations are indescribable. We really were speachless, it was just spectacular. Our guide took us to some awsome points to view an amazing town and another ...