Day 3 - Cappadocia

We left this morning to board the Turkish Air from Istanbul to Kaseri. The driver picked us up at the airport. In 50 minutes we arrived in Goreme at the foot of the hill where we saw a sign to the hotel Kelebek. The driver pointed up to the top of the hill and said "your hotel's up there. The reception is at the top." Then he turned around and left. Julee and I looked at the pebble road going up about three four storeys high and looked at our suitcases and started laughing. Julee picked up her backpack like a baby right in front of her belly, and I lifted my suitcase and started climbing. Half way through we were panting and stopped to catch a breath. When we made it nearly to the top, a bunch of cleaning ladies came out. Our room (#4) was not ready yet. The hotel is built in caves and each level has two or three rooms. The reception is at the top of the hill with huge glass windows. The terrace overlooks the town and other cave houses. The view was stunning.

Our room is a cave with one queen bed and one day bed. Julee decided to take the day bed since she prefers a hard bed. Our ceiling and walls shows the original stone cave. There is a window by my bed looking out to the town.

We visited the Goreme Open Air Museum. It was about 1.5 km away from the hotel. The area was full of mountains and hills eroded by wind and water. The stones are in white. On the way to the Open Air Museum, we saw short skinny grape plants growing individually (no vine) by the road side in sandy soil. Earlier we booked a tour for the day after next when we would actually visit a local winery. After seeing the sad state the grapes are in, Julee and I wonder how tasty the wine would be.

The Open Air Museum was occupied by Christians evading persecution in the 11th century. The community lived in caves and built lots of cave churches in the area. Some of them are elaborately decorated with paintings of the nativity and the crucifixion on the dome and walls. The colors are still well preserved. We went to a dozen churches and cave houses. Some built in the middle of the hill and we had to climb up steep steps.

On the way back, it started raining. We had our safari hats on and I put on the wool shawl I just bought from the local shop since I wasn't prepared for the 50-degree weather. Julee said I looked like Clint Eastwood coming out a Western movie with the mountain backdrop. The only thing I needed was a gun.

We picked a restaurant randomly but it turned out to be great. I had Testi Kebabi (beef kebeb) cooked in a clay pot. To open it for serving, I had to use a long knife to hit the upper part of the pot while turning the pot. After loud dozen clicking, the pot suddenly broken into two pieces, the top still in my hand, and the bottom dropped to the table, with my nicely cooked beef in garlic and tomato broth. We also had Turkish humus with lavash and soups. The humus was dry and not like the Egyptian style with lots of olive oil but it was good.