Episode 14: In which we see the sights and eat far too much

Location: Göreme and surrounds

Date: 02/04/2006

 

After breakfast and checking in to our room (we decided on the twin with ensuite since we hadn't showered in a while), we managed to arrange and get on a tour of the area that morning.

 

The tour guides, driver and fellow tourists were all fun people, so despite the rain and generally miserable weather, we had a great time.  The spectacular sights helped as well, of course.

 

We saw the 80m deep underground city at Derinkuyu (amazing structures, cramped tunnels, great ventilation, puts Edinburgh to shame!) and walked part of the Ihlara Valley to our lunch destination of Belisirma.  There we had a four course lunch before moving on to see the Selime Katedrali (Selime Cathedral) built into the rock faces and fairy chimneys.  Some of the girls (and boys) succumbed to the delights of the Onyx/Turquoise workshop we were shown around (reminded me all too much of the factories in China), and then there was time to take photos from the top of Pigeon Valley.  At Paşabaği we saw some amazing fairy chimneys, including the famous three-headed ones.  The pottery demonstration at Avanos was our last stop before arriving back at Göreme.  All in all it was a great tour, I had a lot of fun clambering around in tunnels and caves.  Ordinarily I probably wouldn't have done a tour but we covered a lot of ground and Mazz only had one night in town.

 

After the tour we went straight to find a restaurant (well, via a little shopping) with a couple of Australian girls from the tour.  We ended up at a lovely restaurant called The Orient, where we had a four course set menu for only 12.50YTL.  This turned out to be six courses (extra garlic bread and salsa to start, and a fruit plate after our desserts), so along with the two bottles of lovely local wine, we were well full ...