Goreme, Cappadocia

We arrived in Goreme, a town of Cappadocia, around 630am and after a short walk to the guest house, Kose Pension, we dropped our bags off and headed out for breakfast. It was a good location for breakfast for the view as we saw some hot air balloons go past, but the food was pretty average (and there was no coffee). We were all pretty tired from the overnight bus, so we spent most of the day lazing around by the pool. It was some much needed relaxing time.

In the afternoon, we headed for an early dinner at our favourite restaurant in Cappadocia, Cafe Safak and then walked up to Sunset Point to watch the sunset. It was an amazing spot with the sun setting over both the fairy chimneys and town and also all the lights from town turning on. It was a fantastic afternoon and we enjoyed a beer here also.

We also tried to book the hot air balloon flight for the following morning, but it was cancelled due to the wind forecast. Therefore, we booked the green tour through the hostel and a company called “Woop woop travel Turkey”, which visited numerous attractions throughout the area.

The next morning, we had the included breakfast at the hostel which was great and a swim in the pool before getting picked up at 915am for the green tour. The first stop of the green tour was at a viewpoint overlooking Goreme and the surrounding mountains and valleys. We stopped here for around 15-30 minutes and admired the great panoramic views.

We jumped back on the bus and drove around 45 minutes to an old underground city, Derinkuyu, which was upto 40-50m deep. The exact history and dates of occupation of this underground city is still unknown.

Our last stop before lunch was at another village called Selime Monastery, which consisted of series of caves and rooms built into the side of a mountain. There was also a Kings tomb at the bottom of this village.

After lunch in Ihlara village, we visited the Ihlara valley and walked along the river for around 3km. There was also an old Chapel at the beginning of this walk which was built by some Christians during a period of exile.

Our second last stop was at a jewel shop which sold the famous stone, Csarite, which changes colour depending on the light colour. The last stop of the tour was at a lookout over Pigeon Valley and following this, we were dropped back at our hostel around 6pm.

It was a great tour, reasonably priced and a good bunch of travellers we did it with. We headed out for dinner to our favourite restaurant again, Cafe Safak, and there was a massive storm in the evening which meant our chances of the balloon ride for the following morning was 50/50.

We woke the following morning at 440am for the hot air balloon ride, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the morning rain/storm and wind. Therefore, we went back to bed and once we woke back up we ate breakfast and lazed by pool.

Around mid morning, we left the hostel to walk through Love valley, stopping along the way at Cafe Safak again for lunch. The walk through Love Valley was long and hot, but at the same time great as there was lots of fairy chimneys and not many people here.

We were so hot and thirsty by the end, and after an orange juice and 1L of water each at a nearby restaurant, we walked through a small section of Pigeon Valley back into Goreme. Once back at the hostel, we enjoyed a swim in the pool and headed out to a falafel restaurant for dinner before getting the 815pm night bus to Pamukkale.