Turkiye, Portugal, Spain and Dubai Day 1 Istanbul to Cappadocia 14 Sept 25

We checked out and left our hotel just after 8am, off for more adventures in Cappadocia.
We arrived at the airport after a 40 min drive, its big, but well sign posted if you know where to look.
First up all bags go through security check entering the terminal. That done we went to bag drop, we had checked in on line last night. We were going to go through to the gate but you had to give up all water, so we sat outside that security until about 10am, hydrating!
Deb made good use of the time and got her Cats of Istanbul photos ready. There are some great shots, but I have a clear favourite.
We were expecting a narrow body single class air craft, with a 1/2 seating configuration, for our flight to Cappadocia, instead we got an over booked (they were offering 100 euro for people to take a flight 2 hrs later) Airbus 321-200, 6 seats a row in economy and a business class
We left at 11:35pm for Cappadocia, 556km away, less than a hour away.
It’s a bit surreal seeing places like Kiev, Moscow and Odessa on the flight map, places we have recently heard so much about in the news, and not for good things, but they are just there!
The inflight meal was good, a toasted Turkish bread roll with white cheese. Red pepper, olives, etc in it, a bit like a pizza.
We landed at 12:25pm. It a very dry landscape. We had our bags bìy 1pm and found our guide, Sumer Efe, waiting just outside. And our tour began.
We drove straight to the tall chimneys of Pasabaglar, (aka The Fairy Chimneys) an amazing geological area. The chimneys are formed by the preferential weathering of the areas volcanic rocks. The way the weathering by rain and wind has worked here, has left tall basalt topped cone shapes, with a thick, relatively soft Tuff layer sandwiched between basalt layers.
We started our exploration in the Valley of the Monks. Over the years the inhabitants of the area discovered they could carve out rooms inside the large cones, and make safe functional homes. The area became a drawcard for people seeking the solitude life of a hermit, many devout religious people found the area to be favourable for their search for Enlightenment. Many of the Cone dwellings had 2 or 3 floors.
Looking at them from afar and close up it feels like you’re on the set of a SciFi movie, they are very other worldy.
From there we took a short drive to The Valley of Imagination, an area close by the road where there are many “Chimneys” of all shapes, sizes and weathered condition. Many of them have a very obvious appearance to “everyday” things, like a camel, a mother and child, a couple kissing and more, depending on your imagination.
Next we drove to Goreme Open Air Museum. Built in the Byzantime period, the historical settlement was a centre of religious pursuit, with Saint Basil setting a doctrine on how people seeking a religious life should interact both together and the wider society. His teachings encouraged a community built on bonding, modesty and humility
We walked around the site being told about the religious meanings of the artwork inside the many Cave Churches in the “community “. The religious art works drawn on the walls and ceilings were detailed, and all of them pictorially told many different stories from the bible.
The Goreme Open Village and the Chimneys of Pasabaglar are both UNESCO world heritage sites.
When we were done at the Goreme we were taken to our hotel.
We unpacked and eventually got to dinner at the Hotels Turkish Restaurant. We started with a Mezze Trio, then I had slowed cooked tandoori lamb and Deb had tenderloin beef with local veg. It was all very nice.
During dinner we realised we hadn’t been contacted about our Hot Air Balloon Ride the next morning. So we got onto our travel company and got a pick up time sorted out, 5:20am, on the later end of the 4am to 5:30 am window we were told to expect.
And that my friends is the end of the day for me.