Grad Trip Day 5 & 6: Cappadocia, Turkey

DAY 5: 23 MAY 2014

Today is the day we say goodbye to Istanbul.

We took an early morning flight to Kayseri airport and upon arriving, we transferred to

an airport shuttle arranged by our hosts at Falcon Cave Suites in Goreme.

The airport shuttle costs 25 liras per person.

Our 'cave' room was one of the best accomodations I have stayed during my trip.

The bathroom was huge.

Breakfast was healthy and nice.

And most importantly, the host gave us discounts when we booked the hot air balloon 

ride and green tour with their partnering companies!

Major savings here!

After checking in, we went to a random restaurant to get lunch before visiting the

open air museum.

One thing to note about Goreme is that the food prices are all on the steep side, since

this town caters mostly to tourists.

So as a backpacker, you will definitely feel the price differences if you come from Istanbul.

Right after lunch, we took a thirty minutes walk to the Goreme open air museum.

The walk to the museum required us to climb some slopes, but the scenery definitely

distracted us well.

Pretty stone carvings along the way

Horse barn

Goreme open air museum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.

Not only will you get to see numerous unique rock formations, but you will also get

to enter the churches situated inside the museum.

The museum is said to house the most number of churches too, and most of them belong

to the tenth to twelfth centuries.

If you are interested, the entrance fee for the open air museum was priced at 25 liras.

And it was worth it because I really enjoyed the time spent at the museum!

 

Every angle in the museum guarantees a nice shot without fail.

It was such an amazing and gorgeous sight!

I think we spent two to three hours exploring the entire museum.

You should definitely visit this open air museum if you are in Goreme!

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DAY 6: 24 MAY 2014

Today is hot air balloon day!

We booked a hot air balloon ride through our hosts, and we chose Air Kapadokya

out of all the partnering companies.

I feel that it is always important to check out the companies and their flight histories 

before booking as hot air balloon rides do have a certain amount of risks.

Air Kapadokya was ranked 4th out of all the hot air balloon companies and we felt that

we would be safer riding with them.

As there were five of us, our hosts gave us a discount and we each paid

90 euros for a flight time of 60 minutes, which is really reasonably priced!

Initially I was being a retard, wanting to save my one and only hot air balloon ride with

future partner who is still non-existent.

But the price and the pictures really tempted me, and in the end I gave in...

So we woke up around 5am for the van to pick us up for breakfast.

Breakfast provided was simple yet delicious for backpackers like us.

Right after breakfast, the company drove us to the balloon departure site, which was

packed with huge balloon sheets ready to be inflated.

 If I remembered correctly, we were riding in the 22 people basket.

Before the balloon took off, safety instructions were given in the event of an emergency.

Right after that, we took off!

The pilot ascended the balloon in a way that allows us to get as close as possible

to one of the rock formations.

I could almost touch it, but I didn't want to fall to my death.

But as we ascended higher up into the sky, the view from the top was just breathtaking.

Other balloons were still rising and there were tons of them at a lower altitude

compared to us.

We could also see the various geological formations in Cappadocia at a glance,

and the silhouettes of the balloons on those formations were simply beautiful.

I definitely would have regretted it if I chose not to take the balloon ride.

Time flies by really quickly when you are enjoying.

Throughout the entire flight time, trucks and vans were hurriedly chasing the balloons.

As the path of the balloon depends on the direction of the wind, it is

impossible to predict the location at which the balloon lands.

Hence, during the descend, a truck will be stationed nearby and

a group of men will pull the basket until it sits accurately at the landing spot.

It was really amazing to see how these men managed to land the balloon accurately purely

based on estimation and their strengths.

And it was just four of them!

Anyways, there usually is a celebratory session right after the ride, because we didn't die haha.

Glasses of champagne and personalised flight certificates were given to everyone.

It was truly a memorable experience which I will always remember.

So, we hung out for awhile before the company brought us back to our hotel.

We also booked a full day tour through our hosts as well.

There were red and green tour options, and we decided on the green tour.

The tour covers the following sites in Cappadocia:

Derinkuyu underground city, Ihlara Valley hike and Selime Monastery.

We paid 100 liras for the tour, which includes a free airport transfer the next day as well.

Our first stop was Derinkuyu underground city.

This underground city is the largest out of the many in Turkey.

There were many levels in the underground city and narrow tunnels with steps carved out from the

rocks were our only way down.

As we had a guide with us, we got to know more about its history and the efforts made to

retain its structure.

The next stop was to Ihlara valley.

Ihlara valley is a canyon formed by the Melendiz river thousands of years ago.

Rocks forming the words "IHLARA"

It was quite a long hike, but a beautiful one.

The sound of the water flowing, the canyons and the greenery definitely helped in

getting away from the hectic life I had for a while.

Which happens to be the reason why I like to travel.

Leaving the fast-pace and worries behind.

The end of the hike led us to the restaurant we were dining at for lunch.

A small variety of dishes were available for selection, and I chose fish!

The fish was nicely cooked, and the meat was tender.

And there wasn't any fishy smell to it, which was a plus point.

After lunch, we headed to our next destination - Selime Monastery.

Selime Monastery is a wonderful rock-cut monastery located at the end of the Ihlara valley.

Some climbing was required in order to get to the monastery.

There weren't proper footpaths or stairs for you most of the time, so do take

extra caution when you are going up!

Having gone to many rock-cut churches, the monastery looked familiar in

terms of its interior.

Kind of an overdose at this stage.

The view from the monastery was really nice and the weather was

really good that day.

Subsequently, they brought us to an onyx jewelry factory before dropping us home.

And that marks us the end of our busy yet fun day!