Göreme

The bus trip to Cappadocia was pretty challenging--12 1/2 hours, cramped and hot. This was no tourist bus--this is simply the way most people in Turkey would get from Istanbul to Cappadocia. It was just one step up from the "Chicken Buses" I've ridden in Nepal and Mexico. Although there was no livestock, we smelled like some when we finally arrived in Göreme. Our hotel room is actually carved out of some of the soft rock this area of the world is famous for. After lunch and a nap we explored some of the area on a serious (2 hour) horseback ride up the valley ridges and through farm land and villages . Seeing the fig orchards and vineyards was very satsifying.

Back in town, we had a late supper and are now heading to bed. A local dish is meat cooked in a clay jar. The waiter brings the jar over to your table and carefully breaks it apart with a hammer (attempting to keep the shards out of the food). Very nice. People are friendly and the food is good. Tomorow we'll see the ancient rock carved churches and monasteries up close. They even have cities carved entirely underground.

A few pics...

Betsy on horseback
Monk Cells carved into the hillside
Breaking open a clay cooking jar to reveal meaty goodness
-t