Cappadocia Turkey, 2023

Cappadocia: Medusa Cave Hotel

Arriving at our hotel, The Medusa Cave, in Göreme, a small city in the center of Turkey's Cappadocia region.

Cappadocia: Medusa Cave Hotel Entrance

Outside our hotel on our first day in Cappadocia. The region is characterized by its unusual geologic forms: Layers of soft stone and volcanic lava eroded by wind and water into "Faerie Chimneys". Early Christians fleeing the Romans carved homes, churches and sanctuaries out of the formations.

Cappadocia: Göreme Main Street

Göreme caters to tourists. Every fourth shop is a tour agency and they all sell the same 4 tours: Hot Air Balloon ride, the Red and Green tours and the ATV tour. That said, we enjoyed browsing the shops featuring handcrafted and vintage goods.

Cappadocia: Göreme Rug Store

A rug shop displays its good in a covered courtyard.

Cappadocia: Inflating a Hot Air Balloon

Up at 5am for our hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia. The winds are the calmest at dawn and the sun rises over a distant volcano.

Cappadocia: Hot Air Balloons Launching

We've got company. There were 150 balloons flying that morning

Cappadocia: Hot Air Balloon Basket Case

The basic balloon ride is about 90 minutes long. Our basket was the same at this nearby balloon holding 24, hooked-in passengers and two pilots. 1000 hours of training are required to get a pilot's license. We felt secure and safe.

Cappadocia: Hot Air Balloon Ascendant

We rose to an altitude of 2000 meters (6,562 feet.)

Cappadocia: Hot Air Balloons Fill The Sky

It was a busy day. Everybody got along very peacefully carried along by the gentle morning breeze.

Cappadocia: Hot Air Balloons Coming In For a Landing

White passenger vans hurry on the roads to the landing fields. Pilots are on walkie-talkies calculating meetup spots.

Cappadocia: Underground City

First stop on the Green Tour was the Underground City. When Roman Legions came, Christians would hide in the maze of rooms and narrow twisty passage brimming with traps.

Cappadocia: Green Tour - Ilhara Valley

A pleasant hike through a large pretty canyon on the Green Tour.

Cappadocia: Green Tour - Ilhara Caves

Residential spaces carved out of canyon walls. Smaller holes were for pigeon roosts. their droppings were used as fertilizer.

Cappadocia: Green Tour - Selime Christian ruins

The ruins of a eighth-century Christian basilica carved out of the rock in Ilhara Valley. The walls are covered with intricate carvings and paintings

Cappadocia: Green Tour - Selime Wall Paintings

Detail of some of the art work in the Selime Basilica.

Cappadocia: Red Tour - Uchesar Castle

The Red Tour of Cappadocia takes you by van to a handful of lookout points. Most of these feature a collection of vendors selling the usual tourist souvenirs. Uçesar Castle, is not really a castle. With multiple rooms carved out of the interior, it served as a defendible hideaway when invaders came around.

Cappadocia: Red Tour - Camel

At a lookout point for Love Valley, a camel waits patiently for selfie customers.

Next stop – Konya