Leaving Goreme we headed for Konya. Our first stop was the underground city of Kaymakli. This city is carved out of the rock and has many levels going to a depth of 90m. It was not just a city for the villagers but also for their animals. It had excellent ventilation but there is no evidence of a sewage system (unlike the Cu Chi Tunnels of Vietnam). We followed the arrows to level 7 which was probably enough for all of us. The hallways and stairs or ramps were v...

This morning we went Hot Air Ballooning. We did not choose to do the early morning sunrise flight but went for the second one at 730. Both of us have a thing about heights – WE DO NOT LIKE HEIGHTS! However we could not get all the way to Cappadochia just to watch. When we got to breakfast you could still see the dozens of balloons in the air and the anxiety started to kick in. Once we got in the balloon we saw that we could put on a belt (not compulsory) a...

Today was mainly a driving day to Urgup. As we approached the town the first stop was an underground pottery where we were given demonstrations, history of the pottery and then invited to visit their showrooms! The decoration on the pottery was their own family decoration and also the Ottoman style. A small purchase was made. The second stop was a natural pinnacle structure and man made living quarters in the pinnacles. The unique aspect of these pinnacles was...

On the road at 0845 heading for Ankara the capital and second largest city of Turkey with a population of about 4½ million. There was not much left of the castle but it does afford a great view of Ankara. Along all the walkways in the castle were women selling crafts with many of them also crocheting to add to their list of wares. Anne succumbed and spent some money, very wisely however. Over the years houses have been built amongst the ruins of the castle b...

We woke to a much cooler day with temperatures to get as high as 17°C; the norm for this time of the year. Today we met our bus driver Hussein and the manager of the tour company. A few of us received clarification from the management about the tour as some of us had organised changes to the original itinerary including us; we have a day at Gallipoli which the others do not. Our bus is a very comfortable 15 seater bus which enables us to each have window se...