Cappadocia Part 2

Today we are taking the Green tour which is about 20 EUR from the local tour guide near our hotel. They begins to pick up at 9AM from our hotel.

Shot during Hot air ballon ride in the morning. 

Cappadocia - The Land of Beautiful Horses is a land full of surprises. Rocky canyons open out onto windswept plateaus; lush meadows give way to celestial landscapes with no warning; potholes open up beneath your feet and swallow your footholds before you have time to rethink your direction.

One of the nicest and most most beautiful places to go walking in Cappadocia in in Red and Rose Valley.


The first destination, we are heading to Uchisar Castle which is situated at the highest point in Cappadocia, on the Nevsehir-Goreme road, just 5 km from Goreme. 

The magnificent landscape of Cappadocia has been formed from solidified lava streams, ash and tuff stone from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. The landscape you can see now is the result of thousands of years of continual erosion, which has shaped the tuff deposits into the strangest pyramids and cones.


The tree hang with "Eagle Eyes", they believe eagle eyes is able to bring luck. You easily see eagle eyes hanging or selling in Cappadocia.


Next, we are heading to Goreme Open-Air Museum. Entrance fee to the museum is 15 TL per person, but for us it's included in the Green tour. 


The Goreme Open-Air Museum resembles a vast monastic complex composed of scores of refectory monasteries placed side-by-side, each with its own fantastic church. 


We spent about 45 minutes - 1 hour here. 


Then, we are heading to a restaurent for lunch. The buffet lunch price is also covered in the tour, but drinks will be extra costs.




After lunch, the tour guide bring us to the basement which local demonstra the process of making a simple seramik.




Our tour continue at PASABAG (MONKS VALLEY) which is located on the road to Zelve, coming from Goreme or Avanos. 


Pasabag valley contains some of the most striking fairy chimneys in Cappadocia with twin and even triple rock caps. This style is unique even for Cappadocia and these fairy chimneys are named mushroom-shaped fairy chimneys.


Camel so cute...... You can actually ride the camel, of course you have to pay!


There is walking path in Pasabag which allows us to climb up to the top.

This is the overview from the top.

The next destination, we are heading to Devrent Valley (also spelled as Dervent Valley) reveals many different rock formations and is only a 10 minute drive from Goreme. The small fairy chimneys in the valley form a lunar landscape, or moonscape, by their strange look.

The valley also has many animal shaped rocks. It looks like a sculpture zoo made by nature. Some of the most important, or the easiest seen animal shapes are camel, snake, seals, and dolphin.

Last destination, Three Beauties ( Urgup Fairy Chimneys ), also which are the most famous fairy chimneys located outside of Urgup at Cappadocia. Three Beauties, the conic rock formations that locals have created many legends about enjoy taking pictures of the fairy chimneys and valleys with rustic colors.

Panorama of Three Beauties.

The end of Cappadocia Part 2... See you in Istanbul in next blog post!

Cappadocia Part 1

Today blog will cover the Day 1 itinerary in Cappadocia.

After 1 hour and 20 minutes flight from Istanbul Ataturk airport by Turkish airline, I landed on Nevşehir Kapadokya airport.

Weather was good, looking forward for the rest of the day.

Shuttle transfer sending us from Nevşehir airport to Goreme town, then we check-in our hotel at Vezir Cave Suite http://www.vezircavesuites.com/.

Vezir Cave Suite from outside...


Our cave suite...


Cave suite is a unique cave hotel that combines houses and cave dwellings of the Hittite, Roman and Byzantine Periods with the luxurius comfort of the 21st century. Most of the tourist will book the cave suite when visit Goreme, Cappdocia. For more choices of cave suite in Cappdocia, here's the link http://www.cappadociacavesuites.com/en.

Without wasting time, we have a short walk around the hotel area. I was walked by Gallery Cappadocia which manifacturer the Fine Rugs (精美的地毯) & Kilims.

Place that they manufacture the fine rugs & kilims.

The next destination is Kaymakli underground city. How's to heading to the underground city? Here's the tips:

• We taking minibus going from the bus station in the center of Goreme, they go to all small towns around. Ticket price is 2-3 TL.
• When you go to Kaymakli, you will take a bus to Nevsehir first. Once arrive to Nevsehir, just across to the opposite side, there will be a bus stop from where you can take a bus to Kaymakli. Tell the bus driver to stop at Kaymakli. You don’t need to book anything, just go to the bus station in the center.

Once you arrived in Kaymakli, have a short walk ahead. You should be able to see the Kaymakli underground city signboard on the left.

Heading to the underground city, you should be able to see the bazaar market. Then, your are close, just a few steps ahead, there will be a ticket counter and entrance of the underground city. Unfortunately, I forgot how much is the ticket price... Opps...

The Kaymakli Underground City has low, narrow and sloping passages. While the underground city consists of 8 floors below ground, only 4 of them are open to the public today, in which the spaces are organized around ventilation shafts.

The first floor of the underground city is the stable. The small size of this area suggests that there could be other stables in sections that have not yet been opened. The passage to the left of the stable contains a millstone door and leads into the church. To the right of the corridor are rooms hollowed out as living areas.

The church on the 2nd floor has a single nave and two apses. In front of the apses is an altar, and on the sides are seating platforms. There are also some living areas on this floor.

The most important areas of the underground city are on the 3rd floor. Besides numerous storage places, wineries and kitchen, the block of andesite with relief-texture found on this floor is very interesting. Recent research has proved that this stone was used as a melting pot for copper. The stone was not brought here from outside but was part of the andesite layer unearthened while hollowing. To be able to use it as a melting pot, 57 holes were carved on the surface of the stone. The copper ore, about 10 cm in length, would be put into one of those holes and would be hammered using a hard piece of rock. This technique has been known since the Prehistoric Periods.

Love shape! Cool?????


Seriously, was super narrow. I always has to bend my body down when walking in the underground city.

A short video from the underground city with some Turkish music (added by me into the video) which offering you Turkish feeling ~ hahaha

Alright, we have enough fun in underground city. Heading back to Goreme town by bus.

The overview of Goreme town. Don't feel strange, those are unique rocks and the specialty of Cappadocia.




It's getting dark now, dinner time...


After dinner, this is the night view in Goreme town.

Tons of fine rugs waiting you.

That's all about Day 1 in Cappdocia, the next day 530AM morning our journey begins with famous Hot Air ballon http://kelvinsmf.blogspot.de/2014/05/hot-air-ballon-at-goreme-turkey.html.

Enjoy reading! To be continue in Part 2......

Hot Air Ballon at Goreme, Turkey

Riding hot air ballon is my dream since I was a student. Imagine of 40-80 colourful ballons flying on the sky with spectacular view from 700 meters high. Wonderful!

Therefore, in 2013 December I decided Goreme, Turkey as my destination to experience the real hot air ballon ride. This is because Cappadocia has unreal amazing landscape which makes Balloon flights one of worlds the top 3. 

In order to visit Goreme, I take the flight transfer from Istanbul Ataturk airport by Turkish airline to Nevşehir Kapadokya airport. From Nevşehir airport, you often have to take shuttle transfer to Goreme. 

I bought Hot Air Ballon tour from Urgup Ballons http://www.urgupballoons.com/en/index.html. They start to pick up from my hotel at 5.30AM, then having light breakfast like tea and biscuit in their office.

About 0600-0615AM, we depart to the take-off area to watch preparing balloons. Hot air ballon flight beginning with the sunrise.

While waiting for the ballon preparation! 

Colourful ballons makes my day~Awesome!!!

"Fairy chimney" rock formations

First ballon on the way to the sky

Sunrise begins...

We are going higher and higher... Spectacular view of Cappadocia is amazing!

Sexy sunrise mountain view... 


One word~ AWESOME! 

Can you count how many ballons on the air? During peak season, there will be 80 ballons flying on the air!

 记忆随身，不是两年就放得下，它要飘进来就飘进来的了；
人会走，所以事情都留不住，但是记忆的痕迹，永远都会在。
《土耳其之热气球》, 让记忆随风而去吧～ 

One of my favourite shot!

Thank you for the unforgettable experience...

Shot before landing...

Champaign celebration after landing.

I am certified~ Yeeehaaa

Photo with the pilot before heading back to hotel. Thank you for the great experience ever!


Hot air ballon journey end here! Thank you for reading... Hope you enjoy the ballon ride in the near future! 

Here's the video, combination of 8 short videos into one 3 minutes video. Hope you like it!