We are staying for 3 days in a cave hotel. It is so cool I will do a separate post on it. We were supposed to do the balloon ride this morning but it got cancelled because of the wind. They have rescheduled it for tomorrow morning but our guide said that the only way the wind will stop is if it rains. Right now there is so much dust that it looks like a snow storm.

We started the morning at the Goreme Open Air Museum which is basically 11 early rock cut Christian churches with frescos on the walls and ceilings. Of course there were 100’s of steps and rock roads to climb. They had very strict rules about taking pictures inside, but the outdoor views were spectacular.

This area became a residence for monks around 800 AD. Christian pilgrims began to visit, stayed and began building churches. The Christians worshipped and lived there for approximately 300 years until they were pushed out by the Turks and they made it a farming community. People lived in these caves until the 1950’s when the Turkish government evicted them.

Our next stop was to see one of these cave homes that has been renovated for living in the 21st century. It had electricity and a coal stove to provide heat. Air conditioning is not required because of the nature of the cave.

Of course after you listen to how the family lives and drink tea and then there is always something they want you to buy.

Next up was lunch at a Greek restaurant. This was the best vegan meal since I have been here. There are 2 of us on this trip and my guess is that our guide does not let the restaurants know ahead of time so basically we get boiled vegetables.

For the rest of the day the plan was to go hiking but the wind and dust changed the plans to tour an underground city. There are between 150 to 200 underground cities in Cappadocia that could accommodate up to 30,000 people. The underground caves were originally built for the town’s people to hide when the town was under attack. The one that we toured was 7 levels deep to approximately 100 to 150 feet. We only went down 4 levels. The further you went down into the caves the lower the ceilings were and the smaller the tunnels. To get through the tunnels you basically had to squat down and bend over so you won’t hit your head (and many people did). Some of these tunnels were between 50 and 75 feet long so this was not an easy walk. Also the floors were not level and there were holes in the floor where the residents would store urns of water. I was a little afraid that I might be claustrophobic but I was okay. I liked the experience much more when we above ground again.

Because we were running so late (as usual) we went right to dinner. We ate at a family run restaurant with all home made food. We are talking homemade grape molasses from their own grapes and of course, they had a cookbook of their own recipes. Now I am going to be able to make their meatless stuffed eggplant that they served me for dinner. Back to the hotel for a 4:30 AM wake-up call for the balloon ride.