Cappadocia II

After our exciting morning hot air ballooning, some breakfast and a shower at our hotel we got chatting to Sergio along with Mark and Frans, the Canadian couple.  Sergio suggested that we do a walk through the Rose Valley, offering to drop us off and pick us up afterwards.  The Rose Valley is so named after the amazing coloured rocks it contains, apparently even more stunning upon sunset.  Decision made we jumped in his car for the short trip to the beginning of the walk.  The day was perfect, blue skies with not a single cloud and it was lovely walking through the valley with the warm sun on our backs.  We stopped at the beginning of the walk to buy some nuts and dried fruit from an old couple who had set up shop on the side of the track.  For most of the walk it seemed we had the valley to ourselves, sharing it only with a few other hikers, the occasional tractor and farmers tending to the land on either side of the path as their donkeys waited patiently.  The scenery was stunning and it was incredibly peaceful exploring the valley, discovering a couple of rock cut churches along the way and stopping to take numerous photos.

Eventually we reached Cavusin, the tiny village where Sergio had suggested  we stop for lunch at his cousin's restaurant.  So while we waited for Sergio to pick us up we enjoyed a lovely lunch of stuffed pancakes and lentil soup, followed by a generous serving of incredibly sweet baclava and Turkish coffee.  Eventually Sergio arrived and said that as he needed to grab a few supplies in a nearby village, he would drop us off at a pottery workshop in Avanos on the way.  Not really knowing what we expect (and a bit wary that we were about to be given another hard sell) we ended up having a pottery demonstration, after which I was then selected to have a go at throwing a pot myself!  Donning some very attractive trousers I proved that pottery is not as easy as it looks, needing a lot of professional help to eventually create something resembling a pot!

After having  a look around the enormous shop and admiring the beautiful wares (managing to not spend any money surprisingly), we continued on. Sergio announced that he had time to take us to a few other attractions, including the Monks Valley, the Imagination Valley (where there are fairy chimneys resembling all sorts of creatures - spot the camel and bear below) and finally a chance to see some of the amazing iconic mushroom shaped fairy chimneys.

Later we headed back to the hotel where it was time to say goodbye to Sergio, the Canadians and Goreme, as we were catching a train back to Istanbul that night.  Unfortunately our train was not due to leave Kayseri until midnight that night, and the last bus left Goreme for Kayseri at 7pm, meaning we would have a lenghthy wait in Kayseri.  Sergio advised us that Kayseri was not the sort of city we should hang around at night, so luckily we spotted another couple who were doing the same trip back to Istanbul and hung out together at the bus station, taking turns to look after each others luggage while we grabbed some supplies for the train journey and found a cafe to while away a couple of hours before heading to the train station.  Unfotunately once at the train station we discovered that the train was running late, we didn't really know just how late as the announcements were few and far between and obviously in Turkish, but didn't end up getting on board till 2.30am.  As we had been up so early that morning  and had had such a full on day it was not much fun waiting in the packed train station, trying to sleep in very uncomfortable plastic chairs, so we were very glad to eventually get to our compartment and crash out ons our bunk beds, falling fast asleep as we left  magical Cappadocia far behind.  I think if we were to plan our trip again, we would definitely spend longer there, it was such an amazing place.