30th April & 1st May Ilhara Valley & Göreme

Left our hotel and headed for a cave monastery built in the 9th century. There were graves that had been excavated in the floor.
We walked down through underground passages and upstairs as well. We saw frescoes dating back to the 11th and 9th century.

There were women out the front of Monastery selling hand hide knitted slippers and lace. We both bought a pair of slipper socks @5 turkish Lire each. Next stop was the underground city. These tunnels had been in used for centuries for storage and for people to hide in. It was supposed to have been able to house over 7000. We had a tour down to the 6th level and saw the storage rooms, stables, kitchen, church and where they made the wine. Catriona in the vat pointing to where the grape juice escaped.
We were also shown the huge rolling stones used to block the entrance to the tunnels.
After the underground city it was time for a hike. We hiked down into the Ilhara valley, visited another cave church and walked along the river bank to our lunch spot on the river.

After lunch we headed off for the last part of our tour, Göreme.
We stopped along the way to admire the view of the fairy chimneys and also for those who were going hot air ballooning in the morning to pay for their flight. We had plenty of time in the afternoon to explore the village and take many photos.

In the evening we went out to a Turkish night in a large underground cave restaurant. We were entertained by a group of men and women doing traditional Turkish folk dancing as well as seeing the whirling dervishes. It was quite unusual and very different to the show we had seen on our Nile cruise. These men were more traditional, doing it as a spiritual ritual rather than just a show.
1st Catriona had an early morning to go on a hot air balloon trip. The take off was postponed for 15 minutes due to the wind, they said it was better to wait at the office where it was warm and there was tea, coffee and biscuits and bathroom facilities than be in the cold out at the take off site. She thought it was going to be canceled like in Aswan, luckily that was not the case. We passed many other groups on our way t0 the take off site, they had obviously been waiting out there for the last 20 minutes.  Our guys had the balloon and basket off the trailer in record time. We were the last to arrive and the first to take off.
It was such an amazing experience, not just a trip highlight but one of those lifetime highlights. The views were magnificent and the pictures just don't do it justice. The others were still on the ground and we were flying for quite a while before they got up.

We were taken into the valleys where the fairy chimneys were (love valley) as well as Rose valley where people used to live in the caves but were moved out in the 1960s due to safety concerns. At the end of the flight the landing was excellent. The pilot, Mustufa, landed on the trailer and just like before the take off, the packing up was done with precision. We had champagne and sour cherry in our hands in 15minutes. Those who went on the balloon flight arrived back at the hotel at 8am feeling tired but excited. After breakfast David and Catriona hired bikes and rode to the Love valley and Rose valley. David managed to get a flat front tire at Love valley. Luckily a local guy called the bike hire shop and they came out and swapped bikes. David said it was just like being in the Tour de France.  We spent the afternoon by going to a talk on tribal carpets. We picked out one that we really liked but wanted to look at some more before we bought it. David had to go as he had booked in to do quad biking. He had a fantastic time seeing the sites and hooning around. For dinner we had a traditional teste kabab, a meal cooked in a terracotta pot that had to be broken open to get the food out.