Cappadocia Bound!

We were picked up by Mizel our stand-in taxi driver at 3am for our early flight to Keyseri. We were bound for Cappadocia, a region famous for its unique landscape framed by cone rock formations, cave churches, fairy chimneys and wind streams flowing through the valleys creating perfect flying conditions for hot air ballooning.

Kate and I were lovingly given a packed lunch by Auntie Lynette and although very sad to be leaving her, Uncle Al, and Auntie Sheila; were very excited for our weekend adventure, especially after hearing so many raving recommendations about the area at yesterday’s BBQ. Most of the hour long flight was spent snoozing, but it was lovely to keep peeking out the window as the rising sun illuminated the sky orange and light flooded across the hilly countryside below.

Not impressed waiting an hour for the transfer to set off, though when we did eventually leave, the most beautiful cloud shrouded mountains game into view, and our first glimpse of the “fairy caves” came as we passed through Urgup. Through the winding streets of Göreme we climbed to arrive at our beautiful hotel, one of the many cave hotels in the region, the Divan Cave Hotel.

First activity was a fab lesson in Turkish coffee making with Denise. We learned the practicalities of choosing, grinding and brewing (both traditional Turkish was on sand, and modern with gas), as well as some lovely cultural insights. We learned about fortune telling from the coffee grinds, which was spookily accurate for Kate and I.

We headed back for a rest and jacuzzi (the room is a real treat given it’s a special weekend somewhere we likely won’t get to visit again), then enjoyed a beautiful meal at the nearby Seten restaurant. We had a meze starter (highlight being the stuffed courgette flowers), traditional clay oven baked beef stew, followed by pistachio halva. By dessert we were watching the mountains turn orange as the sun set across the valley, and both felt extremely lucky to be here.もっと詳しく