Belisırma

Good we didn't camp at the salt lake as we had originally planned. Because at 4am, we woke up by the sound of a storm. On the salt lake, there would have been no protection at all. On the campground, we were protected by walls, so we only had to cope with a dirty tent in the morning as all the sand came down with the rain.
Anyways, it 7am, the weather was back to normal and we could start cycling. It was only another 50km on a flat highway (where I got my second flat tyre on our trip) before we finally reached a more interesting region again: We arrived in Kappadokyia which is famous for its spectacular rock formations, fairy chimneys, rock churches, canyons, valleys and underground cities.
We saw the great rock formations of Selime cathedral, climbed around in the houses carved in the rocks and enjoyed a panoramic view and Ihlara valley. We then continued to Belisirma, a small village in the middle of Ihlara valley where we wanted to camp at one of the restaurants. We visited the old part of the village which is full of old Greek stone houses and then entered Ihlara valley via a back entrance for a hike. The valley is super impressive! A deep canyon with rock churches on both sides. We hiked for a couple of hours and admored the frescos you can see in the churches. Then we returned to the restaurant where we had a big dinner. As it's a tourist place, the price was a bit of a rip off, but it was good at least. At night, we set camp right next to the river. We could sleep in our sleeping bags only, no tent needed :)Läs mer