Yesterday we hired a car and explored the Cappadocian countryside. We decided to hire a car rather than do the organised tours to save a bit of money and have the freedom to explore, without the hassle of being forced into pottery and gem stores and being hooted at to get on the bus and go to the next destination.

After reminding myself to drive on the right hand side of the road and figuring out that to put a Kia car in reverse you have to lift up the gear shift, we set off and had a great day driving around to see the amazing stone formations scattered around Cappadocia. We saw mushroom shaped monoliths and many that resembled the aroused male genitalia (see below), as well as soaring 'fairy chimneys' and castles. This bit of Turkey is truly unique and amazing. Neither of us have taken so many pics of stones before.

When ever you look up at the giant stones or a cliff face there are little windows and doors where the people carved out their homes hundreds of years ago. Very ingenious. The enormous volcanic stones stand upright like watchmen and make you feel like you are in a land of fairy, elves, and mythical creatures. On our walks through the valleys we half expected to see an ewok!

We also went to visit an underground city yesterday called Derinkuyu. It is about seven levels all below the surface. It was very eerie and spooky down below, plus you had to really duck your head to go through the small stone passages. I don't know how people lived their lives in the dark. Even with the electric lighting it felt claustrophobic.

Today as we did on Wednesday we walked through one of the valleys around Goreme. You can just wander off down a dirt road and find yourself among giant stones with little windows and steps, sometimes even an ancient church. We walked through a valley, past a little muddy brook and had the whole place to ourselves. We had a peasants lunch of bread, tomato and cheese and took a nap on a giant rock. It's autumn so the colours of the leaves were orange, yellow and red. This is a place we will always remember and along with our time in India has been one of the highlights.

Tonight we catch another night bus, this time down to the Southern coast to Antalya. We have been walking our asses off the last few days so we might slow down a bit over the weekend.




















Some more pics taken around stunning Cappadocia below: