Cappadocia, Turkey – a unique experience

Cappadocia, oh Cappadocia! What a unique beautiful surprise is this place! I would go back tomorrow, just for the atmosphere, and the beautiful caves setting.

Cappadocia was the last stop in my 2 weeks spent in Turkey, with friends and family. Previously we went to Faralya, and to get to Cappadocia from there we had to fly back to Istanbul. And from there take another flight to Kaysieri airport.

Getting to Göreme

We have previously arranged with the hotel to pick us up from the airport and take us to Göreme. It wasn’t the hotel’s van, but a service that picked up tourists for multiple hotels in the area for around 15 USD a person. The trip from the airport to Göreme was around 1 hour and 15 minutes which wasn’t bad at all! We arrived just when it was starting to get dark. And wow, weren’t we impressed!

Just have a look at the pictures, they talk for themselves!

The Cave Hotels in Cappadocia

We were super impressed with the views, and with our rooms in the Kelebek Special Cave Hotel in Göreme. If coming to Cappadocia, is a must to stay in a cave hotel. It will be an experience you will remember!

We enjoyed the uniqueness of our rooms, each room was different, and the herb soaps they had in the bathroom. Each room is so unique that I had problems finding my room for the first couple days. It’s a beautiful labyrinth of stairs and corridors!

Another thing I liked very much is that it wasn’t crowded and we went at mid-end of July. I could sit and relax in so many areas, like terraces and the pool, without noise. This was a big bonus, as I don’t like busy places.

Please keep in mind that some rooms that are in the cave don’t have AC. The room I stayed in was cool enough without AC because it was a cave room d’oh! However if you like it icy cold inside you should check with your hotel to make sure you have AC in the room.

Beware of keeping food in your room! If you do, make sure you close all your windows, because if you won’t, the cat thieves will enter and eat your lovely kebab. It’s not a maybe it’s a sure thing. It happened twice in my room, and all I had left was the bread. I found a full satisfied cat lounging around outside my room, and all the meat was gone 😀

If you are looking for delicious food, at a fair price, but not cheap, a few meters away from the Kelebek Special Cave Hotel is the Seten Anatolian Cuisine restaurant. I highly recommend this place, the setting is so romantic and the food is delicious! I ate here a few times the traditional pottery kebab where they crack-open the pottery in front of you. But I also tried meat and fish dishes and good Turkish wine.

During the day I liked to stroll along the streets of Göreme and browse through the local and souvenirs shops. Here I could add 2 more hats to my travel hat collection 🙂

You will find a lot of stores that provide tours, and day trips that you can take, and you probably will find a cheaper price by asking a few places, than what your hotel will offer you, so it’s worth asking around to save some money.

Some of the popular offers that you can get are the balloon ride (duh!), the trip to the Salt Lake Tuz Gölü, a visit to one of the underground cities, a 4×4 guided ride, or you can attend a Turkish Night.

Salt Lake Tuz Gölü

We decided to book a van and driver for our group of 6 people, and take a day trip to the Tuz Gölü Salt Lake and also see the underground city of Kaymakli on our way back.

To get to the Tuz Gölü Salt Lake it was a bit of a ride, took about 2 hours in a car with poor AC, but it was a good way to see the surroundings outside of Göreme. And some people in the car could catch some zzz’s but not me. I’m really envious of people who can easily take a nap vertically on a chair or in a moving car or plane!

But once we arrived it was all worth it. It was my first time seeing a salt lake in person, and I was mesmerised with the vast immensity of this white desert of salt. There are some foreign tourists here but also many Turkish people, that come here to soak their feet in the little potholes with salt water, or rub the salt on their skin, to get all the beneficial properties of the salt. I took a little salt in a small bottled water to use later, but you can also buy creams and soaps and salts from one of the souvenir shops as you arrive at the lake.

Underground City of Kaymakli

On our way back from the Salt Lake we took another road to get to the Underground City of Kaymakli. I think this is a must see, and very interesting to learn about the history and explore the different rooms and tunnels. There are quite a few underground cities in the area, and they were built for security reasons, to hide from invaders.

The City of Kaymakli was built on 8 levels, from which 4 are open for visitors, and it was housing around 5000 people. You can find here stables for the animals, food storage areas, a church, water wells and kitchens, all built around ventilation chimneys. I wasn’t able to explore the entire cave system because I have back issues, and some tunnels are not so tall, but the visit was still worth it!

The Pigeon Valley

Another stop on our little road trip was the Pigeon Valley, where there a bit more tourists and some gift shops. The valley has many pigeons, they are coming here because they are being feed. It’s a beautiful view and a good opportunity to take some nice pictures.

The balloons of Cappadocia

One of the highlights of Cappadocia is the Balloon ride you can take. There are a vast number of companies that provide this ride and it costs about 100 EUR per person, but depending where you book you can get it cheaper or for double the price. So it’s worth do to your research on the balloon ride to get a better price, but also check into the reviews because some balloons fly lower and some higher, and some get better views than others.

If you want to take this trip you will have to wake up really early in the morning, as the car will wait for you at around 4:30am to take you where the balloons take off. There you will get a small snack for breakfast and embark in your balloon ride. All this if the winds are not strong. My friends opted for the balloon trip, but for two consecutive days their trip got cancelled because of strong winds, which was a shame as they had to wake up so early.

One day I made the huge effort of waking up at 4:30am to see the balloons pass over our hotel. But after I waited an hour, I realised that there are no balloons because they got cancelled. I was so disappointed, as I was looking forward to the view and taking pictures of it! And so were others that woke up so early. Including some girls with their nice makeup and nice dresses, specially prepared for the pictures.

I don’t know about you, but I need my 7-8 hours of sleep. Without enough zzz’s I am no good for the day. So I went back to bed for another two hours, until I had to wake up to have breakfast in a nearby local farm.

I didn’t see any balloons, only heard them the first night as they passed over our hotel. I thought I was dreaming. But my friend Alina from Transient Teachers, was an early bird and took a couple of pictures, and she gave me one to show you! This is just a fraction of the balloons that pass over the area. If you wake up early enough you can see hundreds of them!

Breakfast at the local Cappadocia farm

After my little sleep I woke up super tired but excited to get breakfast at a local farm in Göreme.

One of the bonuses of staying in the Kelebek Special Cave Hotel is that one morning during your stay you can have your breakfast at the farm owned by the hotel owner. A boat-car will pick you up from the hotel with a small group of people. The car is a truck carrying a wooden sculpture that resembles a boat :D.

The farm is only 20 minutes away. And on the way you will have a stop to take some pictures of the area. Remember to take a small bottle of water with you, as it can get hot during the summer days!

Once you arrive at the farm you will descend some really looking steps carved in the rock formations. Once down you will find the farm in a shaded area, with fruit trees, and a few animals.

I loved this experience and reminded me a lot of my grandparents in Romania’s countryside, many years ago. Seeing the local women make the fresh bread in the fire and preparing the tea, and the traditional eggs, was a real treat. You can also try the local wine and hear a bit of their traditions, along your visit to the farm.

Turkish night in Cappadocia

If you have enough time during your visit, you might like to attend a Turkish Night. We could book it through our hotel, but it was a bit pricey. We booked the show and the dinner. But I wish we only booked the show and drinks because the food was very poor.

The show started very slow with the Whirling Dervishes spinning for a good amount of time. Seriously how can they do it? I would have landed on someone’s dinner table after the first few seconds! The show then picked up peace with local-dressed dancers and also included a belly dancer. All in all I enjoyed it!

Yummy food in Cappadocia

Lat but not least… the food! Aubergine is one of my favourite vegetables, and I enjoyed tried different dishes containing it! If you are more of a meat lover, have no worry. There are plenty of dishes of meats, and they are delicious! And the breads, do I have to say it? They are so deliciously fresh, made on the fire!

If you’re worried about your waistline, don’t be! I can tell you that you will be doing plenty of exercise walking up and down the stairs to get to your cave hotel room!

The last night in Göreme, Cappadocia we chilled out with a group of Turkish women and men. We enjoyed their local songs played on instruments, while sipping on a glass of red! What a fabulous way to say goodbye to such a wonderful place! What did you enjoy most in Cappadocia?