Cappadocia

Ok- so i don't even know where to start!! i think this is the longest we have went without using internet because we have had no time! there is so much to do.. we leave tomorrow.. and we still want to do soo much! But this is a magical place- i can only describe it as a mix between some weird star trek backdrop and a Doctor Seuss book! Josh and i have never seen anything like this and have been awe struck for the last 2 days!

This is gunna be a long one- cuz i have soo much to tell you, but hang in there, it's worth the read!

Our trip from Selcuk to Izmir consisted of a stuffy bus ride that dropped us off 1 km out of the airport. We had to cross a busy highway to get to the taxi's that were waiting on the other side to take us to the domestic gate. This older Turkish man was talking very excitedly in Turkish to Josh, and kept giving him presents, a paper towel to wipe his sweat, gum, a pin to put on my bag.. it's quite intimidating and funny having someone yammer off to you in a different language.. but we made it. got our tickets, and boarded the plane for Kayseri. The flight was good, we got emergency exit without even asking for it! we flew over multicoloured patches of land and these "co-op" housing communities... i must look into that when i have some time.. the planner in me is very intrigued. Luckily enough the people at our hotel in Selcuk called ahead to this awesome hotel here in Cappadocia and had someone at the airport with our names on a sign pick us up.. which was a good thing because Goreme (the city we were staying at) was about 90 km away.. we shared the cab with 2 people who funnily enough we spent yesterday hanging out with their friends- yet we never met these 2.. so hey, small world eh?? backpacking is so funny that way.. So the 4 of us set out with this driver who drove us to Goreme, as we got closer we were just stunned by the "fairy chimney's", tufa and basalt volcanic formations that are eroding into such interesting shapes. Apparently 3 volcanoes had their hands in shaping this landscape, we learned all about it on our tour today!.. but i'm getting ahead of myself. First off i must explain about the cave hotel we are staying in.. it just rocks! (haha.. literally).. we splurged and got the more expensive one with a super large bathtub, queen size bed, and cave like atmosphere.. it's really neat.. best place we have stayed at yet! So that night we went and explored the town, ended up eating in the courtyard under these crazy rock formations- excited to see what we could see the next day. Everyone has been super helpful and hospitable that we have dealt with- but i must say.. i have never gotten such intense stares- now we all know that i got stared at in japan.. and that was bad.. but here, it is like the men think that they have the right to stare, and it is an aggressive stare. If i have bare shoulders or am showing any leg above the knee men are just disgustingly ridiculous.. and the women! the traditional Turkish women are as bad as the men.. maybe not as aggressive, but definitely noticeable. if i am somewhere without Josh, i feel very self conscious.. luckily we haven't left each others side for very long!
Anyways, getting back to Cappadoccia, so the next day we talked to our hotel about tours, and booking the hot air balloon ride etc, and found out that the tour we wanted to go on was actually happening that day as we were sitting there discussing what we wanted to do.. so it was too late.. but after some discussion on what we should do it was decided we would rent our own car and basically do that same tour but on our own.. is anyone laughing right now at us? i would be.. the car that they rented to us was a POS (stands for piece of ....)- the promised air conditioning didn't work, i couldn't control my window, josh had to do that. there was a huge crack in the windshield, the car was dirty (apparently he had no time to clean it?), and to top it off the reverse didn't work!! which we found out the hard way with josh having to push us out of the parking spot.. i laugh to myself now, but that was NOT a happy experience... so apparently there is a safety switch that u have to use, and of course he didn't tell us that- so we go back to the place, sweaty and angry and the guy is like, "it works" and looks at us like we are dumb.. but anyways, ok that got worked out and we were on our way exploring these valleys of these crazy rock formations, and made our way to the underground city of Kaymakli. But just to note, there are no street signs. everything is poorly marked and the roads are filled with potholes and cars coming at you 90km/hour.. maybe we should have listened to lonely planet and not rented one?? but we made it out alive.. So the underground city was something i can even explain to you.. 8 floors were carved out of the rock and served as a hiding places for early Christians- they stayed underground for up to 6 months during the war time months. So we hired a tour guide for this, he was awesome, and explored these cities.. we have some great videos which u must see! At times we were extremely claustrophobic and couldn't imagine spending 10 more minutes down there nonetheless 6 months- but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We then went to this "susnset" place where they actually charge 2 TL to go see the sunset at this point.. pathetic, but hey, u gotta get your money somehow right? it wasn't really worth it, but was a fitting end to a really up and down day. Returning the car was a major relief- i think this is when josh and i stopped fighting?? kidding.. but overall we were glad we did it!!

We have spent most of our nights being competitive at backgammon, lounging on these bean bag chairs, drinking beers and having a hookah.. it has been fabulous.

We went on a tour today of this valley, actually did a 7 km hike, it was really neat as well, but maybe all i'll say is that i never knew Turkey was so lush!!

So tomorrow we have a packed day- get up at 445 am to take a balloon ride over Goreme, and then go to this museum from about 9-11, catch the shuttle to the airport at 12:30, and fly out to Istanbul at 3:30!

We are excited, and slightly nervous about the balloon thing, but we are loving our Turkey experiences.

Hope you are all well!