Day 1
Flew from Manchester to Heathrow and then with Turkish Airlines to Istanbul where I met others travelling in the group. The plane had delayed before take-off and we missed our connection so the group stay overnight at an hotel in Istanbul, courtesy of Turkish Airlines.
Day 2
We flew to Kayseri where, we met out tour guide, and travelled by bus to Goreme in the heart of Cappadocia. We checked in to the Boyvada Cave Inn where I had this charming bedroom. We were soon off to the Akvadi (White) valley. The rock on this area is mostly tuff (compacted volcanic ash) which is a soft rock. Occasionally there are lava deposits over the tuff and these protect the tuff from weathering. Once rain breaks through the lava deposits the tuff is readily eroded. This has led to the presence of tall spires of tuff protected by a much harder cap. Examples of these are pillars 1 and pillars 2. Other structures are seen here and here. Occasionally the cliffs look as if they have been scuplted by a modern artist photo. Because the rock is soft it has be excavated to provide habitable dwellings. Some are still occupied but most are not. Here is a panorama of the valley. We continued though the Pigeon Valley where there appeared to be a rock sculpture of helmeted figures.
In the evening I got this view of Goreme from my bedroom.
Day 3
We visited the Kizilcukor valley where there were more sculpted cliffs and strange landscapes such as this and this. Finally we saw the village of Cavusin
and off we went to the Taurus Mountains.