Days 4-5: Ankara and Cappadocia

Sunday , October 20: Driving to Ankara and Cappadocia

We left Istanbul this morning for a full day drive to Cappadocia, stopping in Ankara.

Our transportation for the trip

In the early afternoon we stopped in Ankara for a visit to Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic.

Changing of the guard

The mausoleum

View of part of Ankara from the mausoleum

Ataturk's tomb

We didn't spend a lot of time in Ankara, but from what I could see, it's a very modern city.

Some architecture in Ankara

Turkish countryside

A couple of hours outside of Ankara, we stopped at Lake Tuz, a huge, shallow salt lake.

Walking on the lake

Late in the afternoon we arrived at our hotel (Elevres Stone Hotel) in the town of Urgup in Cappadocia.  The hotel is a series of (new) stone buildings built around a courtyard.  Each building consisted of two guest rooms, upstairs and downstairs.

My room at Elevres Stone HOtel

Monday , October 21: A Day in Cappadocia

We got up bright(?) and early for a balloon ride over Cappadocia.  Cappadocia is a region which has a lot of strange rock formations and residences/churches carved out of caves.  Our guide told us that there were over 170 balloons going up that day.  Here are some shots from the balloon ride:

 

Our balloon being inflated

We actually landed on a road, and celebrated with champagne (or something similar).

After the balloon ride we went to see some of the houses that were carved into the rock, stopping first at the Cappadocia Natural Viagra Market.

After lunch, we headed to the Goreme Open Air Museum, which contains a number of churches that were cut into the rock during the 4th century and after.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in most of the churches.   

Inside one of the (undecorated) churches

A fresco from one of the churches (picture stolen from Wikipedia)

While we were there, a storm hit, providing us with a rainbow.

 

Next: Days 6-8: Caves, Caravansaries, Konya, and Pamukkale