Exploring Underground and a Hike in Ihlara Gorge...

Hello all!

It's me agin, we're making a habit of this daily writing, so far. It's quite cold out so we haven't been doing much exploring after dark and thus our opportunities for some quality internet cafe time!

Though the weather wasn't fantastic, today we decided to go on a tour of the Cappadocia area. First stop was a panorama lookout point. We stopped to take a few pics and then we were on our way. It was about 45 minutes in a bus to the Selime Rock Monastery. It was quite impressive with it's many passageways and rooms, and even some frescos (though badly faded) in the cathedral area.

After that we drove to a lookout point in Yaprakhisar, looking back to the Monastery. The landscape looks like a scene from Star Wars, so says our guide...so I've added a picture of it just for James (hope you enjoy, Bug)!

Then we were again in the bus for nearly an hour to the Ihlara Gorge. It was so beautiful, and the bad weather cleared just in time for us to take a 3km hike along the river to a restaurant where we enjoyed more traditional food and getting to know some of our fellow tour members.

Soon we were on our way again, and this time to the underground city of Derinkuyu...definitely the highlight of my day! It is thought that the tunnels and underground rooms (going down 8 floors) was first begun around 2000BC but has been used throughout the years for many peoples (Hittites, Christians, etc...) to escape attacks by their warring neighbors and also attacks of persecution because of their religious beliefs. The tunnels were very narrow and so small even I had to duck going through a lot of them.

Then on last stop at a panorama overlooking a place called Pigeon Valley. The "fairy chimneys" in this valley have very distinct places cut into them for pigeon nest. Pigeon dropping are used in the agricultural production of the area as fertilizer.

It was quite a long day but worth it definitely. The tour took us to many things we'd already decided to see here. Tomorrow morning we are boarding a bus for Konya, a very large city which is extremely devout in it's Islamic beliefs. Hope we can message again soon, but we'll have to see the situation in the next place.

Love you all...hope you enjoy the pics!

LuLu

ps-to my family in Switzerland...I LOVE THE CAMERA! It takes such wonderful pictures, as you can see! Thank you again!!