After some zzz's in our cave we got up the next morning, ate breakfast (Turkish, of course) and headed to the Open Air Museum, about a miles walk from Goreme. (P.S. We also had the Dream Cave do our laundry-15YTL). The hotel owner told us about a few great valleys to check out alternatively on the way to the museum. We started down the Zemi Valley path and about 10 minutes in we found a ladder leading up into one of the cave houses. We climbed up and explored around- climbing through holes and crawling through low-narrow passage ways. It was super cool! Afterwards, we headed back on track to the Open Air Museum, bought our tickets, 15YTL each, and began our wandering. There's numerous churches inside the caves painted with frescos (some fully restored and looking fabulous!), dining rooms, graves, churches, and more churches.
The 'Dark Church', which until the 1950s was used as a pigeon house, depicts scenes from the New Testament and are some of the best preserved frescos in Cappadocia because only a small amount of light enters the cave, so the pigments survived! There is an additional fee to enter the Dark Church (8YTL); I wasn't really that interested in seeing it for another 8YTL, but IB, who loves frescos and is a bit of a history buff, paid and entered. I sat outside and did a small photo shoot of all the cool structures around me. The guard who collects the fee saw me sitting there, no one else was around, he asked me where I was from, "America", I said, and then with a smile he nodded his head towards the entrance- so I got in for free :)
A few more hours of climbing around and lots of photos later we finished up and headed back to our Dream Cave. We consulted our Lonely Planet which directed us to The Ottoman House for dinner. But before dinner we took another walk around the back streets of Goreme; we could smell the Ramadan meals being cooked and saw families sitting outside talking and enjoying the evening. Turning the corner on to the main street we were greeted by a little old Turkish lady, she said insistingly "Turkish house! Come! Come! Turkish house!", so we followed her into her house. She led us to her living room, filled with traditional Turkish hats and hand-made scarves. We were served a delicious cup of apple tea, she showed me some head-scarves and insisted I try them on, and in the end purchased a Turkish hat for 10YTL. We said our goodbyes and thank-yous and headed to the Ottoman House. We sat down, on the balcony underneath the stars and I went to set my purse down and realized I didn't have it. Panic immediately set in, as my passport and credit card were in there- I realized I must have left it at Turkish lady's house; so we double-timed it over there! Thankfully she had it and my heart rate went back to normal. Once back at our dinner table, we were served a great meal- soup, a curry chicken salad appetizer, a meat and vegetable-stew like main course, and a delicious peach and cream thing for dessert. (49YTL). After dinner, we strolled back to our cave room for some sleep...
With no real plans for the day we asked the hotel owner about other sites in the area. He suggested to hop on the bus (1.75YTL each) to the next town (Ushisar), up the hill and visit Ushisar Castle, then walk back down through Pigeon Valley. The castle is actually the highest point in all of Cappadocia and for 3YTL each, we headed up for the view and photo op. It was beautiful- with all of Cappadocia's mystical pillars, fairy chimney's, and desert colors surrounding us. Afterwards we started our walk/hike back through Pigeon Valley with cool views, little vegetable gardens, horses, and apple trees galore- it was off to a great start. But at some point we realized we were heading up the hill, not down into the valley. We started looking for a way back down- going on this trail here and there but with no luck. IB finally found one that looked promising (to him that is), I had serious reservations. He insisted, "Come on, it's totally do-able!", but it was so steep I had to get down on my butt and scoot to check it out, then panic set in- I froze, freaked out and almost started crying. I knew I couldn't do it and my instincts were telling me so. I scooted on my butt back to the top and tried to calm myself down. After this traumatizing ordeal, we found a safer route and headed back to Goreme.
Back in Goreme we booked our next bus ride- to Istanbul! The ride is 11 hours and we thought it best to take the night bus (90YTL), and we had until 8pm till departure. We packed our belongings and checked out of the Dream Cave (sigh) and found a cute restaurant for our last supper in Cappadocia- traditional kebabs with all the fixings (25YTL).
Needless to say, the 11-hour bus ride was pretty crappy- even though it was a big huge bus, any seat after 11 hours gets pretty uncomfortable and the air conditioning wasn't turned on for half the ride, uughhh! We were so happy to have finally arrived in Istanbul- aka Constantinople.
Recap:
2 nights at Dream Cave Guesthouse: 80YTL
Laundry services at Dream Cave: 15YTL
2 tickets to Goreme Open Air Museum: 30YTL
Entrance to Dark Church: 8YTL
Turkish Hat: 10YTL
Ottoman House Dinner: 49YTL
Bus tickets to Ushisar: 3YTL
2 tickets to Ushisar Castle: 6YTL
Last supper in Goreme: 25YTL
2 bus tickets to Istanbul: 90YTL
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