En route to Goreme we stopped at another mountain side monastery. The newcomers on the truck looked on in wonder, but those of us who’d seen the Hanging Monastery in China were a little blasé until we reached it and saw the amazing artwork that covered every inch of the interior.
Göreme is a town in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, famed for it’s Fairy Chimneys. These are pillars of hard rock formed by the erosion of the softer surrounding material.
I hadn’t heard of it either but it was a great place to visit, the highlight being an early morning hot-air balloon ride which not only went over the chimneys, but swooped down and travelled below tree level inside canyons and within 5 feet of outcrops. Amazing flying.
Following the balloon ride we set of to get a close up view of one of the ancient villages, where people had lived inside the hollowed out fairy chimneys. Impressive and quite vertigo inducing. We followed this with a trip to the prehistoric underground city which was equally impressive, but claustrophobia inducing instead. On the way back to Goreme we dropped into a pottery then carried on to a display of whirling dervishes which lasted late into the night.
