Cappadocia

From Istanbul I took an overnight bus out to Cappadocia, in the middle of the country, to see the pretty rocks I'd been told about.

I was not disappointed. The rock formations themselves are incredible.

What people have done with them is even better.

And the balloons, although the dozens that fill the sky are an undeniable stain of tourism, seem to fit in with and complement the landscape. To be honest, you get even better images looking at the balloons than from the balloons.

Arriving from Istanbul around 6 in the morning, I was greeted with a flotilla of balloons rising over the town.

This is the town, by the way: Göreme (Goo-ruh-may)

The air was sharp and cold, with low humidity I suppose. (The place is a desert.) I found my hostel, Rock Valley Pension, with the help of wifi from the bus company. Honestly, though, the town is so small Google maps probably wasn't necessary. The hostel was great: wifi only worked in the common room, but that was because the rooms were cut into the rock; the shower stall was the whole bathroom, but who wants to get soaked when it's that cold outside?; staff was incredibly helpful; and breakfast was the kind where you pick one thing off a menu (as opposed to a random buffet.) I enjoyed the time there.

 I met up with Julia, another girl staying at the hostel who arrived shortly after I did, and we set off hiking. That's her ^ in the lower left hand corner.

Crazy formations

Goats

 A pottery tree

 We visited the open air museum, an enclosed group of particularly impressive stone dwellings carved into the rock. The history behind these is that they were built by the early Christians hiding from their enemies. The local rock is easily carved, but it hardens when exposed to air. 

The museum included homes, a convent, several churches. The dining rooms have long tables and benches left as raised portions of the floor.

The chapels are all a similar shape, but the level of decoration varies wildly. The top picture is from a church outside the museum, which we found just by walking around the canyons. The second, from inside the museum, has sketchy red designs. But the last is amazing, my favorite building of the whole place: the Apple Church.

 Just for a bit of scale (see the guy up on top of the hill?)