Cappadocia - walking in the Rose Valley

For my last day in Goreme, I decided that I needed to go for a long walk after sitting on a bus for most of the day before. The Japanese lady suggested that I go walking in the Rose Valley which is a mile or so outside Goreme.

As I reached the outskirts, the locals were setting up a market.

I still have not worked out how people make a living doing this.

There are other ways for tourists to get around Cappadocia.

I had a rough map so turned off where I thought I could get to the valley.

After climbing a few hills I came to this view of the valley.

It was too steep to just wander down to the valley floor. I proceeded along the ridge top.

Then I saw a path leading down to the valley floor.

The ridge top path got narrow but I am used to that from the Lycean Way.

Finally I reached where the path descended.

A bloke was selling fresh squeezed orange juice at the bottom. It was quite chilly so I did not stop.

The path going back up the hill.

The valley floor. I started to follow a young Turkish couple.

I had presumed that nobody lived in caves anymore except in the towns, but obviously the local farmer lived here.

Spring had definitely arrived.

The path got quite muddy in parts but it was an easy and pleasant walk.

Really muddy. One of my boots still has the traces of this dirt on it.

Pigeon holes for the guano to become fertilizer for the fields.

The spring that fed the water onto the path.

A cafe selling tea etc. The young couple had held hands the entire way. A group of cyclists had stopped there and were going to continue down the path the way I had came. Most people come down from the top level after being dropped off at the top. To get back to Goreme it was much closer for me to turn around and go back the way I had come so that is what I did.

There are a few different valleys and the Rose is supposed to be the best.

I had been up there.

As I got back to the road back into town I passed this group just starting out. They would be riding in the area I had traversed on my way to the ridge. No doubt they would do part of the valley path. I prefer walking.

My room. I could not work out what the raised platform was for other than to place my suitcase on. Notice the white pair of slipper to the left on top of the white towel. I didn't even try putting them on because my feet were always too large. Most hotels of any repute will supply these slippers.

Since I was in the hotel for three nights, it was a good time to wash clothes. There was a heated towel rack in the bathroom that made drying clothes easy. 

The gadgets need to be recharged.

I met up with the Germans in the Lada the following morning for breakfast. By now, we were like old friends. They were disappointed that they missed out on the Whirling Dervishes at Konya because they only perform once a week and the Germans were there the wrong day.

We all agreed that Cappadocia is fabulous and well worth whatever effort it takes to get there.

Virtually all the restaurants in Goreme are Turkish but I did eat at a Korean restaurant which was packed with young Japanese. The other nights I ate at a small restaurant close to my hotel which served good food relatively inexpensively. Since I became a regular, I got to know the young waiter quite well. His family owned the restaurant and had recently come from Antalya on the coast. He had not yet explored the tourist sites and asked me about them. When I had dinner with the two Kiwis, he brought out some of their homemade wine to try.

He had been to University in Ankara. When I mentioned on the last evening that I was going to Ankara the following day, he said 'Why?'