Goreme - Getting up at the Crack of Dawn and Exploring Red and Rose Valley

The next stop on our tour of Turkey was Goreme, in Cappadocia. Cappadocia is one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world, with its landscapes looking like the surface of the moon, and caves and fairy chimneys scattered all over thanks to erosion.

We flew directly from Istanbul, to Kayseri, which is about an hours drive from Goreme. Flying is the quickest way to get from Istanbul to Cappadocia, the flight time is about an hour. If you book far enough ahead, you can get really cheap flights. You can also get an overnight bus, which takes 10-12 hours, so even with my fear of flying, we thought a plane was the best option.

We arrived in Kayseri at about 9.00 p.m., and were picked up by a Shuttle which took us directly to Goreme. We were staying at Koza Cave Hotel, a lovely family run cave hotel. We had a quick dinner at the restaurant next door and then headed off to bed.

We woke early the next day, at sunrise, and headed up to the roof terrace so we could watch the Hot Air Balloons taking off. Hot Air Ballooning is one of the most popular activities in Cappadocia, taking off at dawn and flying high above Goreme with amazing views of the moonscape and the fairy chimneys.

With my fear of flying, there was no way I was getting into a basket held up by a Balloon, but I did want to witness the amazing sight of over 50 Balloons in the sky while the sun was rising behind them. It was one of the most beautiful moments we have experienced since we started travelling three years ago and something we'll never forget.

There are several different Ballooning companies in Goreme, and they all seem to charge about the same. The best thing is probably to research good companies on sites like Tripadvisor or Turkey Travel Planner and figure out which company is the most experienced and has a good safety record.

Being up before the sun meant that even in September, it was very cold, so we made sure we were wrapped up in jackets and scarves while we were huddled on the rooftop.

We watched the Balloons for over an hour until the sun had risen completely, and then headed back to the warmth of our room and went back to sleep for another hour.

After catching up on a bit more sleep and feeling more alive, we had breakfast and went to explore Goreme.

Goreme is one of the most popular towns in Cappadocia, with lots of Hotels and Bed and Breakfasts, but it's still small and not too touristy, and retains a very local small town feel. 

Goreme also has Fairy Chimneys throughout the town, and lots of cave hotels, so you can get a real feel for Cappadocia even without leaving the town.

The majority of our photos taken in Turkey were of Cappadocia, in one day I took over 500 photos. The landscape was so beautiful and so unlike anything we had ever seen before, I found myself taking photos constantly throughout the day and had to have a huge clearout each evening.

Lots of beautiful carpets for sale in the town centre

With no real plan, but armed with a map provided by our Hotel, we wandered out of the town centre towards the Red Valley and the Rose Valley, which is famous for the rose coloured rocks that change colour throughout the day depending on the season and the weather.

Leaving Goreme we were almost immediately in the middle of a stunning landscape, with no one for miles around. Throughout our walk we only saw a couple of other people over the four hours we spent exploring the valleys.

Hiking the valleys is relatively easy, we were both just in jeans, with Bradley in sneakers and me in Birkenstocks, and we had no trouble with any part of the hike.

With no real plan, we kept following the sporadic signs and paths we came across, always being able to see Goreme in the distance, so we weren't too worried about getting lost. The most important thing is to take water, Cappadocia is extremely dry and dusty and we were covered in dust when we came out of the valley.

Throughout the valleys there are several churches and houses built into the caves, all empty and all fascinating to explore.

Every so often we'd stop to check the map, but it didn't really help!

We tried to explore most of the caves we came across, but there were so many and some go quite far into the rocks. Having seen The Descent, I didn't want to go too far inside!

Peeking out of a cave house

After several hours wandering through the valleys, we headed back in a circle towards Goreme for a late lunch. We had kebabs with rice and salad, which was delicious, but hard to eat with a little visitor watching me the whole time!

We had to stop for a coffee after seeing this sign. Having only had Turkish tea and coffee for a few days, it was good to be able to have my usual Flat White. And it probably was the best coffee until Australia!

After stopping to change out of our dusty clothes, we walked up behind our hotel to the cliffs that tower over Goreme for an amazing view over the town and surrounding valleys.

Looking over Goreme

The view was beautiful, and we were the only ones up there. If we'd gotten up earlier that morning, this would have been a great spot to watch the Hot Air Balloons, but I wasn't about to wander up a dark mountain at 6.30 a.m.!