February 19th, 2026

We slept til 9:00, got packed up for an 11am pick-up from the hotel. Today was a beautiful day with clear blue skies with highs in the 50s. Big change from yesterday’s snow flurries.

Our morning view from the hotel room at the Ritz. That is the Hilton hotel in front of us. Our driver picked us up a little before 11 and it is an hour drive to the airport. The cool thing was that Turkish Airlines business class has its own check-in terminal. No lines and once checked in straight through security into the business class lounge. Whole process took less than 10 minutes. The lounge had drink stations set up everywhere but no sodas. They had canned juices like cherry, orange and peach and then lots of bottled water, hot tea and coffee. the buffet was sandwiches, salads, lots of bread choices & 2 soups.When it was time to board you walked right out the gate onto a bus which took you out to the plane. Economy class went thru their own check in, gates and buses & boarded separately, we haven’t seen it done that way before.

Views of Istanbul from the air.

The flight to Cappadocia is 1 hour and 45 minutes but they still managed to serve you a meal on your flight. We flew over snowcapped mountains on our way into Kayseri, the closest airport to Goreme which is where we are staying for the next 3 nights.

View from the plane window.

I confess I had never really heard about the Cappadocia region until 2 years ago when we were on the same food tour in Istanbul we just did. There was a couple talking about it because they had just come from there and it sounded very unique and I have had it on my mind ever since. When we decided to do the Viking Nile river cruise out of Cairo I thought here is my chance, so I put Cappadocia on the itinerary. THIS is what Wikipedia says about the region we are visiting: It is well known for its fairy chimneys, eroded rock formations, many of which were hollowed out in the Middle Ages to create Christian churches, houses and underground cities.

The heart is where we were in Istanbul and the blue dot is where we are now.

Our luggage was the first 2 bags off the carousel and our ride was waiting for us outside. It was close to a 2 hour drive to get to the region we are staying in so by the time we got to the hotel it was after 5. This is not the busy season because of the cold/wet weather. The town we are staying in is a tourist destination with one Main Street lined with cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops along both sides.

Our cave hotel. All the hotels are up in the rocks and are built into the rocks. We have a sitting room with a small wood fireplace and then a bedroom and bathroom. The rooms are nice but not many modern amenities. After checking in we walked down into town. Lots of people were up on the rocks for sunset but we did not have enough time to get up high enough so hopefully tomorrow.

Sunset watchers above some of the chimney formations. We walked around for an hour and then we found a spot for dinner.

I had a cheese and mushroom skillet and red lentil soup and Kathy had a crock with white bean stew and fresh baked bread on top. They also gave you 3 warm pieces of bread and a yogurt spiced dipping sauce and a red pepper dipping sauce. It was perfect except no alcohol :(. After dinner we walked back to the hotel which was another up hill climb.

Friday the weather is supposed to be clear blue skies and sunshine. Low of 28 and high of 55. We are being picked up at 6:25am for a hot air ballon ride and then back to the hotel for the included breakfast and then our guide will pick us up at 10am. Should be a very picturesque day.

Thanks for the comments and for following along.