February 21, 2026

We started the day early again. Not because we had another balloon ride but because we wanted to see the balloons from the hotel. Our guide was explaining to us yesterday that the balloon ride fares fluctuate greatly based on the season. We paid 95 dollars each for the ride and in summer time, due to popularity, the ride can be as much as 350 each.

Kathy all bundled up on the roof watching the balloons and sunrise .

We watched for an hour and we are lucky to have another beautiful day.

We had an unexpected visitor last night who came in through the window. Kathy escorted him out. The picture on the right is one of the cave rooms available at the cave style hotels.

We had breakfast and then our guide, Hami, and the driver picked us up at 9:30 for today’s touring. The first stop today was 30 minutes away and we were going to the Underground City. The Cappadocia area has over 200 subterranean settlements which have been discovered. The largest is now a museum and could hold up to 30,000 people. You can visit 4 of the 10 levels that have been discovered. The subterranean city was used to hide in during times of danger and had multiple entrances and exits and traps to harm and confuse the enemy. The first floor was used as the stable area.

A display of what the subterranean city looks like. We had arrived early, before the crowds, which is great in an area that has very low ceilings and small corridors.

You have to bend over to walk in all the tunnels. The tunnels curve to the right going down which was a defense mechanism since most people are right handed and hold their weapons with their right hands.

They had tons of storage rooms for food. They also had wineries.

They had these giant stone wheels and they cut channels into the tunnels. They could roll the stones to block the tunnels and stab a spear through the middle to hurt their enemies or pour boiling oil from the gap at the top.

The stable area with carved troughs for feeding.

We explored for 45 minutes and then headed back to the surface. We got out just in time because multiple buses were pulling in. Summertime you can wait over an hour to get in since they have to limit how many people at 1 time.

Our next stop was Soganli which is a village that the government relocated all the residents due to the danger of rocks falling from the cliffs above. We did a short hike along a trail which had an old church

Our trail. You can see all the volcanic rocks above.

Ancient church, carved in rocks with graves. The 2 main graves looked up to the dome which means they were important.

The domed church from the outside. The remaining village buildings that now stand empty.

There is a statue of a dragon in front of the village. The dragon is from the story of St George. The village of Soganli is where St George’s father was born.

Our next stop was to Roman ruins that they are working on excavating….sort of. There was no one at the site. No other tourists, no workers and no guards. There were cameras saying 24 hour surveillance was in progress.

Roman bath Headstone from one of the graves at site

The site is called Sobesos and there were nice shiny trailers there and the name of an excavation company but no activity there. Several of the mosaics are covered so you could not see them.

Our next stop was a Greek village that currently only 5 families live in. The Greeks came here in the 50s and farmed caviar for a company which they eventually purchased from the owner. The village looked pretty run down even though there is a hotel there. We saw a couple of people and there is an old church there that was in disrepair and they hope one day to refurbish but with only 5 families not sure how/when that will happen.

Paintings in the old Greek church

As we were leaving the Greek village to go meet our driver a dog decided to follow Hami and Kathy to the van.

Our next stop was to the town that Hami lives in and he took us to a local spot for lunch. It is Ramadan so most people are fasting until sundown so the restaurants are pretty empty for lunch. Our driver was fasting yesterday but today he had lunch with us so not sure what that is about.

We all ordered “Turkish” pizza which is cheese and meats on thin pita bread. They put a big bowl of parsley, sliced lemons, hot peppers and spiced tomatoes on the table in preparation for the pizzas. We are very glad for the food tour in Istanbul which taught us the correct way to eat Turkish pizza. You take a slice, put parsley on it, squeeze lemon juice over it and add pepper and spice to taste. You then roll it up an d eat it. Our guide was surprised that we knew how to prepare it correctly.

Our last and final stop on the tour was in Red Valley, named for the color of the rocks. We did a 30 minute hike after lunch.

The rocks are both pink and yellow. The yellow is from sulfur. The valley is a popular hiking and biking area.

We then went back to the hotel and said goodbye to Hami and our driver. We chilled out for an hour and rested our feet and then we walked back down to town and up to a viewpoint above town to watch the sunset.

Views from the observation spot. On one side is some of the hotels of Goreme and the other is the valley where the balloons fly from in the morning.

Sunset behind Ortahisar Castle from the view point.

Scenic sunset The town of Goreme from the view point.

Saw this “unique”outfit at the observation area. We loved the swim trunks and we were in down jackets. Also we decided with so many cats we needed to showcase a cute dog that was at the hotel this am.

We bought a snack on our way back to the hotel since we had such a big lunch. We managed to walk 6.75 miles today. We have another early start in the am so we need to pack up and be ready to get up and go. Our pickup is coming at 7am for the hour ride to the airport. We have a 9:45 flight to Istanbul and then a 3 hour layover before our flight to Cairo. We are meeting up with friends (that we have done both world cruises with) in Cairo for our Viking Nile River cruise. Everyone flies in tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

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Next post from Cairo.