Rocks and Caves Cappadocia Part 3

Our last day in Cappadocia proved to just as wonderful as the rest of the trip! We went touring through some of the last aspects of the area we had not seen yet.

Our first stop was Goreme again. It was a bit rainy but the view was beautiful. There is a ridge that overlooks the city and all the caves and the valley below. We explored all of the little tourist shops and talked with the locals who wanted to see if we would buy anything they had. Kind of a hard sell considering that we live here in Turkey.

Uchisar from the bottom

View from Uchisar

We drove from there to Uchisar, another village in the area although it is built high on one of the plateaus. Small hotels and homes are built into the rock all the way up the hill. It had a very old village feel to it—and the views were fantastic. If we came back this would be a contender for a place to stay. It was a bit more crowded than Urgup, but has a romantic side to it.

 

We then made our way to “Love Valley” I am sure you can see why it is named that. On our way we stopped at one of the many pottery shops. It was a shop owned by a potter and his wife. They make many of the items sold in Istanbul and other cities. We were able to see how they work and what they have to sell. I would much rather buy from then than from a vendor that gets more out of the price.

Love Valley

He found a dog. This little guy LOVES animals

 

We stopped by a rug store and watched women weave and saw how they process the silk from worms to the colorful thread used to make the textiles. That was interesting to see. 

Ortahisar Castle

Rug weaver

Silk Moth balls

Spun silk

Soaking hot silk balls in hot water to release the threads

One of the many carpet places (although this may be the only one with a huge photo of Martha Stewart hanging on the wall from when she visited)

We then made it back to Avanos. It was amazing to go a second time. We ended up buying a deep colored rug made in the Cappadocia region. It was kind of nice because there was less drama than here in Istanbul and the people selling the rugs were nice to talk with. We stopped and had Testi Kebabi one last time (they let me break open the pottery this time!) We had so much fun because the staff were enamored with our Lucky Dragon. He played with them the entire time we were there. One of them even went to buy him some cookies as we left! We talked to the townspeople as we made our way to the river to feed the geese...Lucky boy was showered with hugs and kisses as we went!

Can you spot us?

 

Opening Testi Kebab

 

His new friend

 Our trip to the region was perfect! We had so much fun and 3 days was a perfect time to be there. We saw some amazing scenery and enjoyed the people and loved the food!