not my turn

rohan has told me all day how he is going to blog tonight but he has had some wine and has become one with the couch. so you have me instead i'm afraid.
and where was i? goreme, cappadocia...where i learnt what it might be like to be reincarnated as an ant (a valuable experience).

the landscape of cappadocia is like nothing i had ever seen before. volcanos + erosion have sculpted amazing landforms that people have carved their homes/churches/wineries and indeed whole underground cities into for protection from nature and mankind (invading armies, people of different faith, etc).
a labyrinth of underground cities, built over centuries has been rediscovered here and is still being excavated. we went down to the fourth of eight levels of one of the cities (which was quite enough for me - brought back flash backs of the edinburgh catacombs, which i almost didnt survive (although that could have been the all-u-can-eat indian meal eaten beforehand)).
some of the areas were highly touristy, but we went for a walk through one of the valleys one day and didnt see a soul... but were able to just walk into ancient churches with frescos from the 10th century.
i think this place had more of a profound impact on me than i realised at the time, because i havent been able to stop talking about it.
we splashed out and stayed in a gorgeous boutique hotel on our last night here....it was all good expect for breakfast on the terrace where a couple of mangy feral cats were the only ones being romantic.
anyway - here are some pics


me lost (unusual)

hotel terrace with a view (and two mangy cats)

the evil eye tree


rohan getting into the spirit of things (he has always wanted a poncho - some deep felt affinity with ron moss or something - actually, the resemblence is a little scary)

& that is all (you can back out)

ainslie