How do you follow up a pretty comprehensive tour? Well, if you’re like my mom and I, it’s by taking another one! This time, we would have our own private driver, which opened up a lot more opportunities for us to go at a more leisurely pace.

Being honest, the day’s itinerary was influenced by the weather’s inability to hold up and allow us to take the famous balloon ride that Cappdocia is known for. This ended up being a lot better than we thought, as we a) didn’t have to get up at an ungodly hour and b) could see more around the region. After we got back from our Green Tour, Mom arranged to hire our own private driver/guide; our hotel was blessedly able to arrange that for us. Even better was the fact that it was far cheaper (but not super cheap) than the balloon ride, so we couldn’t complain.

After being picked up, we drove maybe five or so minutes to a little stop by the side of the road to enjoy the scenery. You’d think that after a few days in Göreme we’d be sick of the nature there, but no, it was still as impressive as the first time! There was a little platform that gave us a better view, and yeah, it was worth it. We lingered maybe ten or so minutes before walking down to where the car was parked. Already, we were in a good mood for our tour, and that feeling would only be amplified!

Our first main stop was to a small church tucked away in some woods, and the drive took maybe twenty or so minutes. This was worth it, since it took us away from the main tourist sites and offered us a better insight into the real Cappadocia. Plus, we got to see some greenery, which was vastly different compated to what we saw the previous day; we even got to see a manmade lake, which definitely was unique for Cappadocia. Unlike much of the other churches in Cappdocia, this one felt more like what you might have seen in mainland Europe in the middle ages. The guy who maintained the place greeted us as we pulled up, so it already felt like there was a certain spirit behind it all. Before going inside, our guide showed us a map of where we were/Cappadocia compared to the rest of Turkey. Obviously having flown in to Istanbul, our perspective on the size of the country was a bit skewed (and Istanbul is massive), so seeing more of the provinces and having a brief history lesson on the provinces was genuinely incredible. I’m diverging here a bit, but having a better idea of why the provinces were divided the way they were was awesome. On top of that, it was reinforced just how many civilizations made their marks on what’s now Turkey! Anyways, once that was done we strolled around the place. With these old monasteries, the configurations were all the same: the dining room replete with its long indentation where the tables were, adjacent to the kitchen (with the charred ground where the flames were) , then other smaller carved-out rooms where people studied, and further along (and even upwards) were the living quarters. It sounds simple enough because it was, but it was very easy imagining a somewhat thriving monastery centuries ago. Now that we saw the monastery in full, we took a few extra minutes to admire the garden before returning to to the car.

From there, we then drove maybe an hour or so up to the top of the valley, and we got treated to some absolute scenic views. Our guide told us that way back in the day, what we were driving through used to be submerged, which blew our minds; we were way up in the hills, so you can imagine just how deep the former lake was. Up there, it was peaceful if not demonstrative of just how isolated this part of Turkey was: it felt like you were in a completely different country, devoid of life. On our way down to the other side, we noticed a lot of small doors carved into the earth, which we were summarily told that they were storage spots. From the road they didn’t look significant, but as we later saw, they were big enough that entire trucks could fit inside to unload and pick up whatever wares people wanted. It seemed quite random about what spots were assigned, but again, our guide informed us that these spots were highly coveted and that the locals had a well-established system regarding ownership.

Our stop at that moment was very brief given how it was the spot of former Roman camp/bath house. The area sat smack dab in the crossroads of a few different empires, so the Romans naturally wanted to make sure they had a place to rest up before embarking on their campaigns and/or set off back home. In order to get to the bath house itself, we walked past the covered stoney remains of the rest of the former post, which was smaller than I first imagined. It was big enough to have a small street, but I couldn’t imaging that there was many soldiers there. So, we came to the remains, it was honestly underwhelming. We had to walk on the crosswalk above it, but all that was left was just some mosaics, which I’d seen in museums before. All in all this stop was pretty much just to pad out the excursion and stretch our legs, but it gave us some needed energy.

Now by this point we were getting hungry, so it was finally time to head over to our lunch spot. We drove maybe 20-30 minutes more down the long, solitary road and eventually the restaurant, which at first glance seemed to be a small roadside eatery. Once we walked to the lawn, we saw that this wasn’t the case–it was quite spacious and it enabled us to soak in the wonderful nature around us! There were more tables set, but we were the only guests and thus got a VIP treatment. While we were waiting, there were two cats lounging around, with one of them being curious/wanting some food. I obliged with some bread, and I quite literally had him eating out of the palm of my hand. Once our meal arrived, we tucked in to have some amazing chicken hot pot, with some local honey as our desert. As I type this, my mouth is watering because if it sounds good, it was! If anything, my mom and I ate very well throughout the trip, and it made us appreciate how good Turkish homecooked meals are.

After lunch, our guide announced that the next stop was a little bit down the road, and he soon parked. We would be hiking around the valley, so he handed off the keys to one of the guys from the restaurant, who’d take the car around to meet us when we were finished. Once we stepped out, I was a bit nervous about walking the trail, but it turns out that the hike itself wasn’t bad. It was quite steep and we were panting a bit, but other than that it was very straightforward. We also were aided by there actually being a real path already constructed, so there wasn’t any wear and tear. Though, we were told that we had to be on the lookout for falling boulders, as the terrain was a bit volatile. I recall feeling like this was a place where, if you felt so inclined, you could become a hermit and nobody would find you. This was due to the fact that we saw more caves higher up, and if your imagination was especially vivid you could’ve believed that you were being watched. No matter, we were soon heading back down. It was interesting to see workers busy with the construction of a new road here, so it was neat seeing some other people in this corner of the region. Why they were there was a question for somebody with a higher pay grade, but the municipality chose to build it in this isolated area. But on that note, our little hike didn’t take too long and we were soon back at the car.

We then came back to the outskirts of civilization, as the guide told us he had a place in mind for us. I’m not quite sure what the place was called, but it was a place where you could walk around getting up close and personal with the fairy chimneys. As the pictures show, this area was surprisingly large (and packed with fellow tourists), so my mom and I meandered around, just enjoying the fresh air. It was getting windier there, so it felt like nature was trying to somewhat deter us from straying too far, but we did end up spending more time than expected there. Heck, our guide even wrly commented that it seemed like we enjoyed channeling our inner child. This wasn’t the last stop on our tour, but we had one more place to see before things ended.

Before we finished the excursion for the day, we stopped by Love Valley, which perfectly capped things off. My mom and I were surprised that there was a small toll booth there, on the top of the valley, but we were waved through without having to pay; it tuns out that our guide was acquainted with the guy there, plus his company had an arrangement with the district tour board. There wasn’t much more to say about it other than it had more fairy chimneys, but what was neat was the fact that there was a heart-shaped swing installed specially for that perfect Instagram photo. With that, our last day in Cappadocia was now in the books.