The cave churches of Ihlara Valley

Ihlara Valley is more of a canyon than a valley. The Melendi River runs about 14 kms (9 miles) through the gorge. The valley was a significant religious center from the 4th to the 11th century and contains 105 different churches carved into the stone walls. 

There are three different paid entrances to the gorge, with walking paths running the entire length, often on both sides of the river.

Cappadocia to Ihlara Valley

But before we left Cappadocia there was one last thing we wanted to do. Go for a bike ride! I had seen that there is a bike path running between Goreme and Avanos.

It turned out to be just a marked off section of the main road, not really a bike path. But it was still a good ride and we got some more photos of an area we hadn't been to yet.

Our last hike at Cappadocia

There are a lot of hikes around Cappadocia and we will return to the region someday to compete the ones that we missed. This is the second post of today... if you missed it, you might want to check out The Balloons of Cappadocia.

On Wednesday, we did the Sword Valley and Rose Valley hikes. We walked from where Max was parked, so we ended up doing a total of about 15 kms (9.3 miles).

The Balloons of Cappadocia, Turkiye

It had been four or five days that the balloons hadn't been allowed to fly due to weather conditions, but yesterday morning we could hear the burners while lying in bed. So we got up right away to find several flying overhead. It wasn't the nicest morning with a lot of haze in the sky, but we went out to take some photos anyhow.

Then this morning, we heard them again. We got up right away, and it was a much nicer morning with a clear blue sky and no wind to speak of at all.

More weird rock formations around Cappadocia, Turkiye

Yesterday we hiked Love Valley and White Valley. They kind of run into each other, and it was about a 10 km (6.2 mile) circuit from where Max was parked. Lots of ups and downs, so it was a good workout. 

The temperature was a pleasant 22C (72F), but there was no sun at all. There was just a drab haze, which doesn't really make for the best photos, but I took lots of them anyhow! The scenery is so odd, but I finally got them whittled down to a reasonable number.

It's a big money business!

But some news to tell you before we get to that. 

Yesterday, I booked our ferry tickets from Denmark to Norway. I booked us return tickets for €192 ($263 CAD, $211 USD) each way. The further in advance you book, the cheaper the tickets are so I wanted to get that done as soon as we were comfortable with the dates.

We depart June 1st, so now we are on another time schedule! 

The ghost town of Karain, and arrived in Cappadocia

We had stayed overnight at the parking lot of the ski resort, but we didn't sleep well. It was really windy, and so we got up at 6:30am and started driving right away. By the time we got down to lower elevations, it wasn't windy at all!

We stopped for breakfast at a pretty little roadside park with a pond and picnic sites. The Turkish people love their picnics!

We had a blast skiing at Erciyes Mountain Resort, Turkiye

The last time we went skiing was almost exactly nine years ago at Colorado's Winter Park Resort. We had a great time then, with almost perfect powder conditions.

And the time before that was eleven years prior. So this was only our third time skiing in the last twenty years or so! 

But, it's just like riding a bicycle.

We're going skiing!

We're actually headed to our next stop which is the popular Turkish tourist area of Cappadocia. But along our route is the big ski resort at Ercİyes Mountain. 

Turkiye is one of the cheapest places in the world to go skiing. And the mountain has spring conditions available right up until the end of April. So we figured, let's go skiing!

More beautiful views, and a nice lunch out

A perfect day to go hiking in the mountains. We set our sights on a nearby antenna tower that was about 4.5 kms (2.8 miles) one way with a 477 meters (1,565') altitude gain.

Blue sky and sunshine and no wind to speak of. Just a nice spring day. You can almost watch the snow melt!

March Expenses... that was a cheap month!

How much does it cost to RV in Turkiye for a month? Well using our March expenses as an example, it costs about $950 CAD ($760 USD)!

Yes, that is our total expenses for the month of March. $950 CAD. And that is for everything, including our travel medical insurance.

Spring hiking in the snow in Turkiye!

I know, many of you will think "what are they doing in the snow??" and it's a good question since we often talk about not liking the cold and the snow. And now that shorts and t-shirt weather has returned to Turkiye's southern coast, you would think that's where we would be!

But for a week or two, we really don't mind the snow. It's when you have to put up with cold and snow for seven months in a row that we really don't enjoy it. 

And so we begin the drive northwest

While we've enjoyed exploring Turkiye's south coast, we've really been missing the mountains, and of course there is so much more to see inland. The weather has finally turned, so yesterday we did a fairly long drive into the mountains.

We woke up to a strong wind yesterday morning, so we decided to get on the road right away at 7:00am in order to get through the congestion at the city of Samandag. We did hit some traffic on the bypass around Antakya, and didn't stop for breakfast until almost 9:00am.

Moses Tree, the Titus Tunnel and another great overnight spot

We finally said goodbye to our hosts at the little campground by the river. We had a really good time there. When we had arrived, we figured it might be good for a two night stay, and we ended up there for four nights.

There were two things we wanted to see in the area. The Moses Tree, and the Titus Tunnel. The maps all said that the Moses Tree was in a little village on a mountain road, but we figured that if tour buses can make it there, then we can make it there.

Traditional Turkish Bread

We arrived with a plan to stay here two nights and ended up staying four nights. And are we ever glad we hung around. Yesterday, spring arrived in this part of Turkey. In fact, the whole country seems to have jumped into spring this past weekend as sunny skies and increasing temperatures have taken over the area.

In the morning, we went for an 11 km (7 mile) walk around the villages near where we are staying. And in the afternoon, the campground became quite busy with picnickers and our hosts showed us how they make traditional Turkish bread.