Definition of a cave?

Sep 13 2025

Cappadocia was everything it was expected to be. And more. But it was a long day. We (ok Paul) wanted to get to Cappadocia as it was another place we “missed” when we visited 30 years ago.

Up at 3 for the 4 am to the airport.

The pick up at the airport was a bit haphazard. Ours was the _only_ guy not holding a sign. “Lori Marie” turned out to be the theme of the two days. Dropped at our hotel and after a very nice provided coffee we joined the group, I think all of which had been on the tour since yesterday and had done the balloon that morning.

Going to be hard to get it all straight as the tour packed it in.

First stop was the fascinating underground city. Our guide was Omer. Originally from Antioch, he had studied tourism in the Cappadocia region. And he goes to museums on his day off. He was a font of knowledge and very considerate and attentive.

It is disputed as to whether underground cities were permanent residences. They were refuges in time of attack. Usually from Arab invaders. It appears they were not hidden churches for Christians fleeing persecution. They dated from later when the Romans had adopted Christianity.

In saying all that the city and its history were fascinating. The resourcefulness of the creation with the limited tools they would have had was remarkable.

Managed to scrape my head only twice.

Next it was the rock/gem/mineral shop for the big sell. Well actually it was not that big a sell. Especially compared to later in Istanbul. Did mean we got to see Sultanite, found only in Turkey. We didn’t spend long and instead headed across the road to the Pigeon Hole lookouts. Never thought of it in much detail but it is said this is where the expression comes from. The holes were originally created to enable collection of the guano. Now they’re just pigeon hang outs.

Next it was lunch on a rooftop terrace in Gorome where we could enjoy our meal nestled in amongst more of the fascinating hoodoo formations.

Then it was on to one of the natural “castles” where we were able to wander around a bit more in amongst the formations.

Then it was “Love valley”. Omer very cleverly didn’t give much pre-explanation. The formations did that 🙃.

Then it was on to another area to climb up to an ancient 4th century church (St John the Baptist) carved out of the rock. Amazingly it was just there unprotected and unpreserved. Would see better preserved ones the following day but it was fascinating to see this one in its “original” form.

Finally it was back to check into our “cave” hotel. We wonder what the criteria are to call a hotel a “cave” one, as not a lot of it was as such. However the pool/spa area was, and [x’s] (our very attentive staff member who checked us in) was to go straight there before it became crowded. Pro-tip!