The Amazing Argos in Cappadoccia

Checking out the cave banquet room...

Our hotel had all kinds of gardens, stairs, and bridges... SO pretty!

Exploring the underground wine cellar!

Checking out the old monastery.  You can tell that this room was used for cooking -- the ceiling is blackened by smoke that once filled the room!  

A rare family shot!

Daddy smiled because we turned off the flash.  This is one of the cool views from our hotel!

Danni thought this was Barbie wine!  

Mommy and Danni in the cave winery!

Mommy and Daddy were really thirsty after our winery tour!

We LOVED sleeping in a cave!!  :)

I enjoyed the fancy bottles of water that were left in our room each night!

I will never get used to olives and cheese for breakfast! 

The view from our balcony at sunrise... hundreds of hot air balloons floated over the valley.  Danni and I were too short to see over the edge of the basket... so we will have to come back to do this!

SUPER cold... but worth the view!

Fancy schmancy ketchup for my crepes!  (Served with a side of Cocoa Pups!)

Flower children!

The courtyard and balcony outside of our room!

Gorgeous views everywhere you turn!

Lounging on our patio!

Exploring the big cave house on the hotel property...

The view of my flower sister... and our hotel... from the inside of the cave...

The floors were heated...  made it perfect for writing postcards on your tummy!

She wrote her own post cards too!

Wish we could have stayed here forever!!!  

The Argos in Cappadoccia was my FAVORITE hotel of the trip!  The hotel used to be a monastery that was carved into the hillside 1500 years ago!! It was an amazing place to stay!  We were so excited to stay in a cave hotel and this place surpassed our expectations!  We LOVED our room -- the views of Pigeon Valley were spectacular... and we loved our marble shower that had a handheld squirter -- we showered the entire bathroom!!  We also loved exploring the grounds - there were stairs, bridges, paths, patios, balconies, gardens, and fountains to enjoy!!  We also took a tour of the old monastery and the ancient cave winery (which is now used as a pretty cool wine cellar!)   This hotel also had our favorite breakfast buffet... it had Cocoa Pups, freshly squeezed juice, ketchup in fancy tiny glass bottles, and the waiters loved us so they had the chefs make us pancakes each morning (they called them crepes!) When do we get to go back?!

LOVIN' Love Valley!!

The rocky hills in Love Valley looked like sand dunes!

The view from the lookout point was blindingly beautiful... we had to close our eyes!

Pretty girl... pretty valley!

Hiking down the valley... these hills were soft... you could scrape parts of them away with your hands, feet, and body!  

It was a tight squeeze through some of the spots!

There was plenty of room for brother sister hugs, though!

The view of where we started....  That's Uchaisar Castle in the distance (and rain clouds above... we got a teeny bit wet!)

More strange and cool rock formations ...

I thought this rock looked like something from Disneyland!

Danni was sick of hiking so she didn't want to be in any of the pictures!

More cool scenery....

Mommy and Daddy said that we will understand why it is called Love Valley when we are older!

More Love Valley terrain....

I climbed up a steep hill for this pic!!

"Are those palm trees without the green part?"

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My muscles came in handy!

We got caught in a COLD downpour...  that meant we had to do some impromptu shopping!  Turkish ponchos for us both!

We took a ride back up to the top of the mountain -- we posed in front of Uchaisar Castle before crashing hard!

I thought Cappadoccia was a pretty awesome city... but my only complaint would have to be that navigating the city required A LOT of walking!!!  Thankfully, all of our walking was downhill... but our little feet certainly got a workout!!!!!  On our second day in Cappadoccia, we decided to explore Love Valley (check out the pictures to see why it is named that!)  We started down a trail that turned out to be WAY too steep... so we had to hike back up to another trail and start over...  At the end of the day, we calculated that we had walked about 13 miles!  That is a LONG way for our tired legs!!!  All of the beautiful scenery made the walk worthwhile, though... We were so grateful to crawl into our beds that night!!!

Potter Z!

First, we watched a pottery demonstration!

Then I got a chance to try my hands at throwing a pot!

The pottery wheel wasn't motorized... in order to spin it, you had to kick it around with your feet!  Luckily, I had help!

The master potter dude helped me put the finishing touches on my masterpiece!

So proud of my work!!

Toasting my success with a glass of apple tea!

After hiking through Pigeon Valley, we walked to the city of   ... While we were there, we visited a fancy pottery shop (the salad bowl that Mommy liked was $3000!!!).  We got a tour of the facility and a demonstration of how pots are made there.  The best part?  I got to make one of my own!!  The master potter showed me how to spin the pottery wheel, how to shape the clay with my hands, and how to pinch the edges to make a design in the rim.  I liked feeling the slimy wet clay!  I REALLY wanted to take my creation home... but it would have taken 12 days to dry, and then they would have had to fire it in the kiln.  Then, it probably would not have survived the rest of our trip.  I settled for a delicious glass of hot apple tea instead!!  :)

Cappadoccia is Cool!

The view from our cave hotel!  It looked like we landed on another planet!

The streets were steep and paved with cobblestones.  I learned not to run on them pretty quickly!

The view from the top of Pigeon Valley.

The stone is very soft... people carved caves out of the mountainsides with their bare hands...

There were caves EVERYWHERE!

Some people still live in the caves... but most of them are pigeon houses.  People use the pigeon poop for fuel.

She was still smiling... so this was probably the beginning of our hike!

Hiking in the gorgeous Pigeon Valley...

The rock formations were SUPER cool!

.... and super HUGE!

So pretty!!

Posing for a pretty pic with Mommy!

She wasn't too sure about walking through the cave tunnel!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  It was a little on the cool side... but the sun kept us warm!!

Hikers!

A rock tunnel!

We liked the echoes in the tunnel -- we screamed as loud as we could!

No grumpy old trolls under this bridge!

The cave houses in the distance were amazing!! 

This stream fills up in the winter time... 

Danni and I were SO surprised to wake up in Cappadoccia after our late night flight!!  (We slept through most of our midnight flight and through the entire cab ride from the airport to our hotel!)  When we opened out hotel room window in the morning, we could hardly believe our eyes!  The landscape was just gorgeous... and filled with all sorts of strange rock formations with caves carved into them!!  It was like we had landed on another planet!!  Danni and I wanted to stay at the hotel and play in our cave room... but Mommy and Daddy had other plans for us!  They took us on a loooong hike (about 6 miles!) through the Pigeon Valley.  (It is called that because a lot of the caves in this valley are used as pigeon houses... workers will climb up into the little cave nests and collect pigeon poop which is a fantastic fertilizer!)  The hike was pretty... but too long for Danni and I!!  Danni refused to wear her hiking shoes... so her little feet were tired (and dirty) by the end of the day... and she slipped all over the trails (which made the hike even more "fun" for our family!)  Luckily, we didn't have to hike back up the valley... we took a dolmus (the local shared bus) back to our hotel at the end of the day!  We complained a lot... but we really did enjoy being outdoors and enjoying some nature on our first day in Cappadoccia!