The International New York Times has a puzzle and cartoons. Plus the guest house has a free hot chocolate machine. Our lucky day.

Topkapi Palace--lots of beautiful tiles

The cistern fr the Bysantine era that supplied the palace with water (now it has some awesome fish living in it)

Grand Bazaar 

Islanbul skyline from the Galata Tower

Galata Tower

Delicious street food--basically fried dough soaked in honey

Hot air balloons over Cappadocia--unfortunately the sun didn't cooperate with photos

The streets of Istanbul were full of people today

Fishing off the bridge

Fresh fruit juices

A band playing and people dancing--we think for a football (soccer) team

Statue in Taksin Square

Underground City and Ihlara Valley

Stone door that would be rolled into place to keep out intruders--it would block the passage way to the right

Narrow tunnels

Ihlara Valley

Fresco in the Dark Church

Mom's kind of a trail--tea, pancakes, coffee

Lunch 

We are back in Istanbul after an early morning departure from Cappadocia.  We got to see the launching of the hot air balloons before we left.  It is quite a sight.  There are at least a hundred launching within a sort time frame around dawn.  Not something we chose to do.  In addition to the cost and the crowds, we have also seen how previously fertile fields have been made into huge parking lots for the balloons to land, all over the region.  Another instance of the chase for profits trumping more sustainable practices.  

The trip by plane to Istanbul was uneventful and we are back in the guest house where we stayed before.  The family who runs it are very responsive and we have learned that the exceedingly polite man at reception is a refugee from Syria, so I am glad they have found a way for him to work and live here.
It is much cooler here than on the Meditteranean or in Cappodocia.  We settled in and then got some breakfast around noon time.  Then we walked through the spice bazaar and across the Bosphorous and up to Taksin Square.  The streets are totally full of Turkish people walking with their families, as are the parks.  There are always festivals of one sort or another and many men fishing off the bridge in the Bosphorous.   We saw lots of jelly fish.  It's time to start thinking of gifts to bring home for friends and family, now that we do not need to carry all our possessions around on our backs.  Early to bed tonight as the day started very early. 

  Last day in Cappadocia.  I feel ready to move on but sad to leave our guide for these three days, Necip. He has been kind, patient, good company, and very informative. Today we started out with a visit to the underground city in Kaymakli, the village where Necip grew up.  It is a maze of rooms dug out of stone and going underground as far as eight stories. While their main use has been for storage and the making of wine, they have also served as places for Christians to hide from persecution for several periods since Roman times.  They are dark and today with many tourist busses around, they were quite crowded. I don't generally think of myself as claustrophobic, but experienced moments of this while underground. At one point we were asked to make way for "problem people" who clearly needed to get out quickly by going against the flow of people back to the entrance instead of descending further. In Cec's words, "I put on my can-do pants", resolved not to be a problem person, and even got interested about the history here.

We then drove south for about 100 km to a less frequented section of Cappadocia, Ihlara Valley. Here the bed rock is made more of lava than of volcanic ash, this leads to steep cliffs with fallen blocks of rock rather than the more sand dune like structures we have been touring the last two days. We hiked along a swiftly moving river and saw a different sort of cave house and church (with frescos). This was a relaxing walk which we followed with a leisurely lunch lounging on floor cushions over the river.

Later in the afternoon we had a lesson on the art and techniques of Turkish carpet weaving followed by the obligatory sales pitch.

Tomorrow Istanbul

Rose Valley

A church in a cave with frescos and carvings

Fairy Chimneys

Carevanserai

Whirling Dervishes