My first evening in Goreme, I felt like I was on a movie set. The landscape just didn’t seem like it could be real!

There was an information office in the little square that passes for the bus station in this tiny town, so I was able to have them call the hotel to come pick me up. I had found an incredible deal on booking.com for a cave room at a highly-rated cave hotel/pension, and it turned out to be the nicest place I’ve stayed in apart from my lovely guesthouse in Istanbul.

My cave hotel room and view:

As I’m getting a little tired from constantly being on the move, and because I figured it would be a good way to meet people, I booked two day tours: the easy “Red Tour” itinerary for my first day and more challenging “Green Tour” itinerary for the second. The owner asked whether I wanted to book a hot air balloon ride and I replied that I needed to think about it. I really wanted to go on one, but I’m also terrified of heights. Decisions decisions.