Checking out Cappadocia had been on my bucket list for a long while. A countless amount of friends and families had made the pilgrimage to check out the region’s mystical fairy chimneys and sculpted meringue-like mountains, but I’d never managed to make it.
I’d booked and planned a trip back in October 2015 when a friend was visiting, only to have my leave cancelled at the last minute. Finally, in 2016, with a weekend off work and a friend in town, I decided to bite the bullet. We got a great deal with Pegasus leaving on flying Istanbul-Kayseri return for a good $60. When Friday the 18th of March rolled around I got a cab straight from work to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen airport. It’s a little further than the city’s main airport, Ataturk, but a lot of domestic and cheap flights fly from here.
It wasn’t long before we were sitting on your fancy fluorescent Pegasus Airlines flight PC4162 and jetting off towards Kayseri. 
From memory there were a couple of airports servicing Cappadocia, and a few were more close and convenient, but in the end we chose Kayseri because it’s serviced by more flights.
We touched down around 2000 and were met at the gate by a driver who I’d organised through Kelebek Special Cave Hotel. It was a good 50 minute drive from the airport to Göreme where we were basing ourselves but the bus was pretty comfortable and we were pulling into the hotel before we knew it.
Checking in was quick and easy and after an express drink and introduction to the hotel’s resident pup, Whiskey, we decided to call it a night.
We were up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to see whether any of the hot air balloon companies were going to brave the cold, grey morning and head up for a bird’s eye view of the region. They were, but we decided to wait for clearer conditions.
We had an early breakfast with the balloons as our backdrop before taking a free transfer to the Open Air Museum.
After an hour or so there, we continued up the hill to seek out the beginning of the Rose Valley hike. About ten minutes up the hill, and just after the camp ground, we found the turn-off and started the walk.
We spent about 2 hours climbing down the hill and exploring the valleys running down towards Çavuşin.
We had a quick drink there and climbed up to the castle before heading on, by foot, towards Avenos stopping off along the way to check out the mushroom shaped pinnacles.
Our next mission was to find a cab to take us the rest of the way to the town. We were hoping to grab a bite to eat there, and have a hamam before calling it a night.
We found a nice little restaurant on the river – Dayının Yeri – and ate just about everything on the menu before heading around the corner to check out the local hamam – Alaaddin Hamamı.
I’m not entirely sure whether it was because it was still off-season or for some other reason, but the hamam was closed when we arrived and looked as though it hadn’t been opened for some while. I had read online that you should ring ahead and organise a pick up so maybe it’s only opened when they know someone’s coming.
Anyway, we hopped in a cab and headed back to Göreme where we ventured into Elis Hamam. After a couple of hours of relaxing we headed back to the hotel to get freshened up for dinner at Ziggy Cafe.
We got up early on Sunday to make the most of our time in the region and so after breakfast, we decided to venture out to Derinkuyu to check out the underground city. The trip out to Derinkuyu was probably the first time I thought we should have rented a car but in retrospect it wasn’t that bad.
We got back to Göreme around lunch time and on the advice of the friendly guy in the information center at the bus station, decided to use our last hours in Cappadocia to do a couple more hikes. We started with the Pigeon Valley walk. It took a good two hours and begins right on the outskirts of town.
We managed the hike in plenty of time and so, despite being short on time, we decided to make our way back through the (im)famous Love valley.
We got back to Göreme around 1700 giving us just enough time for a cup of tea before our shuttle back to Kayseri.