Open Air Museum in Göreme, Turkey

We spent the whole day looking at the landscape unique to the Cappadocia region. Some of our travel-mates got up at 3:30 am for a sunrise balloon ride. My friends and I opted not to do that; me, because of my fear of heights. We had wanted to go to take photos, but could not get a ride with our bus since we did not purchase the optional activity. We could have taken a private taxi, but after such a long day with another longer day ahead, I gave up on that idea as well. Those who went loved it, they were very fortunate that the balloons went up as scheduled, as the previous two days' rides were cancelled because of high winds.

After breakfast, we boarded our tour bus for the first item on our itinerary, the open air museum in Göreme Valley, another UNESCO World Heritage site. The area contains cave churches and frescoes from the 10th to 12th centuries. What a feast for the eyes! Although we arrived pretty early, the place was already crowded. Despite that, the lines to get into the cave churches moved quickly as the caves were pretty small. We were not allowed to take photos inside the caves. I did not think I covered all the churches in the museum; there was a lot of walking up and down narrow steps, both stones and metal. Below are some of my photos of the surrounding area.

We were told that this was a monastry where nuns used to live.

And this is the entrance (and exit) of one of the churches.

Views from a higher elevation, with purple irises in bloom.

As in other places we visited, we saw healthy looking cats and dog sitting or walking around.

And the path to enter and exit the park was lined with souvenir stalls. Below is a shot of the parking lot filled with tour buses.

After about 2.5 hours at the museum, we boarded our bus for the next stop, a carpet weaving place.