Magical Cappadochia

Woke this morning and checked out of the 7 Brothers Hotel with the intention of heading to Göreme for the night, which I had already seen yesterday. I instead took Fatih's suggestion of first heading south from Nevşehir to see the underground city. It turned out to be a great suggestion. I left my backpack in Fatih's good care and took a local dolmuş (minibus...literal meaning = stuffed!) the 18km to Kaymalki. I got off the bus and immediately headed in the wrong direction, but a friendly local pointed me the right way. As we walked together and talked a bit (he spoke decent English) I realized this man was Fatih's uncle... one of the 7 brothers! I told him my story of being sick and staying in his hotel and he brought me to his other brother's sandwich shop and offered me a cup of tea. We talked a bit more and offered to show me his carpet shop (very industrious family!) and some more tea. I thanked him for his generosity and told him I would stop by after touring the underground city.
As luck would have it I ran into a Romanian family on holiday at the entrance to the Kaymalki underground city. I had met them at the hotel the night before, had breakfast with them that morning and we said our good-byes. Well, they were negotiating with an English speaking tour guıde for a private tour of the city. They had agreed to 30 lıra for the 5 of them and invited me along (I asked actually) to defray the cost. So it cost me 5 lire for a private tour and some good company! The city was amazing. Several thousand years old, used by various civilizations as a hideout during times of war. There are over a hundred underground cities in the region and this one housed up to 4,000 people for months at a time. It went 8 levels down into the earth and had family living areas, an enormous kitchen complete with bakery and dishwashing areas, bathing areas, a winery, communication holes to other levels and, of course, several churches. It was surprisingly not stuffy at all down there because of the many ventilation shafts and the underground river running beneath it. The tunnels and stairways were a lot of fun. There was even a connecting tunnel to another city miles away.
After the tour I stopped back to the carpet shop to say hello and get an education on Turkish hand made carpets. It was very nice... very low pressure. Then back to the bus to Nevşehir to pick up my pack and on to Göreme for the evening.
I stayed in a beatiful little boutique hotel high up on the rim of the canyon that encircled the village of Göreme. My room was actually in a cave and had a private bath... very cool. The views from the terrace were spectacular. It was late afternoon and I had the place to myself (most folks were still out for the day on various package tours). I felt like a sultan stretched out comfortably on luxurious pillows, sipping a local red wine and playing with two cute little kittens. I thought to myself the only thing that could make this more perfect is if Kelly-Jo were here to enjoy it with me. Later that night I went to the hotel's hamam for a sauna, hot bath and massage... a perfect end to a perfect day.