Despite not having slept much on the bus I was determined to make a full day of Goreme. I arrived at my cave hotel and was immediately greeted with coffee and breakfast as I checked into my rather claustrophobic but fascinating cave room. This hospitality however turned rather sour about an hour later when I informed the hotel owner that I had already booked my balloon flight with another company, meaning he couldn't get his hands on the large commission that presumably earns from each tourist who does. But I didn't feel too bad as half an hour later a whole group of Koreans (who seem to have invaded Turkey now), checked in and all booked with him making me feel glad that I would not be in the balloon with such a large crowd.

Capadoccia is unlike anywhere I have been in the world and is truly both a wierd and magical place at the same time. For the most part time seems to have passed this area by and only the recent influx of tourism has prometed inumerable developments. The whole area arose from volcanic activity that has now been eroded to give valleys reminiscent of a Star Wars scene. Out of the soft rock caves have been carved and people have lived such a troglodyte existence for thousands of years. Furthermore there are hundreds of stacks of rocks poking out from the dusty ground leaving mushroom formations or (with a more twisted imagination and as the locals are keen to point out) phallic symbols.

I headed for the Göreme open air museum which is a collection of well-preserved caves and church-caves that you can explore and walk around in, making it feel like one giant and surreal playground. On my way however I was suddenly surrounded by 8 excited locals who all wanted to practice their English with me in exhcange for learnifn some Turkish. Not being in a hurry I obliged and we chatted away for an hour until we bumped into their teacher who was keen to see what I thought of their English. Having told them that I also taught English and that theirs was pretty good they were extremely happy and just continued to chat! About an hour later I finally made it to the museum, having said a long goodbye as though we were all good friends, promising to meet again soon. Once again the Turkish people's kindness and friendliness struck me and I have rarely visited such a friendly country.

Feeling that I had done enough walking around town for one day I headed back to watch the sun set from the hotel's roof terrace and drink a few beers with the guests back at the hotel. Just as I was flicking through the channels a reply of the weekend's football between Fulham and Charlton happened to be on and I couldnt resist watching even though I knew that Fulham had already won!