The Cube

Also an early day for me on day 3 because I want to see the hot air balloons again! Early but not early enough to go on a hike to the mountains, I just went up to the hotel terrace. 

I stayed till sun rise of course, then went back to get a nap before waking up for breakfast. 

Actually I can't tell if I was on Red Valley or Rose Valley and for some unknown reason I kept on reading Google Maps wrongly that day so I going around for a bit. Haha. Yes - another reason as to how I ended up clocking many steps. 

Red Valley gets it's name from the red-coloured rock found in the area. Both valleys are so named due to the colour of the hues when the sun hits on the rock at various times of the day. I picked these 2 valleys on my last day in Cappadocia mostly due to their distance from Göreme. I reached Rose Valley area by walking, it was an easy walk of about an hour. 

On reaching the area, prior to the start of start of Rose Valley trail, I met a fellow traveller. She was doing her Masters in sculpture in Florence. At the time when I met her, she was with an ATV driver and I thought she engaged an ATV driver/guide for the day. After she bid her 'guide' goodbye and walked away on her own, we ended up going around the valleys together for a while. 

It was then that I found out she went into a shop asking for price to rent an ATV and was offered a test ride/guide for the day. She wasn't comfortable to accept a free ATV ride/guide for the day so she rejected his offer. Unfortunately she was with me when we were going around the valley as I kept on missing the turn into the right trail. She had a prior arrangement to meet a friend to do an ATV tour and left, then only I found the right turn! Oops.

Well I did get a lot of nice view of the valleys though :) 

I did find the trail eventually though. I did feel perplexed as to why I can't locate the trail because I had Google Maps loaded and there were markers to indicate the trails. 

Good thing I had some snacks with me so I had a great lunch view of this. 

This was near to Hacli Church (Haçlı Kilise) at Red Valley (so I know I was at the right track). It is a cave church and has a stone cross on the ceiling plus beautifully painted apse. 

The viewpoint near this church was splendid. 

I still have a few hours before taking my night bus to Pamukkale by the time I got off the trail. So I strolled back to Göreme with rest in shade in between. Another ATV guide approached me if I want a tour during one of my 'rest' and asked if I was ok. I had to sheepishly owned up that I was taking a break for the scorching heat. 

Balance of the day was spent wandering around Göreme, had dinner and refreshing myself at the hotel before an overnight bus ride. The kind staffs at the hotel even offered me bathroom to shower when I asked if I can use the toilet. Definitely a godsend offer especially after I was out the whole day and hiking under the hot sun.