15D12N Turkiye/Abu Dhabi - Day 7

 31/12/2023

Morning with 3 flights of stairs awaiting where breakfast was.

Fairy tale views.

Die die must take some photos at the rooftop.  These were the best I could be without makeup lolxx...

Never dreamt that one day, I could see so many hot air balloons in the sky in an exotic city.

Average nia, go somewhere else.

We told the lady in the kitchen no need to bring all those sauces to us liao.

Simple like this was good enough, cut down food wastage.

After breakfast we went back to our room to lax a little before the local came to pick us up around 9am for Green Tour.  Cost about 140euro for the 2 of us, booked with the hotel.

First stop was a short drive to this viewing point (name and location not sure), Uchisar Castle at the far left side of photo.

Closer look of it with many cute square windows in the rock mountain (although it's called a castle lolxx...).

I had makeup on but didn't really show up on photos, so this was another AI heehee...  Was wearing old man's dark green puffer, forgotten why.  I think other than the red cape, I wore all his jackets throughout the trip.

Evil eyes on tree.

Rock formations by volcanic ash from millions of years ago.

Another UNESCO heritage site ticked.

I realized that if you want to travel, make sure it involved a UNESCO site, be it historical heritage or nature, to make it worth it and truly memorable.  Else, how much satisfaction you can get out of little hills and streams?

Cappadocia was worth it for this sight even without hot air balloons.  It's crazy majestic here.

Looking at the rock formations from the hot air balloon and on the ground felt different with a different perspective.

Every corner made a great photo no matter how lousy a photographer you may be.

Wished we could stay a little longer for a drink to really soak in.

Next stop Ihlara Valley, here's their ticket booth.

The history of this place was as far back as 4th century.  Some were residentials and some were monasteries and churches.

Very big fat chickens, but not sure meat delicious or not, heehee...

Managed not to buy anything.

On the road again, pass by Uchisar Castle for a closer look.

Actually had wanted to make a trip to climb for sunset view, but decided that this close look was good enough (conserve energy, what the fish lolxx...).

Mountains at the far looked unreal.

I took photos non-stop de...

If only I could get off the van and ran after the sheeps waahaahaa...

Amazing.

Next stop, Narligol Lake or Lake Nar. 0.7sq km in size, classified as volcanic crater lake.

Big doggie, first time to see a dog being chained, may be it's fierce.

Nice flat hike along a stream.

Water not from the tree trunk but piped from the stream.

All nice until I acted smart and climbed up to see the ruins of this church.

Nothing impressive, took a 5mins breather than went down again.

Going down with my knee caps crying.

Pics taken by the stream while waiting for lunch.

Literally the happiest moment after the unfriendly knee cap climb.

Salad and lentil soup (didn't quite like the mushy texture).

Fish and rice were super duper delicious!

It's a nice experience to eat under warm rays from sun in cold weather.

Derinkuyu Underground City, highly raved attraction by many tourists but was torturous to me (only me with weak legs and low stamina).

It was an eye opening experience especially with a guide's narration.

But soon, I was worn off with endless narrow passages with endless climbing of ups and downs.  So the moral is - travel while you are energetic (young).  It was very challenging to keep up with your heart's desire when your body wouldn't let you.

The underground city was believed to be build between 7th and 8th century.  It's massive enough to shelter 20,000 people with a depth of 85 metres, stretching over 8km.  The history was complicated with different religions and countries taking over.  People didn't stay ground for fun but as a hide out from wars, it was very sad that one cannot see the sunlight for days and weeks in order to stay alive.

鬼见愁 passage without any rails for me to grip on, never know that little support matters so much.

 We didn't complete the tour, I went out to "bang sai".

The tour ended with some shopping which we bought some tibits.

Marble chess was so nice, the onxy was amazing too, but white elephants, how to buy...

Back to Goreme city, sibei tired, rest in hotel, went out around 9pm.

The streets it was lit with lights and fire, with the best atmosphere for the last day of 2023.

This one very high with loud music lolxx... sadly it was fully booked.

We bumped into a tour mate.  She's born in Hong Kong migrated to Australia but working in London lolxx... (complicating waahaahaa...)

She brought us to a chinese restaurant for steamboat.

It was whopping of more than S$200 for the 3 of us, but we were very happy despite of the average taste.

This was our first and last chinese meal throughout our Turkiye trip.

After dinner, actually supper, she invited us to her hotel's rooftop for countdown.

Supposed champagne would be more 应景 but we had tea so that we could walk back to our hotel later with a clear head lolxx...

The fireworks were forked out by restaurant owners not by the government.

We were away from the crowd watching the colorful bursting sparks, walked around the rooftop wishing strangers who were with us Happy New Year.

Our first new year countdown in overseas, hope more to come in future.

Next day, we went to Open Air Museum on our own and later a sunset ATV.

Thank you for reading my story.