spaswinefood: Exploring Cappadocia's amazing landscape, grape vines and eateries

Cappadocia, Turkey is a magical place. Cappadocia's magical landscape is dotted with fairy chimneys and rock castles. The stunning beauty of Cappadocia, along with its historical and cultural heritage, makes it very popular on the tourist circuit. Like most tourists, our visit to Cappadocia was filled with exciting adventures, such as hot air ballooning, visiting Kaymakli Underground City and Ihlara Valley and more. However, while out and about we took time to check out a few of the local wines and eateries.

Fairy chimneys and castles, Cappadocia © Spaswinefood

Cappadocia's most photographed fairy chimneys © Spaswinefood

Tree of Nazars, charms to ward off the evil eye, Pigeon Alley © Spaswinefood

Fairy chimneys and castles, Cappadocia © Spaswinefood

Now a few highlights from our Spaswinefood filled adventures in Cappadocia.

Hot Air Ballooning

We had a spectacular, early morning hot air ballooning experience.

Early morning lift off © Spaswinefood

Floating among a sea of hot air balloons © Spaswinefood

Over fairy chimneys and castles we go © Spaswinefood

Floating over grape bushes below © Spaswinefood

Yes, there was sparkling wine at the end of the flight.

Champagne and juice after ballooning in Cappadocia © Spaswinefood

Exploring Ancient Cities
The history of early habitation in the Cappadocia area is amazing. We visited two sites with lots of evidence of earlier habitation. The first site was the Kaymakli Underground City, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which has four of its eight floors open to the public. Kaymakli is the largest underground city of 36 underground cities in the Cappadocia area. The underground cities in this area date back to Hittite times.

Entrance to Kaymakli Underground City © Spaswinefood

Kaymakli Underground City © Spaswinefood

On the third floor we viewed evidence of early olive oil pressing and wine production.

Historical winery at Kaymakli Undergound City © Spaswinefood

Another amazing location, at the south end of Cappadocia, is the Ihlara Valley. Ihlara Valley is located in a 100m deep canyon. The valley was once the home of Christian inhabitants during the Byzantine Period. During this time the valley housed about four thousand rock cut dwellings and one hundred cave churches underground.

Ihlara Valley © Spaswinefood

Down and down into the Ihlara Valley © Spaswinefood

Ihlara Valley © Spaswinefood

For more details check out these images of the Ihlara Valley.

Checking out local eateries
While exploring Cappadocia we ate at few of the local eateries. One of these included Uranos Sarikaya Restaurant. This cave like restaurant is built into the ground. When you dine at Uranos Sarikaya it is a unique dining experience, as noted in this article. Now let us take a brief look at our culinary experience.

Entrance to Uranos Sarikaya Restaurant © Spaswinefood

Uranos Sarikaya Restaurant © Spaswinefood

We walked pass a wine rack of Turasan Cappadocian Wine on the way into the dining room.

Turasan Cappadocian Wine, Uranos Sarikaya Restaurant © Spaswinefood

Our lunch included a special Anatolian dish, Testi Kabab.

Dining at Uranos Sarikaya Restaurant © Spaswinefood

Now let us check out the offerings on the dessert cart.

Next day, after a morning traveling through the countryside, we stopped for lunch at a casual restaurant. For lunch that day we had a variety of appetizing plates.