Day 151 to 155: Sugar plum fairy chimneys

We headed for the magical landscape of Cappadocia, with an overnight stay in Konya to break up the journey. We'd chosen what was supposed to be the express four hour bus to Konya, rather than the slower six hour services that travelled around a large lake. As our bus pulled into a rest stop near the four hour mark, still 90km from Konya, we realised we'd been duped! The awesome scenery compensated for the longer than expected journey time, with snowy Swiss-looking mountains and wintry trees growing from slate-grey hillsides. In Konya we visited the Mevlana Tomb, where Sufi dervishes once whirled, and a couple of small museums in beautiful old medrese buildings (Koranic seminaries).

Arriving in Cappodocia on an evening bus, we found that the hotel we'd booked was full for the last night of our stay, despite accepting our Hostelbookers reservation. Our stay fell over a Saturday and a national holiday, so a last minute search for accommodation wasn't the warmest welcome. After an increasingly frustrating discussion with the hotel owner, we eventually used their wifi to book another place for half the price and Michael walked to the new hotel to ensure this booking was reliable. We had a very friendly welcome to our new hotel and from this point our time in Cappadocia greatly improved. Our highlights include:

• Walking in the beautiful Red and Rose Valley, where we met only a handful of other walkers
• Appreciating the stunningly unusual surrounds - knobbly rock "fairy chimneys" spread as far as we could see, creating an almost lunar landscape
• Cafe Şafak, which quickly became our favourite spot to chill with a coffee or tasty Turkish food. We randomly met our English friends from Antalya (Matt and Lawrence) and enjoyed a couple of dinners together