Our fourth and last day in Cappadocia. We have travelled quite a few directions from Goreme, but have not ventured south east, so that was the plan for today. The destination was Soganli, but there were places to visit on the way.
The first of these was Mustafapasa. This was once a village inhabited by Greeks, but after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) there was an exchange of Christians from Turkey and Muslims from Greece. In this way the Greek population left the village, but their stone churches and dwellings remain. This Greek history is obvious on the Church of SS Constantine and Helena which has a faded fresco of grape vines around the door

    
It is a quiet village, and after a coffee here we resumed our drive. We soon left canyon country and drove through open country dotted with flowering fruit trees. There are always mountains on the horizon, and before long we are amongst them again. There are small villages on the way, but little else.  
And hardly any cars! We keep being amazed that unless we are in a towns there is very little traffic. And there are hardly any motorbikes. Compared to most Asian countries, this makes such a difference to noise and the relative ease of being a pedestrian. Once we reached Soganli and the ticket office for the rock churches it was well and truly lunch time, so we stopped at the restaurant right at the gate. And walked into the most lovely scene - tables set up under flowering apple trees. The grass is green and there is a stream below. What could be better?



 


 

 

 

 

 

There is no menu, the owner tells us what is on offer and we choose an omelette. (I try to choose dishes that have to be freshly cooked at these smaller establishments, just to be safe.) And what a good choice it was. They immediately brought out water , bread, honey, and some softish cheese. Then a garden salad, and then the eggs. It was baked eggs ,with tomatoes and peppers (not an omelette), but very tasty. I don’t think we have had any meal here that has not included tomatoes. And they are delicious here. 
We lingered as it was so lovely to sit here. So we had tea. And then yoghurt and honey. And finally decided to go and see the churches. Which we did. Well, one church. Then drove home. Past the local Soganli women selling dolls they make(we did stop for that). 
Then checked more closely some of the many doors we had seen into the cuttings at the side of the road. Turns out the caves are used for storing produce. At this time they seem to be taking out potatoes - we have seen them for sale in quite a few areas. 
Once back at the hotel, we sat on the terrace did our daily chores (reading up, writing, photo downloads etc). I have loved this cave hotel for the way we could walk out of the door of our room onto the terrace and sit and take in the view. No need to go out again as we had cheese and fruit for dinner. 
Tomorrow we move on.