TCS 2023 Wildlife & Natural Wonders

The opening dinner on Saturday night was, as usual, very enjoyable.  We began meeting new people during the pre-dinner reception and had a very good dinner.  As usual there were several speeches. 

Our hotel in Cappadocia is The Museum Hotel and is made from old monastic caves that were cut into the basalt stone of the mountains. It is an amazing warren of halls leading to the rooms and it has taken us several trips to our room with guides in order to be able to finally find it on our own.

This morning in Cappadocia we got up at 4:45 am to do our hot air balloon ride. This is one of the things we were looking forward to. It was AMAZING!!!. The view from the ballon was just incredible!! It felt wonderful to be up in the morning air.  We will add some pictures from the ride below. 

After the balloons we rode ATVs around the property near the fairy chimneys and almost back to the hotel. The ride was great. Bets and I each had a 4wheeled ATV.  We returned to our hotel for some R&R and lunch.

In the afternoon we went to a Turkish rug display house.  They had some beautiful carpets.  The one pictured below is the one that Betsey admired.  The map below shows where in the world we are. 

The unique and beautiful region of Cappadocia in Turkey is known for its original rock formations, balloon flights and cave towns where people have lived for millennia. The soft sandstone made it easy for the locals to carve out caves large enough to create their own homes inside.