Here I am!

Today we went out to explore Cappadocia proper. In southern Turkey, it's one of the oldest sites of continuous human habitation. People lived in these extraordinary tuff (which I presume is the same as tuffa) rock creations until very recently. The pillars were formed from hardened volcanic ash which was later carved into a network of caves. We've wanted to come here for a long time and in fact were booked in this very holiday in 2014, but the company cancelled. Forgive me for being vague, I didn't say where we were going before now, as I couldn't actually believe we were really going to get here.
Some areas of the country have extensive caverns built into cities underground up to 10 levels below the surface filled with interconnecting caves and passageways. The first site we visited was set quite high, and contained part of an underground city . As I may have mentioned before, I'm slightly claustrophobic and I found this to be a real challenge. I managed to get into the first chamber, but it was very crowded. I do like to see my way out and the way through to the next area was down about a dozen steep steps in a narrow passageway and had we been on our own I might have made it. The idea however, of being in a line of people in a place where I could neither turn around nor get out quickly forwards was just too much. I made my way back out through the crowd of people from the next group who were on their way in. After they had all moved on, I did go back in and have a small explore but decided it was not a good idea. The idea of getting lost, of getting stuck in a narrow passageway, or of being unable to get out was just too much.
I made my way to the area where the group would be coming out and realised I could actually hear the guide's voice so I went into the exit passage and made my way along. Even this was too much though, as the passageway was less than two feet wide, under six feet tall and not straight, I couldn't even stand facing straight to walk forward.
After the group came out, we walked up to the next area. Here there was another chamber with a passageway further in. I waited till the end then asked the last person to go in to call back to me how long the passage was and what it opened into. She called back that it was just a few steps and opened into an area open to the outside, so I waited till she was out of the way and managed to complete it. I was pretty chuffed with myself. I know these things are irrational, but they are very real. (One of my childhood nightmares was of putting my head into a hole in a bank or under a tree and becoming trapped -who knows why I would do such a thing! As I said, irrational)
The weather here has been really good, around 28° again today and we've been walking long distances. We explored the open air museum at Gorëme for a large chunk of the day. Cappadocia features as one of the seven early churches in the writings of St Paul and this extensive and very hilly museum contains several of those early churches. Many of the underground cities provided safe hiding places too. The earliest wall frescoes date back to the 11th century although the carved churches are much older. The decorations were removed during various conflicts and the images there are now mostly C11th. Most are not able to be photographed but there were a couple of places where it was ok with no flash, so one is in the extras. The whole remarkable area is a UNESCO heritage site.
I've had to cull the photos fairly thoroughly and annoyingly a couple I thought I'd taken have disappeared. If they turn up I'll add them later .