Day 34 - Kayseri to Uchisar

Almost got off to a very bad start this morning. Packed our bags and headed down to breakfast in the very busy, almost full restaurant. We found a small table for two and marked our territory by leaving a glass of orange juice on it - with the benefit of hindsight not a particularly attention grabbing thing to leave. Sue returned first to find our table had been taken by a thuggish eastern European looking type who then proceeded to abuse her when she tried to point out that we had prior claim and stood within inches of her in a very threatening manner. I was unaware of this until I returned with my breakfast plate and the same confrontation ensued. Realising that I was dealing with an idiot (somebody's muscle no doubt) who kept saying "don't say too much" whenever I tried to remonstrate. I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and left him to what was now his table while we moved elsewhere - no point sustaining an injury for such a stupid and trivial reason. Following breakfast we boarded our bus to Uchisar where we picked up our guide for the next couple of days, a young lady named Aylin. Our first port of call was the underground city at Uchisar used by early Christians as hiding places before Christianity became an accepted religion. This was a fascinating place especially seeing the large disc shaped stones they used to roll into place to block access and the multiple levels used for a variety of different purposes. From here we traveled via a teahouse which provided a magnificent panorama over the surrounding fairy chimney area.Then to a pottery factory where I succumbed and was the guinea pig for the group and tried my hand at shaping a pot on a potters wheel - with disastrous results I might add. Lunch was taken in a large restaurant at nearby Avanos which seemed to cater for large groups, mostly busloads of tourists. Our next stop was at a spot known as "imagination rocks" where, if one looked carefully, one could make out the shapes of various animals and so on. Last stop for our group before returning to our hotel was a carpet factory which I managed to skip - I'd had enough by then. Our hotel, the Duven Hotel, is built into the hillside just beside Uchisar Castle and so before dinner we walked a short distance and climbed it via tunnels and external stairs for possibly the best view of the Cappadocia area short of a hot air balloon flight. Dinner at the hotel followed and during dinner a representative for Anatolian Balloons arrived and booked us in to a balloon flight for tomorrow morning. At last to bed after a long and very busy day.