26th June – Sivas to Urgup

This morning we go for a walking tour in Sivas, starting with the oldest Mosque in town that was built in 1196.  The brick minaret has quite a lean on it which is a bit disconcerting. The inside has 50 pillars and each pillar has a heater on it, so it must get very cold here in the winter.

Next we walk past some very run down buildings to Gok Madrese which is currently undergoing restoration.  It was built in 1271 and will be beautiful when it’s finished by the look of the drawings outside.

We walk to the main square where we have a cup of Turkish coffee and tea before walking around the Cifte Minareli Madreses that was rebuilt as a hospital in 1882, the Mosque & Turkish baths.

We drive out of Sivas mid morning.

We only have a 267 km drive today to Urgup in Cappadocia so we take a windy back road, some of it good gravel with beautiful scenery.  We get caught up with a herd of cows that don’t seem to mind us trying to drive through them.

We stop at a lake for lunch that is obviously a popular picnic spot for locals and we talk to an Iraqi family who are studying in Turkey.  We are given food and Dutchess now sports a Turkey flag.

Arriving in Urgup it is very busy with Turkish tourists as today is a public holiday.  The streets of Urgup are very steep and paved with cobblestones which are very slippery

After we arrive at our hotel  we walk into town and have dinner in an open air restaurant overlooking the centre of the town.

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