Things to add to your to do list

I feel like I just wrote a massive post but I know that with the full day we have planned tomorrow I will not want to write about all of it at once. So you get another update already.
Yesterday we headed to Pamukkale. It's about a 3 hour bus ride from Selcuk and it left at 9.30. We had heard that it was really cool and to take togs along because there were pools to swim in but we were not prepared for what it actually is. Mostly we were far too over prepared. We took water and snacks and a changed of clothes for when we got wet and walking shoes because it looked like a bit of a walk and jandals because it's a wet place. When you go (which you should because it's amazing) take as little as possible. Togs and light weight clothes over top that you don't mind getting damp and money to get in. And of course sun block. But that's all you need. Everything else just gets in the way.
Pamukkale is a slope with a hot spring at the top which deposits calcite down a big slope. At the top are the ruins of the Roman city of Heiropolis including the bath which you can pay extra to swim in. To get there on foot from the town you walk up the hill, take off your shoes and walk up the slope that the water is pouring down. There are pools along the way which get warmer (and more crowded) the higher you get. Words and pictures don't really do it justice so you should just come see it for yourself.
Turns out I was getting a cold at the time so by the time we climbed to the top in the hottest part of the day I was exhausted and had to sit in the shade for half an hour while Catie looked around the ruins. I did a bit of exploring later but mostly had to jump between bits of shade. We didn't end up going into the antique bath because we were there at the busiest time and it would have been too crowded to be worth paying for.
After we had our fill of the ruins we meandered back down the watery hill to the town. We caught a shuttle to the nearby city of Denizli (where our night bus to Goreme was leaving from) with plans to use the extra time to stock up on groceries. We had been told there was a supermarket in the otogar but it turns out it had been closed for probably months.
So we waited and then got on a bus and came to this magical land of Cappadocia. Goreme is the town we are staying in within the region. Most of the hostels have cave rooms available but we (by which I mean I) left it too late to get the cave room. But it's lovely anyway. The town is built around (and in) these rock formations that they call fairy chimneys. We transferred all of or photos to Catie's laptop this evening so keep an eye out on her facebook page or blog for the images. They're kind of hard to describe but once you see pictures you will understand why they call them fairy chimneys. Also why there are phallic jokes about them. If you can't wait or don't have access to Catie's stuff then just google Cappadocia fairy chimneys and I'm sure you'll see what I mean. Goreme is a lovely little town and it's fairly central to most of the sights in Cappadocia. This afternoon we walked for almost 4 hours walking to a tiny place called Çavusin which has two old churches built into the rocks as well as a bunch of old dwellings. We only went to one of the churches (despite the size of the town we still managed to get lost and by the time we found the first church we were ready to head back) but we chose the better preserved one which you have to pay for. Might be the best 8 lira I've spent so far. The church itself is really amazing with very detailed frescoes on the walls. We thought we should have been able to recognize more of them but I guess we fail at biblical imagery. We just stared at the ceiling and walls for I don't even know how long. The guard sneakily looked around and let us take a photo each even though it's not allowed so you might get to see them eventually. We also climbed up into a tunnelly bit where we got some good views of the area and spotted some fairy chimneys behind the church that we could walk to. So we did. All in all it was a pretty fantastic afternoon and I think Cappadocia is probably my favourite part of Turkey so far. And we've hardly seen any of it so far. Tomorrow we do an epic tour of all the things that are too far away to do on our own including the underground city and the valley where there are lots of monasteries from when the early christians needed somewhere to hide.
Now don't you want to come see it for yourself?