First of all for a private guide, call Ngaire and get her Istanbul guide. They hooked me up with a great guide in Cappadocia.

We stayed at the Museum hotel. It was lovely. Just be careful about the rooms. Our room was beautiful, but damp. Tell them you don't want a damp room. I believe Leslie and Brad had a very nice room. Write and ask Leslie which room she had. The hotel has a resort feel and beautiful views. You can take nice walks from the hotel to local restaurants. There is a pool at the hotel. It gets very hot, so don't forget your hat and sunscreen.

We loved Cappadocia. Doug usually doesn't like the shopping bits, but I really recommend letting the guide take you to the top carpet and pottery works there. The carpet tour was very interesting. We had no intention of buying anything and treated it like a museum tour. The carpets were absolutely incredible and you were taken through the entire silk growing, weaving, dying and carpet making process. The pottery factory was lovely too.There are loads of potters in Avanos. The top place is Chez Galip. There are some gem places as well. That is it for shopping...the rest is junk.

Do visit the famous Göreme Open Air Museum to see the best examples of Byzantine art in Cappadocia. You will want to visit Göreme Village and Maccan Valley, Uchisar and Pigeon Valley. Our favorite stop was one of the most interesting underground settlements in Cappadocia, the Kaymaklı Underground City.The underground living system was fascinating and you must do it. Make sure you also ask to be taken to the rock cut churches and monestaries. Doug and I hiked in Red Valley and it was breathtaking. Also of interest to us were discovering Cappadocia's unique landscape; Devrent (Pink Valley) and the Zelve Open Air Museum, which is one of the first inhabited and last abandoned villages of Cappadocia. You can visit old Greek villages too. We missed, because of high winds, a key highlight...a hot air balloon ride. Hope this helps...write to me for any other info you need.

It is confusing to find the right gate at the Istanbul airport to Cappadocia. You just take your eticket and and ask the info desk where to go. The window will issue you a ticket and take your luggage. Our luggage came out quickly in Cappadocia. The Cappadocia airport is not organized (one room) and you stand endlessly in line there for your return trip. That was the only negative aspect.

We stayed three nights and two and a half days. It is like Sedona in atmosphere. We took a 7amish flight out of Istanbul and arrived a little before noon. We went directly to the hotel to check in and then went out to lunch with the guide and did some sightseeing the first day. We returned for a leisurely dinner at the hotel. The next two days were full days of sightseeing. We ate at a local restaurant one night and at the hotel another. We left early the final morning and arrived in Istanbul by noon.