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Fairytales are real.

I know it's hard to believe. I didn't at first. I chalked them up to traditional stories that had been passed down for centuries to teach children cultural lessons. But Adaline, you say, fairytales are just stories. There aren't fairytale princesses, or cave homes where elves whistle while they work. 

Ooooooooh really? Then what would you call her?

Or these?

Now to those of you who answered oh, I'd say that she's a traditional Turkish bride on her wedding day. And those look very much like cave churches in the Turkish region of Cappadocia I would say that you have merely pointed out a few measly technicalities, and that you should probably step away, get a nice cup of coffee and then return when you are ready to appreciate the MAGIC (insert Nanny Adaline's world famous double eyebrow raise/cocked head combination that says I mean business).

Now that's much better. Shall we proceed? The first magical place we visited was Sille, a small village on the edge of Konya. It is pronounced "See-Lay," as opposed to "Silly", which can be seen here:

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but it seems the village of Sille was originally built in the 4th century around this church, which was a gift for the Roman emperor Constantine from his mom Helena (a quick note to the parental units: I do have a birthday coming up, and Churches are quite nice...).

The inside has been renovated a few times, first in 1833 (by a Sultan whose name I forget) and then again in modern times, so it's pretty swankified:

 

There was also an epic cave church you could walk through where early Christians once practiced in secret, hiding from persecution:

Lexis and I decided these pools were bathtubs. Troy said they were empty graves. Perhaps both? Preferably not at the same time...

I've seen my fair share of ancient ruins, but Sille was completely different from anything I have ever seen before. The locals are all very friendly and accommodating (example: the bride in the first picture had already gotten herself AND that dress in a car when Lexis asked if she could take a picture "with the beautiful princess." Instead of booking it like I would have, the poor girl drug herself out of the car and took tons of pictures with the little tourists. Amazing!). The whole town has a very peaceful vibe, and I highly recommend you visit it when you book your trip to Turkey (which I'm sure this blog has inspired you to do immediately. Right? RIGHT?!).

Now, after Sille I was a little bit worried I wouldn't be impressed by anything else I saw in Turkey. Was this like highschool? Had I peaked too soon? Well, if Sille was my high school, then Cappadoccia was my college years (seriously, there was even some champagne ;). About a three hour drive from Konya, Cappadoccia has the most unique scenery I have ever seen. There are tons of crazy, naturally occurring landmarks punctuated by a bunch of man-made structures like cave homes and cave churches. We even stayed in this cave hotel:

After arriving in Cappadocia (which, by the way, is the region. The town we stayed in is actually called Goreme, but I really like saying Cappadocia. So there.), we asked the hotel manager to take us to what he thought was the best restaurant in town. Of course, he said. My cousin is the manager there. So 15 minutes and one death defying van ride later, we were seated in what would turn out to be my favorite restaurant I've tried so far:

Please excuse the lack of entree photos. I was very hungry and there was simply no time.

After an amazing dinner, I didn't think the trip could get any better. Then there went Troy, always exceeding expectations. Hey ladies, he casually asked Stephanie and I, do you want to go on a hot air balloon ride tomorrow? Umm, wait, is that even a question?

So, at approximately 6:30 the next morning after some notably delicious coffee, Stephanie and I boarded a Butterfly balloon. I'll spare you too much more reading and give you a taste of our journey in photo form:

I can not thank Troy and Stephanie enough for the early birthday present! To celebrate said birthday (or, as the pilot called it, "a safe and successful flight"), there was cake, hot chocolate, and one of my favorites, champagne!

Our pilot, Mike, and a crewman setting up the goods.

 This is only notable because you see the guy in the above picture taking down the balloon? He decided that Stephanie wasn't quite done with her adventure. While we were taking pictures, he motioned for me to hold her ipad and went and stood next to her like he wanted to be in the photo. Psyche! What he really wanted was to pick her up and THROW her onto the wrapped up canopy of the balloon. I was laughing so hard that I didn't see his partner in crime (the gentleman in the green shirt) come from behind and throw me on, too! This was the result:

Although it was the company's fault for feeding me cake right before hand, I'll still be sending an apology and some Advil for his back as soon as I'm fluent in Turkish. ;)

Cappadoccia was magical, and I can't wait to explore more of this amazing country. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to grab life by the horns (or, in this case, the hump!) and have an adventure of your own!

Safe travels,
Adaline