That day we engaged in racing Arabian racehorses through Valleys of Fairy Chimneys in Cappadocia!

When we woke up the next day, we actually liked what we saw. Fairy chimneys in the field made our campsite look very cosy, though a bit surrealistic. A hot air balloon over our heads added to the perceived surrealism of the place.

At 9 am we were at the Lucky Horse Ranch, having arranged a two-hour riding tour in the fairy chimney valleys on the day before.

I loved the beautiful Arabian horses we'd got. They used to be racehorses – but due to the regulation that racing horses can run for just one year and have to be retired afterwards, they ended up carrying tourists in Cappadocia.

Even though it was not possible to go fast in the beginning because of steep tracks going up and down – as a matter of fact I thought it was only the small mountain horses that could jump from one stone to the next like mountain goats, the Arabians coped with it splendidly as well. In the end, however, there was a chance for them to run fast, which made the trip so exciting. Balti was keen to see how fast his horse was going and the GPS recording app on his phone logged just under 50 km/h. Balti claimed he might have gone even faster, had the guy who accompanied us not demanded us to slow down.

The sweat was dropping like rain from our horses' backs when we came back – at around 11:30. It felt like it was 40° C again. So here is a tip – if you go to Cappadocia in summer, be sure to track in the chimney valleys shortly after sunrise – the people we met there after 10:00 looked rather overheated already. Or do it on horseback at any time. Or go to Cappadocia in spring or fall. But do go – we loved it here very much - we loved the fairy chimney valleys near Göreme as well as the green valley by the river at Selime.

Before leaving Cappadocia, we had a look at the other villages that were supposed to be nice and have some fairy chimneys: Ürgüp and Mustafapasa. They were nice for the most part indeed and not that busy, but I guess after Göreme and that epic ride it was harder to impress us. So we didn't stay for long and on the very same day, we found ourselves on the road to the North East of Turkey.