Day 2, Sunday of the Pilgrimage

After finally getting a good night's sleep, we had another great Turkish breakfast buffet. We have been enjoying marinated tomatoes, various olives, cheese, cucumbers, bread, cheese, fruit, cereal, eggs, oh, did I say cheese?, meat sausage and Nutella to name a few of the items. Such an eclectic and different array of food we have enjoyed. We then travelled to Gōreme, an open air museum full of columns like fairy chimneys and tall free standing cones of stone where caves were settled in the early 4th century as monasteries. Some of the caves have Byzantine frescoes decorating the early Christian churches there. This was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful and very moving. From there we went to lunch and had more great food. Fresh fire-baked bread with a salsa-like side to dip it in - or spoon on top of it like many of us did - pidas and Nutella fondue shared by all for dessert. I better start working out or the pounds and inches I lost will be back and then some by the time I get home. Kaymakli underground city carved out of rock and completely self-contained was our next destination. Many of the tunnels were short and narrow forcing us to walk in a crouch which was rather interesting. What was really neat was watching the group come together as one, caring and supporting each other in what was at times, difficult situations for some. To walk and see where early Christians lived when fleeing persecution was amazing. After our brief time spelunking, we took a short trip to another community of caves at Ücretsiz Park. Here we found a quiet spot near an outcropping of rocks just off the trail and joined together in Holy Communion of Cappiodian wine and fresh fire-baked bread from lunch. Sharing the sacrament in a place that is so important to Christianity was so moving, it brought tears to my eyes. Then a brisk hike to the top of the cliffs with a view of the valley topped off the day and prepared us for our ice cream snack. What a blessed and wonderful day. Tomorrow night the remaining eleven pilgrims join us for the remainder of our journey. I'm hoping to have a solution for posting pictures to this blog tomorrow so stay tuned!