Selime Monastery.

Selime Monastery was one of those places that I had no expectations going in but left with memories of an amazing place. Wow!

From the entrance to Ilhara Valley, it probably took us about 10 minutes to get to Selime Monastery which is located at the northern tip of the valley.

Ilhara Valley.

Today, we're following the Green Tour which covers the Ihlara Valley, also known as the "Valley of the Sky and at least one of the underground cities - either Kaymaklı ("kai-mahk-luh") or Derinkuyu. Since I've already been to Kaymaklı, we'll be heading to Derinkuyu. On Erdoğan's advice, we'll also be visiting the monastery at Selime.

Derinkuyu.

The next place on our sightseeing itinerary took us underground.  The Green Tour had two underground cities on its itinerary. Since I had already been to Kaymaklı so I wasn't keen to go back. Besides, I had a feeling that all the underground cities are pretty much the same - just vary in size. We had asked Erdoğan for advice on which of the two cities to go to if we could only go to one. His response was that he preferred Kaymaklı but that his wife liked Derinkuyu better.  Hmmm.... I took that to mean that it's a matter of preference.

Memories of Greece and Turkey.

Posing in front of the Parthenon, atop the Acropolis in Athens.

Yasas! Merhaba! Hello! This is the diary of my trip to Greece and Turkey in 2014, my brother's and my annual trip this year.

We had a fantastic time and I was so relieved about that!  Since I was retired, I had time to plan each and every day of this 28 trip!  It was a LOT of research and planning  - I think I set a personal record for how much time and effort it took!  But, I am proud to say that from a logistics perspective, everything went smoothly - our flights arrived on time, our rental cars were waiting for us as promised, our accommodations all worked out - from hotels to guesthouses to apartments.

Gori and Uplistsikhe.

The ruins of the ancient rock hewn town of Uplistsikhe.

We left Kutaisi at our usual 9a hour. First destination of the day was the town of Gori and by day's end, we would be back in Tbilisi. Our few days roaming the Georgian countryside is quickly coming to an end and I'm very sad about that. I've really enjoyed being off the beaten path and in the mountains.