If there’s two things that are important to me in any accommodation I stay in, they are the service and the quality of the food (if that applies). Oh, and and a comfy bed. A tired Julia = a grumpy Julia.
Luckily, in Turkey, you usually can’t go wrong with either of the first two. Usually all accommodation offers a complimentary breakfast (typically consisting of eggs, cheese, meat, salad and bread) and we have still yet to meet someone in the country who wasn’t friendly and helpful.
But when a place you stay goes above and beyond even the high standards you have come to expect, then that is something special.
In steps the Goreme Valley Cave House. As soon as we arrived, we were picked up from the bus station, offered steaming cups of tea and even served breakfast, despite the fact that we had missed the cutoff time. Knowing that we had just suffered an overnight bus from Istanbul, Ahmet, the owner, and his father, made sure we were fed, watered and able to get straight into our room for a nap. Just what you could wish for when you’ve hardly slept a wink all night.
We stayed in one of the cave bedrooms, which are fairly common in Goreme as many of the hotels are built into the rock valleys of the town. They are unlike any hotel room we’ve stayed in before – both in design and style. It was unique and yet comfortable at the same time. And the rooms were surprisingly spacious. The only downside to the limited space of the cave rooms was that the bathrooms were pretty small, but Ahmet actually told us that they are due to start renovating all of the rooms at the hotel, meaning that this should be rectified soon.
The next morning we enjoyed the full buffet spread for breakfast and what a treat that was. Endless cups of tea, “proper” honey (with the honeycomb in it – so delicious), soft bread, cheese, meat, eggs and cereal. And it doesn’t hurt that you can eat it on the roof terrace with a wonderful view. The family were even drying out fruit on one of the tables to make their own jam with.
The reason the food here is so good is because it’s the food that the family themselves eat. One evening we paid for dinner at the hotel, as cooked by the mother of the family, and it was as good, if not better, than many of the traditional restaurants in town. Everything is home-cooked and made using local ingredients. You can’t argue with that.
But, without a doubt, my favourite character around the hotel was Omer, Ahmet’s father and previous owner and manager of the hotel. He loves to talk to the guests, cook food and entertain. He even offered to drive us and one other couple out to some of the surrounding valleys of Goreme, which were a little too far to walk to. For free. And one morning he cooked us fresh cheese boreks for breakfast. This guy’s a legend.
Goreme Valley Cave House may not be the biggest or flashiest of the hotels in Cappadocia, but they focus on what is most important – they are always there to offer advice and a cup of tea, heck, they’d even offer you their own lunch. They offer something that many hotels lack, and that is a sense of family.
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