Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
Oh, The Places We’ll Go, Part 5
October 3rd, 2007 @ 1:23 pm by Ms. Dahlia
Part 1- What we were looking for
Part 2- Mexico
Part 3- Spain
Part 4- Greece (and Turkey)
After considering Santorini and Istanbul, I pushed forward the idea of just going to Turkey to see more of the country. Turkey has a lot to offer, and also has some amazing places to stay outside of Istanbul.
Consider Cappadoccia:
Last two images found here.
Cappadocia has a significant history; it was both the home to ancient Hittite civilization, and the underground tunnels were used by early Christians to avoid persecution. The Goreme Open-Air Museum contains many ancient churches, and the underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu are also places to visit. Perhaps the most popular thing for tourists is to take a hot air balloon ride at sunrise.
Image found here.
Now, there are also many fabulous places to stay in the area:
Sacred House has good tripadvisor ratings; prices range from $130-170/night.
Gamarisu also has excellent tripadvisor ratings; rooms range from $95-$700, with most $200 or less.
So we could spend time in Istanbul, and some in Cappadocia. We could also travel to Bodrum or another locations along the coast for the requisite beach time. 
After mulling over this option for several weeks, neither of us were absolutely ecstatic about the plans. My mom traveled to Turkey this year, and somehow that makes it seem…less exotic of a locale. And given how much flights were going to cost, it might make sense to travel someplace that is cheaper once you get there.
We considered Argentina, but May weather would be more like November here, and I wanted someplace warm. Asia, perhaps? We had already nixed India (Mr. Dahlia has been there) and Thailand (Mr. Dahlia has been there, and May is the rainy season). We had talked about Japan, but it would eliminate the whole being cheaper once you get there, and it would definitely be more of a see-as-much-as-you-can sort of vacation than a relaxing one with some sightseeing.
Stay tuned for the next (and final!) installment of our honeymoon search…
