The Turkish region of Cappadocia, a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys and a unique historical and cultural heritage, boasts one of the most dramatic sights in the world.
Visiting Cappadocia is such a change from visiting many other busy bustling sights all over Turkey. It is a great pleasure to wander in the vast open space filled with captivating natural attractions which have seen human history dated back in the Bronze Age.
While in Goreme Open Air Museum , the conical formations resulting from the volcanic eruptions that took place millions of years ago, just follow the path up to the top of one of the ridges where a spectacular view of the fairy chimneys awaits you. The natural cone formations contain caves and labyrinths. As early as the third century, those chimneys became a hiding place for early Christians who fled persecution from the Romans, and then later from raiding Muslims. In modern tourism, many caves have been turned into cave houses for tourist stays and the lunar-like setting of Goreme Valley has become popular for hot-air ballooning.
Many say the extremely unique landscape of Cappadocia resembles some scene in a Star Wars movie and yet you may be surprised to discover that no major commercial movies have been filmed there. It would be a perfect setting for movies such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter series.
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fantastic place and quite unbelievable to find the first Christian art so well preserved in the middle of Turkey. it is treated as a museum not sanctuary though. definitely worth a visit.
I am not sure if there is a walk you can do here. We got there early in the morning and it as a beautiful view down to the valley. I think it is named because of the thousands of pidgeons that live on the viewing area.
About 10am the tour buses descend but the site is big enough to make it ok. Definitely worth the visit. There are many more similar caves and churches around but this site gathers a lot into one place. Terrible queue for women's toilets in the coffee shop.
Incredible, the history and culture. I frequently tell the stories of these caves to my friends back home.
There are many caves, It is much less crowded than Goreme open air museum. The setting is also prettier. You can climb into the caves and get a good sense how the people must have lived.
This was my favourite place in all of Cappadocia to take photos! I took the best photo of my trip here and I've included it with my review. All of Cappadocia is pretty amazing and easy to take photos from though.
extraordinary and evocative – a must do in Cappadocia. You get a real feel for life in this unique part of the world thousands of years ago.
Some of the sites and sights in Cappadocia feel as if they were taken from outer space / science fiction. This is among the best examples of fairy chimneys and provides more insights into what it was like to live there.
Have a walk and enjoy the magic of the place! The dark church is worth paying, the walk won't take you more than 2 hours
A must see whilst in Cappodoccia. We hiked around the stunning Rose Valley during our stay and it was another highlight of our stay in Cappodoccia…