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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Beautiful place, but too many tourists. Photography-wise, it's almost impossible to get decent shots without intrusion of people. The sense of history is amazing, especially for the orthodox-christian. Imagine and feel the ghosts of those who have roamed around these spaces.
After reading the reviews on this museum, we went later in the afternoon last week as recommended arriving at 4pm, unfortunately the place was still extremely busy with coach parties particularly Italian. We were unable to see inside a lot of the churches due to the Italian guided tours and when we did attempt to get inside any, we were…
An amazing experience – just outside the town – the churches are incredible – dont miss them
Once you're already in Cappadocia, go for it! But not the best tour and you have quite a walk to do.
Definitely worth visiting the museum. It can be visited independently as it's not far from Goreme centre or as part of the tour. If you can try to visit later in the day when all the tours are gone and the place is less crowded you will have more time to absorb the atmosphere and appreciate the surroundings.
Lovely examples of early rock cut places of worship. The fee of TL 25 covers all but the Dark Church, which has a separate fee of TL 12. Don't miss it! It has the best preserved frescos among the churches in the complex. The larger Buckle church is away from the other cluster and is well worth a visit.
It was a lovely walk there at the Rose Valley. Please remember to wear comfortable shoes………….
Fantastic frescoes, but beware, your admission fee DOES NOT cover the DARK Church; you only find out when you arrive at the dark church, and it's actually in small print on the museum ticket.
However, do visit the Buckle Church (Tokali) across the road. Your ticket to the Goreme OPen Air Museum covers this as well. It is supposedly very…
Kaymakli Underground City an exceptional experience going through the living quarters of an ancient Hittite settlement. Not for the faint of heart as there is the odd tight squeeze and you ultimately descend about 30 meters below the surface covèring 5 levels of living space.
A steep descent into the valley from the Argos Hotel and a pleasant walk along the bottom of the valley with our guide made an interesting start to our holiday. Unfortunately we weren't able to walk all the way along as there was work going on to lay new pipes for the hotel.