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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We got here at 8AM sharp and the buses were coming… Poor documentation that did nothing to give a feel for the history of the place. My wife got the audio tour – her comment was "It's like this is for the blind!" – meaning it was full of things like, "In front of you is a staircase going up…
We took a bus to Uchisal from Goreme where we were staying, looked the town and Uchisal castle, then hiked back to Goreme. We took a lot of breaks (it was a hot day) and enjoyed getting lost, so it took us 3 or 3.5 hours. It had tons of amazing view and not too long, rewarding hike.
It is hard to know where to start – this is a unique piece of Orthodox Church history. It is well preserved and worth at least an hour – 2 of your time in Turkey.
I loved this museum because I am not a history but and I still enjoyed it. The museum is not filled with historical descriptions that you feel obligated to read. This is however a downside for people who do love history.
We saw the Rose Valley from our balloon ride. Our pilot was prudent enough to bring us low over the valley so we could see things up close. He gave us a wee explanation of the area as well. It really is not of this planet!
The Open-Air Museum is a must see for visitors to Goreme. These are the most pristine cave artifacts in the area. And pay the little extra to see the Dark Church. The paintings are well worth the price of admission.
We took an organized tour for the 7km hike which was great but we went on a Sunday and found the gorge hopelessly overcrowded with domestic tourists as well as large tour groups. This will definetly take away from your hiking experience if you are used to hike lesser used trails.
Truly a beautiful spot to visit. We went to the panaromic view point. You can buy and tie an evil eye to the trees or feed the pigeons. One of the best views in town.
While in Cappidocia recently, we had a chance to go on the tour with Selcuk Senkan as our guide. We really enjoyed Selcuk, he was so knowledgeable, and answered all our questions.
This is a open space museum where we saw around of ten very old churches from 10th and 11th centuries. All of them excaveted in the rocks. We saw ancient paintings including some of St George killing the dragon in the churchs.
Do not loose the Dark church, you will have to pay additional 4 dollars but it is worth….