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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This is part of any tour in Cap. To imagine what it would have been like thousands of years ago … amazing
The walk through the Rose Valley is more than two miles over difficult terrain. Fortunately, our guide had the bus driver park at the end of the trail so that we would not have to make a round-trip walk or walk up the hill instead of just down. It is a beautiful valley..
This is an amazing place to visit but I agree with the previous TA that you wouldn't do so well if you didn't like small spaces or not mobile. The ladies selling the handmade dolls on the outside of the city all scream out for you to buy their dolls – for 3 turkish lira each they're worth it.
A great wander around this place is worth it. The troglodyte existence is very interesting. Some parts are steep.
Some amazing caves in the magical chimney landscape and some fantastic frescoes and history to be seen in the churches located there
The frescoes are well preserved and look amazing. A little shower and the landscape changed colours. Thankfully we could take shelter in the caves.
The Zelve Open Air Museum is similar to the Goreme museum, but a bit less impressive. It's very expansive and provides ample time to walk through the dwellings without the feeling rushed, as one does at Goreme due to the volume of people there.
Our hotel (Diven Cave) has free tours there daily. We walked for a few hours and sore the sunset. The region is amazing, and it was one of the trips highlights. We saw abandoned churches, more interesting than battling the crowds at the open air museum at Goreme. Highly recommended.
the underground city of Kaymakli is a must see if you are traveling around Cappadocia: our recommendation is to be there just after noon to avoid loads of tourists and hire an official guide to enjoy the most of the visit. Walking down the 7 accessible floors is a trip back into history: rooms, common kitchens, wine cellars and jails…
Mustafapasa Village is one of the nicest villages in Cappadocia. In the last century it was the centre of Cappadocia and rich ottomans built their splendid mansions here.
The whole village consists of such mansions and they are all built from square stone blocks of tufa. There are wonderful wall paintings and dainty relief works inside the mansions.
The village was mostly inhabited by greek speaking rum who also built many of the churches.