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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Our tour guide stopped constantly to explain the landscape and there was a café on the river in the mid way. The path that we walked was a the bottom of the valley so do not expect any panorama nice view.
Caught the bus from Goreme only takes about twentyfive minutes and costs approx two and half TL.Went to quite a few pottery caves some very lovely items could have spent a fortune.
We were taken here by our guide for 10 minutes to take pictures during our north Cappadocia tour. We weren't given a chance to climb up. Our guide explained that the castle was used for defense purposes, since it was the highest point of the city. As you can tell from the pictures, this is not a traditional castle.
You should be prepared for a good 4 klik hike with water and good shoes.
Neet little tea stop about half way.
You can't miss the fairy chimneys in Goreme, and the National Park is more of the same. The history of the area is truly fascinating.
It's was my 6th visit to Cappadocia and to Kaymakli underground its an amazing place you can enjoy the site and buy a lot of cheap souvenir's
This was the top attraction for us. The churches and frescos are phenomenal. The communal dinner room was neat also. Be prepared to climb some ladder type stairs.
Most of the churches in Goreme Open Air Museum belong to the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries.It's is so interesting.We can see some churches in the caves as Apple (Elmali) Church
,St. Barbara Church,Snake (Yilanli) Church, Dark Church (for it need to pay an extra fee) etc. Note: In many pictures it is noted that eyes or faces of saints…
Avoid the tours – they go through at lightning speed. For those who aren't on the tour groups some of them can also be pushy – e.g. they walk into something you're already in, and ask you to leave.
Do your research in advance – some tour books have walk-around tours for the museum, and you'll probably learn more than…
This is so wonderful and breathtaking its hard to put in words. I visited in October, a chill in the air. We hiked early in the morining and met no other tourists till we got up to the museum area and it seemed like several buses arrived at the same time. A tour guide is a must as the history…