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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I'm willing to bet that 99% of travelers to the Pigeon Vally stand at the lookout point next to the vendors and gaze for 2 minutes at all the pigeon holes and rock formations and then leave. The magic of this site is when you hike down the trail and turn left for a 2 hour walk back to Goreme….
Wow, what an experience. You will need to overcome any fears of claustrophobia, as exploring this underground city involves lots of ducking and squeezing through some pretty tight places, as you travel down as many as five stories down. However it is an experience like none I had before. What a life the people who built and lived in this…
Loved this museum with all it's little caves, churches, monastery and nunnery in the stunning landscape. We got the audio tour and it gave us all the information we needed. We did get to one section after paying the entry fee and to enter that particular section you had to pay another fee which annoyed us a bit. We didn't…
A beautiful and historic spot that was breathtaking. I didn't like having to pay to enter the Dark Church again after having paid to 1) enter the park 2) rent the headphones which died towards the end of my tour. Even with these detractors, definitely worth visiting. .
While Ephesus is fascinating, Pamukkale beautiful, and Perge both fascinating and beautiful, Urgup and the whole region of Cappadocia is in a category by itself. It is a jaw-dropping surprise as you come upon the unique geographic formations called fairy chimneys around the city. There are so many things to see near Urgup.
river beatifull also many historical caves in there
Incredible place to explore. The houses and churches carved out of rock are facinating. There were even coffins, 1 with a skeleton in it. This attraction was part of our booked tour and it was neat to see the insides of all the openings we saw cut into the rocks in the area.
You can see domed structures that get higher towards the top of the rock as well as praying buildings, monks cave and shelters among the houses. They look like an ant colony looking from above. Saint Baptist Monastery, which is one of the oldest building in Cappadocia, is hidden among the rocks here. It is an enormous basilica carved in the top part of the rock. Cavusin Church is beside Goreme-Avanos road, 4 km far from Goreme.
If all open air museums were so beautiful like this one, I would stay here for ever. Do not miss the paintings inside these churches/monasteries
So many times we are told of places to go in travel brochures, and then when you actually get there, the attraction is a bust due to the only good points were what you saw in the brochure. In the case of the Goreme Valley National Park, this was NOT the case. Because of the limited number of people that…