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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good place if you like to do a lot of climbing uphill and on rocky mountains. It has some extremely old churches and paintings by cavemen from the 11th century (byzantine rule of turkey)
Dont miss it! Easy hike with sun and shade. Stop at the fruit stand for juice or tea. Relax on pillows in the shade.
The underground cities are quite extraordinary in that they go down about seven levels under the earth. This is really worth a look.
We did this walk without a guide. The start was in easy walking distance from our Goreme hotel. It was interesting to walk in the more tightly enclosed valley and see the different volcanic layers. Watching the farmer tilling the soils in his small plots also gave us a different perspective.
Once you understood the old way of living then you're about to consider more of the same. But it worths your time, if not for pictures!
There was more to look at than just the pigeon houses. The scenery is breathtaking at times. I was also over the area in a Balloon ride. This was even more spectacular.
Perfect way to take in the scenery is the free walk though the red and rose valleys. The best in Goreme.
The open-air museum was nice and is the best place to see a collection of cave churches in the area.
However, it was really crowded. The museum opened at 8am, and we arrived at around 8:30am and there were already several large tour groups there. It got worse later in the day, and our experience became quickly dashing in and…
this is a very old underground city. If people are quite claustrophoic it could be a problem, but if not, well worth a look at how these people were able to live.
Whole area very interesting. Scenery even better in reality than photos suggest. Travelling by bus/dolmuş quite easy but not always convenient times, though being a small area taxi fares not exorbitant. We would recommend a hot-air balloon trip as a lifetime experience.