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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Goreme National Park, or Goreme Open-Air Museum, is really a wonder. The scenery seems out of this planet, and the cave churches are really beautiful, especially the Dark Chapel with its breathtaking frescos.
One of the best open air museums that I've seen. Do not miss the colored paintings inside these churches/monasteries.
Could not enjoy this area at all as there were line ups to get in at every turn. After paying our admission, we left 10 minutes afterwards. To bad, as I believe there would have been many interesting things to see – but ALL we saw were tourists!! We were there around 10:30 in the morning, so if you want…
The Open-Air Museum was part of the tour, but recent changes do not let the tour guides come along to explain what we are viewing.
The Uchisar castle is one of the high place in Cappadocia. It gives you a great opportunity to have a 360 degree views of the valleys. The castle itself is somewhat impressive due to all the holes that were carved but it is not the most amazing place that you will visit in Cappadocia. If you go, go late to…
The presentation of Unesco World-Heritage site since 1984 says it all! It is probably the most visited Cappadocian sight, and therefore there is a daily large queue to get in (even in Winter), and once you succeed, the crowds inside keep lining up to access the many and many fascinating cave churches carved inside the fairy chimneys (some of them…
I had always wanted to go to Cappadocia as I had been entranced by the photos of the cave dwellings built into volcanic ash cliff faces for decades, and had hoped to add a tour there to the end of my cruise which finished in Istanbul in July this year.
Nice but we had hiked and ridden in the Rose Valley already and done the river gorge hike and so the huge crowds of tourists made us blow through it in an hour. The river gorge hike was maybe the best single thing we did althouigh I do not see it listed in Tripadvisor to rate
This must be one of the most unique places on this planet… To be able to go into these dwellings and see the fairy chimneys is a wonderful experience for anyone. It is a definate must see for anyone!
It was very interesting to see this carved out of the rock & the many still intact frescoes…beware of long wait times…'churches' are tiny & can be hard to access, so lots of people want to see them & it can take a long time. February was a good time for this! Summer…maybe not!