Cappadocia Love

Cappadocia, located in almost the geographic center of Turkey, is often called the jewel of Central Anatolia.  Its otherworldly landscape is hard to describe.  Perhaps moonscape says it best.  From its conical rock outcrops to its churches, chapels, and homes carved into lava rocks to its underground cities, Cappadocia is like few other places on earth.  Its churches cut into the lava rock date back hundreds of years.  Many are filled with Byzantine frescoes of old and new testament scenes.  Its underground cities, some eight floors deep, were built to protect the early Christian inhabitants from invaders.  Present-day Cappadocia is known for its apricots, cherries, and sugar beets, as well as its carpet weaving and decorative pottery tradition. And, more recently, wine-making.

This two day Cappadocia Tour from Istanbul allows you to experience many of the wonders of this unique geological area.  You will gaze at the distinctive rock formations (fairy chimneys, mushroom caps, animals) in Devrent Imagination Valley, visit a monastic retreat in Zelve, a series of deep valleys dotted with caves and fairy chimney formations, explore the underground city of Kaymakli, and have a pottery demonstration in Avanos, famous for its red clay.  You will visit the Uchisar rock castle, explore the Goreme Open Air Museum, wander around Cavusin village, the remains of one of the oldest settlements in the area and famous for its homes of Christian clergymen and the Church of St John the Baptist, and visit the Red Valley, famous for its rock-cut churches.  Your hike through the Gulludere (Rose) Valley will afford views of some of the finest fairy chimneys in Cappadocia as well as visits to rock-cut churches with intricate carvings in the stone and fragments of frescoes.  Pigeon Valley with its thousands of man-made dovecotes, most dating from ancient times, is particularly interesting because although chemical fertilizers are prevalent in modern Turkish agriculture, farmers in Cappadocia maintain their fruits are sweetest because of their use of Pigeon dung.