Travel Dates: June 2019 for 1 week
Cappadocia is a small region in central Turkey known for its dramatic natural beauty. It brings flocks of tourists from around the world to a very concentrated area in an otherwise vast landscape. There are several small towns in the area but most people (including us) come to stay in Göreme. The closest airports are in Nevşehir (a 40 minute drive) and Kayseri (a 1 hour drive). For better or worse, it is an area fully sustained by tourism. We generally try to avoid places like this, as it’s extra hard to distinguish what’s authentic and what’s a strategically molded product. We’ve also found it harder to enjoy yourself when you feel constantly targeted as someone to sell to. Yet we recognize, that some places are so naturally amazing it is worth making an exception for. Cappadocia fits this exception.
Regardless of the dominating tourism in the area, Cappadocia still has a mysticism and allure that we enjoyed. It was our first Muslim country we’ve visited to so it was fun to learn new customs, try new foods, and see the endless Turkish textiles. Call to prayer is blasted 5 times a day from the minaret in town which is a powerful experience (especially at 4am).
What makes the Cappadocia region so beautiful is the abundance of fairy chimneys throughout the landscape. These pillars are the result of soft volcanic rock that eroded over time by wind and water. Early Christian inhabitants of the area realized the rock was easy to carve and made cave dwellings for themselves. Over time they also carved full churches with columns and barrel vaulted rooms. Some of these still have their paint well preserved such as the ones in the Göreme Open Air Museum. This museum has a dense collection of the carved spaces and is one of the most popular attractions in the area. It was truly impressive to see architecture that was the result of carving and not from building.
Because Cappadocia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, sites like the Göreme Open Air Museum benefit from protection and preservation. However much of the carved dwellings in the region have no visitation restrictions. So for better or worse, you can walk from Göreme and explore inside many of these places, which we really enjoyed doing. But since the volcanic rock erodes so easily, it made us wonder what the long term effects of tourists climbing inside will have.
Perhaps one of our favorite hikes in the area was through Love Valley. Easily accessible from Göreme, the hike takes you through a valley of fairy chimneys that are particularly phallic. No surprise where the valley got it’s name.
The fairy chimneys are dense in Göreme and many have been modified into hotels. Ironically every other hotel has “cave” in the name, despite most being new construction to just look like a cave. Regardless, looking at the Göreme from the viewpoint south of town, you can’t help but be in awe of the other-worldly appearance.
There are endless tour options to take you around the Cappadocia region. However there are a handful of day trips that seem to be the same route offered through most of the hotels for around $35 including lunch. The one we chose had us in a minivan with 14 other people from 9 different countries (which was cool in itself). We visited the Göreme Panorama, more fairy chimney dwellings, hiked through Ihlara Valley then had lunch at a riverside bungalow. Following lunch we visited a huge network of underground cities originally carved in the 7th century. Various groups expanded the caves over the centuries and lived in them during times of conflict when they needed protection. The caves extend down 200 feet and could house roughly 20,000 people and their livestock! We then visited Pigeon Valley and returned to Göreme.
Arguably the biggest attraction that brings people to Cappadocia, is a sunrise hot air balloon ride. We of course could not pass this up. Picked up at 4 am from our hotel, we were whisked into the middle of the desert in total darkness. Standing there half-awake, it begins to seems like the horizon is full of fire breathing dragons as the balloons begin to inflate. Before I knew it, we were loaded into the big basket along with our pilot and 15 other people. We gracefully climbed to 1,500 feet, and while in the air the sun broke over the horizon. This brought into better focus the other 115 balloons in the air over the small area. It was one of those rare situations where the more touristy the better, as the panorama of endless colorful balloons was spectacular. I have to say it was a wonderful and odd experience. There is a romantic feeling of it, yet you are crammed into a small basket with many strangers. It is strangely quiet expect for the periodic scream of fire being sent into the balloon. After an hour we slowly returned to earth, landing in a random farmer’s field. Because the balloon has little to no steering, you go where the wind takes you. I found it entertaining to watch below as the respective truck/trailer of each balloon zig-zags through the phallic landscape in attempt to be at the landing spot.
We feel grateful to have experienced Cappadocia.