Nevsehir Cappadocia, goreme, Violent eruptions, volcanoes, frescoes, Avanos, Zelve, monastic, villages, swimming pools, beautifull old houses, famous, Peri Bacasi ,Byzantine, landscapes, Erciyes Mountain, world,beautiful corner of the world, Churuch of St. Barbara, churches, interest, chapels, Church of the Virgin, Fairy Chimney, Red Minaret, VALLEY OF BELISIRMA, great Seljuk road, caravanserais, central Anatolia, mosque, monumental gateway, granaries, DERINKUYU, bedrooms, tunnels, labyrinth, Christians,jesus, Church with Sandals, Byzantines, Dark Church, Capadocia

REGIONS OF TURKEY

TURKISH FOR FOREIGNERS

THE TURKS ECONOMY AND FOREIGN TRADE

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

FOLK CULTURE

VISITING TURKEY

SEA, SUN, SAND AND HISTORY

REGIONS OF TURKEY

Thrace and The Marmara

The Aegean

The Mediterranean

Central Anatolia

The Black Sea

The East and Southeast

ISTANBUL / GENERAL INFORMATION

GÖREME AND ENVIRONS

   Violent eruptions of the volcanoes Erciyes Mountain and Hasan Mountain three million years ago, covered the surrounding plateau with tuff.
From this brittle rock the wind and rain have eroded Göreme's spectacular, surrealist landscapes of rock cones, capped pinnacleand fretted ravines, in colours ranging from warms reds and golds to cool greens and greys.
   Göreme is one those rare regions in the world where the works of men blend unobtrusively into the landscape. Dwellings are known to have been hewn from the rock as far back as 4000 B.C., during Byzantine times chapels and monasteries were hollowed out of the rock, and their
ochre loned frescoes simply reflect the hues of the surrounding landscape. Even today, troglodyte dwellings in rock cones and village houses of volcanic tuff merge harmoniously into the landscape.
   The most interesting sites of the region include the rock chapels of Göreme, the red-coned
monastic complex of Zelve, the villages of Ortahisar and Uçhisar clustered and Derinkuyu.
   nearbyis the village of Avanos with its beautiful old houses, famous for its pottery and only. In the center of the region are the town of Nevşehir and the villages of Ürgüp, around which are most of the regions best hotels, many of them having swimming pools.

CAPPADOCIA

   In the heart of the Anatolian plateau bounded by the cities of Aksaray, Kayseri and Niğde, lies the strange and spell-binding Capadocia, a land scape unique in the world.
   successiveeruptions of the now extinct volcanosErciyes Mountainand Hasan Mountainhave left the plateau covered in volcanic tuff. This soft rock has been transformed by intense erosion into a haunting, surrealist landscape of cones, columns and canyons. Oxidization of the roch has turned wiers world into an array of colours, from warm reds and golds to cool greens and greys.
   Yet cappadocia is more than an area of dramatic natural beauty; it represents a symbiosis of man and nature. For a thousand years, from the4th to the 13th century,
Christians hewed dwellings and chapels into the rock. The architecture is totallyin corporated into the landscape, and the rich, ochre-toned Byzantine paintings seem to reflectthe colour of the surrounding landscape. Moreover, Cappadocia is a zone of fusion between Eastern and Western cultures, and in addition to the Byzantine churchesof the region there are the magnificent mosques, medreses and caravanserais of the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks.
   The best centres from which to explore this region of natural and cultural wealth are Nevşehir
( 300 km. from Ankara ) and Ürgüp ( 20 km. from Nevşehir ).

Looking at Nevsehir Cappadocia

Looking at Nevsehir Cappadocia

The primary, tourist destination of the region are the ROCK CHURCHES OF GÖREME, which are the most accessible and interesting in Capadocia.
Some of the most famous churchesin this Byzantine monastic complex are the Elmalı Church( Church with an Apple ), the Karanlık Church( Dark Church ), and the Çarıklı Church( Church with Sandals ).

Most of the frescoes in these churches date from the 10th and 11th centuries and depict important scenes in the life of Christ such as the Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascencion. Also of interest are the Barbara Kilisesi ( Churchof St. Barbara ) and the Yılanlı Church( Church with Snakes ).

Close to this group of churches on the road to Avcılar is a second group: the Tokalı Kilise
( Church of the Virgin ) and the churches of St. Eustachius and St. Daniel.
   A fascinating excursion which should not be missed is to the subterranean cities of KAYMAKLI and DERİNKUYU to the south of Nevşehir on the Niğde road. Kaymaklı
( 20 km. from Nevşehir ) was hewn out of the rock from the 6 th to the 10th century as a place of refuge during the Arab raids, and it could accommodate several thousand. One can descend through 7 floors via a labyrinth of tunnels connecting bedrooms, kitchens, wine cellars,
granaries and chapels, all ventilated by an immense chimney. The underground city of Derinkuyu lies 10 km. south of kaymaklı and is very deep ( 7 floors which go down 75 metres ) and extends for several kilometres.
   The Nevşehir - Aksaray road : This goods road fallows exactly the "Ulu Yol", the great Seljuk road
traversing central Anatolia interspersed with caravanserais. Of the three caravanserais along this road the best preserved is the Ağzıkara Han, 15 km. from Aksaray. This caravanserai is one
of the best preserved and most interesting in Turkey, and with its walls reinforced by towers, its mosque and monumental gateway, it is a typical examle of 13 th century Seljuk Turkish art. After this caravanserai one should take a left turn off the road to the VALLEY OF BELISIRMA, where there are a great number of interesting rock chapels. The cahapels are hewn out of the sides
of a deep canyon eroded by the Melendiz Suyu between the villages of Selime and Ihlara.
Depending one the time one has, one can make a detailed tour of Selime and Ihlara for a day, a less detailed tour from Belisirma to Ihlara ( 5hrs. ) visiting about 15 churches, or a quick visit to the churches near the village of Ihlara.

   AKSARAY . At the crossroads of the Ankara-Adana and Konya- Kayseri roads is this small town bisected by the melendiz Suyu and a veritable oasis in the Anatolian plateau. In the town are the Seljuk Ibrahim Bey Medrese and the Kızıl Minare
( Red Minaret ), the 14th century Zinciriye Medrese and the 15th century Ulu Mosque( Great Mosque ).

Peri Bacasi (Fairy Chimney)