Captivating Cappadocia

One of the wonders of the world yet on a global tourism scale it is barely noticed, even when wondering around the mesmerising sites, littered with spectacular natural architecture and captivating history, you are not overrun by tourists. By no means is Cappodacia a ghost town but if you have been to some other famous UNESCO world heritage sites it might be refreshingly quite especially in the down-season.

We departed from the Turkish Mediterranean coast on a coach taking several hours to reach Cappodacia, the journey offered some amazing views over the Taurus mountains en-route. As we closed in on our final destination we stopped at an underground city which are famous thorough the Cappadocia region. We descended into the network of tunnels and rooms which made up peoples homes around the time Christ was alive, we left behind the sunlight and the baking heat as the caves stay a moderate 16 Degree Celsius year round.

The most fascinating aspect for me was the defence systems which had been constructed to stop Roman soldiers from attacking. Each chamber was connected to another on a different level via a narrow passage, and the end a huge round boulder waited to block the path of attacking Romans. It conjured up images of Indiana Jones and gave an appreciation to lengths these people had to go. They also had small holes above the passage which we were told was presumably to pour hot oil over the unaware attackers.

Back into the sunlight we left the depths for Pigeon Valley, aptly named due to the traditional method of fertilising local crops with the Pigeon droppings collected from the purpose built pigeon caves in this valley. Though sounds unpleasant the dry, arid nature of the region means fertiliser is hard to come by. The Valley itself is something to behold, the first sight from the coach makes you gasp in awe with the steep sided valley dotted with carved doors and windows built right into the rock face, a striking contrast with the brilliant white colour of the rock. You could spend hours here staring and being mesmerised by the sheer beauty.

Peri Bacalari was our next stop with formations of columns jutting out of the ground which were top heavy, the erosion of the softer rock had left the more durable rock still on top giving a mushroom effect. The colours and rock sediment in the twilight of dusk were beautiful; some of the patterns and shapes are as inspired by a fairy tale land. Meandering around the formations on the powder white rock you even have the ability to climb up some of the smaller ones for commanding views.

There are some other real interesting sights in Cappodacia including the open air museum at Goreme which contains some historic monuments and a very well preserved Church which has some interesting artworks crafted into the rock. There is also a very popular option to ride a hot air balloon early morning over the Valley, costing in the region of £120.00 it is not a cheap adventure but is unique and offers some great photo opportunities.

We ventured with an organised trip from the Mediterranean coast which cost £60pp including Hotel accommodation and transport to the various sites in the Valley. If in Turkey it is highly recommended and will give you a real flavour for the country away from the tourist fly traps.