Thursday, June 01, 2006

Ihlara, Derinkuyu, etc.

As mentioned I broke down and took a tour to see some of the sites around Cappadochia yesterday. We took in the Ihlara valley (my main reason for going) along with the Derinkuyu underground city, a caravansarai, rock-cut monestary, and several other sites.

The tour was good because I got to take in far more than I would have managed on my own. However I would have liked to see more of Ihlara and may swing back through there on my way back to İstanbul after I finish up in the east.

First up are a couple shots from the Derinkuyu underground city. The church obviously wasn't part of Derinkuyu but was at the same stop so is included here. Derinkuyu itself was pretty amazing considering it is really just a big cave complex. At one time over 30,000 people lived down there.



Next are a few photos from Ihlara valley.



After lunch we stopped at the village of Selime to visit a monestary cut into the nearbye cliffs.



Next up was a short stop at a caravansarai (basically an ancient hotel on the camel trade routes) on the way back to Göreme.



Near the end of the day was the mandatory shopping stop at a pottery factory in Avanos. I came pretty close to actually buying a souvenier here (something I am rarely tempted to do) but the nearly $100 fee to have it shipped back to the states broke the deal.



Then on the way back to Göreme was the final stop at Paşabağı to see some (more) of the so-called fairy chimneys that Cappadochia is so famous for.



I'm leaving Göreme in a couple hours. Next stop is Kayseri in eastern Cappadochia.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm still thinking about the shot of the sun...it's a great angle
Mom

Monday, June 05, 2006 9:29:00 PM  

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All photographs copyright Brian A. Wilcox unless otherwise noted.

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