DRIVER ONLY CENTRAL ROUTE DETAILS

DEVRENT VALLEY also known as "Imagination Valley", is the most surreal–looking landscape. This is one part of Cappadocia that really makes one feel they are on a different planet. Thousands of years of wind, rain and extreme temperature changes have worn the beautifully colored rocks into strange and wonderful animal and human shapes that make you think a modern sculptor has been living in the valley. You are wrong! You have just been introduced to the work of nature’s greatest artist, Erosion.

PASABAGI means "The Pasha’s Vineyard", a name it received after the Byzantine Greek population left the region. In Seljuk and Ottoman times, it was called "Papaz’in Bagi" because Christian hermits chose to locate hermit cells and churches in these three–headed pinnacles symbolic of the Holy Trinity. Perhaps such symbolism helped these monks develop a greater understanding of God. This peaceful, attractive valley is famous for its three headed fairy chimneys, and it’s possible to see all the stages in the formation of fairy chimneys at this spot. The vineyards surrounding these natural wonders are still cultivated by locals (you can taste the grapes from September on), and trees such as apricot, apple, pear, quince, cherry, mulberry and walnut are plentiful.

ZELVE Open Air Museum (an alternative to Cavusin) was a lived in village until the 1960s. Cave homes were carved into the rock sides of the valleys at ground level, and much higher up were other carved shelters used as dovecotes in normal times and as safe hiding places in times of danger. Muslims and Christians lived together in relative safety, protected by the steep valley sides and the mountain behind. Their mosque and churches are a perfect illustration to the modern world that people of different religions can live in harmony.

CAVUSIN CASTLE (an alternative to Zelve) is a spectacular rock citadel that once housed everyone in the village. While it was a relatively safe place to live, the villagers had to carry their water up to their homes every day. The village was home to many Christians, and Saint John the Baptist’s Church, despite its poor condition, is still worth finding. You can also follow a narrow path to the top of the castle visiting some of the more recently lived–in homes on the way. As you descend on the other side there are some lovely examples of fairy chimneys.

LOVE VALLEY, named for its unique shaped rocks, is a spectacular panorama. As you look down to the valley below, it makes you wonder how exactly these rocks were formed, how many years it took to make these shapes, and how many years they can last.

AVANOS has been famous for thousands of years for its pottery made from the red, iron-ore bearing clay deposited by the longest river within Turkey, the Kizilirmak (Red River). During the second millennium BCE, Avanos was inhabited by Assyrian traders and was later taken over by the Hittites; some of the techniques and designs used by potters today date back to this period. At one time every house had a potters wheel, and no family would give their daughter in marriage if the groom could not make pots! Today, the best of the ceramics and tiles on sale in Istanbul and other major cities are made here. You can watch potters spinning their traditional kick–wheels with their feet, and even try throwing a pot yourself.

GOREME OPEN AIR MUSEUM is home to the world’s most important Byzantine cave churches in these once remote valleys where monks and nuns pursued monastic life from the 3rd century on. Saint Basil, one of the three Cappadocian Fathers of the Church and Bishop of Caesarea (Kayseri) who first formulated the rules for monastic life directly influenced the lifestyle of the monastic orders in these valleys. Here you can see the best preserved in situ Byzantine cave wall paintings and frescos from the late Byzantine period through to the end of Seljuk rule. Icons with scenes from the Old Testament and the New Testament above portraits of Church Fathers and saints depict the structure of the Byzantine universe. The best examples, the Dark Church (yes, you can visit the Dark Church on this tour) and the Buckle Church, should not be missed.

ESENTEPE viewpoint is the best panoramic viewpoint from which to see Goreme Valley. The village is full of fairy chimneys, some of which have been converted into homes by cutting caves out of the soft volcanic rock. If you are interested, it may be possible to visit a local family’s cave home and see inside one of these fascinating houses.

PIGEON VALLEY viewpoint you have a bird’s eye view of the dovecotes carved out of the rocks, the snow capped Mount Erciyes (the mountain that gets bigger the further away you are), as well as a spectacular view of old abandoned fairy chimney cave homes and old Greek houses and UCHISAR CASTLE.

URGUP’S FAIRY CHIMNEYS, the symbol of Cappadocia, are famously called "The Three Beauties"; another amazing panorama of the Cappadocian countryside where you can see the local’s vineyards with fruit trees as well as an amazing rockscape around the foot of the low level table–top mountain.

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