The Ibnu Al Battutah's Apprentice: Cappadocia, Turkey

What place is this? This is Cappadocia or Kapadokya in turkish. Located in the Nevsehir province of central Anatolia (Turkey), this area has unique natural attraction. I don't think you could find such a place in the rest of the world - it's only in Turkey. In addition to the natural splendid, the remained legacy and heritage of the ancient dwellers here is another merit that had brought this place to be as one of the world heritage site by UNESCO. This district covers few towns such as Avanos, Goreme, Urgup, Mustafapasa, Nevsehir and Uchisar. Nevsehir is the biggest town here. What will you find here? Here are some concise explanations:

Open air museum : Residence and Churches which had been turned into a museum (Goreme).

Underground city : Underground dwellings for ancient people in Turkey who need protection and

shelter just like in the Vietnam underground museum (Kaymakli, Derinkuyu etc.).

Rock-cut town : House, restaurants, churches and shops in the rock hill (Urgup, Goreme).

Pottery making    : Pottery making zone in Avanos - more less to the Stoke-on-Trent in UK.
                                However Avanos had been recognized as the pottery place much earlier then
                                Stoke.

Caravansarayi : A place where traders get rest and park their 'caravan' - the camel or donkey

(Mustafapasa). I had explained about caravansarayi in the previous post.Click.

Natural parks : Carved rocks by nature, Love valley, pigeon valley etc. (Uchisar-Goreme-Urgup).

Ancient castle : Old castle in the rocky hill (Uchisar)

Rock-cut hotel : Hotel in the rock cut hills.

Air ballon tour : Enjoy the Cappadocia sightseeing from the sky (based in Goreme).

On the way to Cappadocia from Ankara

Suburb Nevsehir: Can you spot how many mosques on one hill?

Rock-house in the hill in Gore

Based in Ankara, we went to Cappadocia by car and it took around 3 hours. We surpassed Golbasi (Gulbashi), Tuz Golu and Aksaray before we arrived in Nevsehir town. Before that, please remember, the fuel price in Turkey is quite expensive - more less RM8/litre (USD 3.60/liter). So, don't hassle and prepare your money if you decide to travel by car. As I mentioned above, there are many interesting places in Cappadocia and I didn't manage to cover all of them as I had only 24hours to spend. I started with Kaymakli underground city. There are few underground cities but from what I heard Kaymakli is the widest underground city in Cappadocia. The other underground city in Derinkuyu which is the deepest underground city (many layers). The entrance fees is TRL 15 per head. Generally this underground city was occupied by ancient Christians in Turkey who seek protection and shelter from the Roman assault (during the Christianity expansion period in Europe). That's why we could find church/chapel in the underground city. Besides there were living rooms, food and wine storage and kitchen and meeting room. Anybody who had visited the Cu Chi tunnel in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam will have the same feeling about this place. I'll discuss about this underground city in detail later. After having our lunch and bought some souvenirs, we went to the small town of Uchisar (not the Sasuke Uchiha ya!). Here, we visited the famous Uchisar castle - castle in a rocky hill. Seems like a big anthill. I wonder how the ancient people make the hole inside the hill. Anybody who want to feel how to be an ancient trader, you could ride a camel with only TRL 5, located near the shops in this area.

Entrance to Kaymakli Underground City from the main road

Kaymakli Underground City

Souvenirs shops

Inside the underground city

Uchisar castle in Uchisar

Uchisar castle

A camel was waitin his prey in Uchisar. Huhuhuhu...

Moment later, he got it. Feeewiiiiitttt! a Japanese lady. Yeah, I'm a trader from Yokohama!

From Uchisar, we passed through pigeon valley where you might see the rock houses and headed to Goreme. Along the road, we found few panoramic view observation points. The scenery was outstanding. If you have more time, just try the air balloon trip. I'm sure you'll excited. There are few companies offering that service:

Company #1

Company #2

Company #3

Our next stop was Goreme Open Air Museum. Click here. There are many churches inside this museum. Compared to underground city, the ancient dwellers cut the hill to create rooms and churches. You'll find beautifully decorated churches in this museum. The entrance fees is TRL 15. Our final destination was Urgup. Urgup is actually a hilly area that accommodates the rock-cut town. There are hotels, restaurants and houses in the rock-cut hills. Urgup town is bigger than Goreme and Uchisar town. There is hospital, town hall, retail shops, banks, transportation workshops and other commercial business centre. After pray and having some rest at kebab restaurant, we returned to Ankara. Thanks to Allah because initially it should be heavy shower in Cappadocia as predicted in the weather forecast. However, the climate had changed and we left Cappadocia with smile and grateful in our heart.