The town of fairies: Göreme

I always heard lots of stories about the beauty of Cappadocia. Apparently, this part of Turkey is able to inspire visitors a mystic feeling of worship, stupor and respect. Its bewitching landscape of spectacularly eroded tuff fields, extinct volcanoes, and capped-cones (called "fairy chimneys") made this region in Central Anatolia famous worldwide.


From my side, I can undersign all you can hear about this amazing place. Entering the area around Göreme, Urgup, and Nevşehir, means discovering a mind-blowing new world, something close to what Alice must have felt entering in Wonderland.

Particularly spectacular is The Goreme Open-Air Museum:
"The Goreme Open-Air Museum resembles a vast monastic complex composed of scores of refectory monasteries placed side-by-side, each with its own fantastic church. It is obviously the first sight to be visited by any traveler in Cappadocia, standing as it does in the very center of the region with easy access from all directions. (...) It contains the finest of the rock-cut churches, with beautiful frescoes (wall paintings) whose colors still retain all their original freshness. It also presents unique examples of rock hewn architecture and fresco technique. The Goreme Open Air Museum has been a member of UNESCO World Heritage List since 1984, and was one of the first two UNESCO sites in Turkey.

The area covered by this Open Air Museum forms a coherent geographical entity and represents historical unity. There are eleven refectories within the Museum, with rock-cut churches tables and benches. Each is associated with a church. Most of the churches in Goreme Open Air Museum belong to the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries."

Well, enough writing, let's move to some pictures from the The Goreme Open-Air Museum!

PS: Unfortunately, due to bad time management and wrong intelligence information, I missed some among the (allegedly) most amazing churches in the area: Elmali Church (11th century), the Yilani Church (contains the depictions of the Saints that are respected in Cappadoccia - 11th century), the Karanlik or Dark Church (cross-vaulted, with frescos from the 11th century), and - above all - the Tokali or Buckle Church (presents chronological scenes from the life of Christ, and a number of saints).

PPS: You can find more pictures and info here and here.

No, it's not Mount Fuji...





From the bus





Dawn in Cappadocia

That's when you understand you took the right bus...





Welcome to Cappadocia!





Eroded tuff fields

Fairy chimneys

Goreme: troglodyte dwellings are dominating the city which lies below

The Kizlar Monastery, right after the gates of the Goreme Open-Air Museum





View of the valley from the Goreme Open-Air Museum

Ehm... Turkish pigeons. But you can see some very old tuff beneath their feet! :)

Remainings of one of the biggest monasteries carved in the hill

A fresco





Decorations of the ceiling in one of the chapels (Maybe St. Barbara Chapel, but not sure)

A fresco in the St. Barbara Chapel. It depicts St. Georgius and St. Theodorus killing the dragon

Entry door to a monk's cell

Stairs leading to a group of cells, refectories and churches





Landscape from the highest monastery

Accesses to cells, churches and refectories

Inside one of the most important churches (don't ask which one)





A double-layer church

I like taking some old style pictures from time to time...

Inside one of the chapels

Greek cross decoration

View from a street - downtown





View from the main square

Goreme from the bus station