Itinerary in the mysterious  Cappadocia

Written by Maria Syritzidou 

A magical place...like a fairy tale but also a place full of emotion...since for the Greeks it is their old lost homelands...'This is how I could characterize Cappadocia.

We started in the evening with our excursion coach to avoid the fatigue of the many kilometers.

After crossing the Dardanelles Straits by the impressive Canakale Bridge built in 1915, we arrived in Bursa, Turkey's fourth largest city with a population of around 2,500,000. In this bustling city we admired the monument of Karagiozis and enjoyed the view of the city from above.

We then visited one of the very famous local markets as the town is known for its silks and embroidery.

The Ulucami Mosque is also worth a visit.

High above the city, its castle dominates, which is imposing and the view from it takes your breath away.

After Bursa we left for the province of Cappadocia with the first stop being Avanos, a town in the province of Nevsehir. This town is famous for its ceramics and pottery. You can take a walk on the banks of the river Aly or red river while the panoramic view from the highest point of the city is impressive.

After our breakfast we started for the northern part of Cappadocia and specifically for the Pasabagh Valley or the Monks Valley. There we encountered some of nature's most impressive carved wonders.

Next is the famous Gioreme where we saw amazing conical formations of porous stone, a rare sight of the rugged nature of Cappadocia. The place includes more than 360 carved cave churches built between the 7th and 13th centuries. We visited many of them and admired their wonderful hagiographies.

Our next stop is Caesarea, the hometown of Saint Basil and Saint Gregory of Nyssa. It is a large and industrialized city in Turkey. Greek churches and chapels, a few old mansions are still preserved in the city, while its Archaeological Museum with ancient Greek and Roman exhibits located inside its imposing castle is admirable.

Next we visited Prokopi. At its highest point in the old town is the house where Saint John the Russian lived and died. Further down we admired old Greek mansions while a little later we visited Sinassos, the area that carries a heavy architectural heritage. An amazing example of this architecture is the mansion of Loios Rizos who wrote the book Cappadocia. These mansions of the Greeks were abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century. Finally we saw the church of Saints Constantine and Helen.

A little later we made our next stop at Malakopi, the best preserved underground state of Cappadocia. Here there are underground corridors, rooms, chapels that form whole multi-storey labyrinths. It is an incredibly shocking sight. Today, only 5 floors out of a total of seven can be visited.

What can one say about the Ikhlara area with its icon-painting and carved churches. We went down to the Melendiz River and had a walk through the amazing canyon. There we also enjoyed a tea by the river which really cooled us down.

Our last stop was Karvali where we visited the church of Saint Gregory the Theologian.

An incredibly beautiful point of the trip is the TUZ GOLU lake. This lake is the second largest lake in Turkey and contains plenty of salt on which you can walk and do Grounding (walking barefoot on the lake) an activity that really relaxes mind and body.

Of course, the most impressive part of the excursion was the hot air balloon ride. We started very early in the morning for the hot air balloon valley. The ride over the Goreme valley is spectacular. Countless colorful balloons wandering in the air. Unique experience!

Don't miss to eat Giusleme a type of crepe with cheese, drink Jeni raki (a type of tsipouro) and eat Pastourma in one of the very nice shops of their market.

Cappadocia has so much to offer you, so many images, tastes and aromas that cannot fit into one trip. It is a place with an incredible aura, magical like a fairy tale and that you will definitely want to visit again!!!