Cappadocia, Turkey

Cappadocia is this huge region in the middle of Turkey and Goreme is only this tiny portion of it. So we’ve lost one day recovering, one day exploring Goreme’s valley’s and open air museums. Some of the people we met at the hostel actually suggested joining them on a tour. After a bit of debate we hesitantly agreed to do a tour only because I wanted to visit this Ihlara Valley which you can only get to if you have a car or if you do this tour. Public transportation to this Valley seemed almost nonexistent.

Giant rolling door to the underground city.

We drive out a few hours from Goreme to these rolling hills and fields of nothingness. Off in the distance you can see an inactive volcano. We arrive in this flat town in Derinkuyu and in the middle of it is this endless underground city. This place is massive. It goes down eleven floors, it could accommodate up to fifty thousand people, and even a wine press room. This rolling door was used to keep out enemies.

Wai lounging at the bottom Ihlara Valley

I thought this place was bad ass. Too bad we were stuck with a tour group because it seems like there’s so much to explore and hike around in this valley. Supposedly it would take a day to walk the entire length of the Valley, or maybe the brochure said you could spend a day hiking here. The reason this place appealed to me was because it’s in the middle of nowhere, flat fields and small rolling hills and then this anomaly of a canyon with its steep walls. In the middle of our hike was a small rugged snack/café place with benches in the middle of the creek, an easy place to take off your shoes and take a nap.

Staring up at the remains of the Selhime Monastery.

At the end of the valley was an opening and at one of the corners was this maze of a Monastery. Supposedly there was ways to climb all the way to the top inside the carved out passageways, but apparently it was too dark, steep, and dangerous. We at least took our flashlights to check out the entrance of this passage way.