NEVSEHIR
The
road to Nevsehir and Cappadocia passes through Hacibektas, the town where
Haci Bektas Veli settled and established his Bektas Sufi order in the 14th
century. The dervishes who followed the sect's tenets of love and humanism
were housed in the monastery which includes a mausoleum and mosque. The
complex is now a museum open to the public. 
Onyx,
plentiful in the region, was used by the disciples of this order and has
come to be called Hacibektas stone. In town there are many onyx souvenirs
for sale. It is worth stopping to wander through the interesting Archaeological
and Ethnographical Museum. Nevsehir, a provincial capital, is the gateway
to Cappadocia. In the town itself the hilltop Seljuk castle, perched
on the highest point in the city, and the Kursunlu Mosque, built for the
Grand Vizier Damat Ibrahim Pasha, are among the remaining historical buildings.
The mosque forms part of a complex of buildings which includes a medrese,
a hospice and a library. An ablution fountain in the courtyard still bears
its original inscription. The Nevsehir Museum displays local artifacts.
Violent eruptions of the volcanoes Mt. Erciyes (391 6 meters) and Mt. Hasan
(3268 meters) three million years ago covered the plateau surrounding Nevsehir
with tufa, a soft stone comprised of lava, ash and mud. The wind and rain
have eroded this brittle rock and created a spectacular surrealist landscape
of rock cones, capped pinnacles and fretted ravines, in colors that range
from warm reds and gold to cool greens and grays.
GÖREME
Goreme,
known in Roman times as 
Cappadocia,
is one of those rare regions in the world where the works of man blend
unobtrusively into the natural surroundings. Dwellings have been hewn from
the rock as far back as 4,000 B.C. During Byzantine times chapels and monasteries
were hollowed out of the rock, their ochre toned frescoes reflecting the
hues of the surrounding landscape. Even today troglodyte dwellings in rock
cones and village houses of volcanic tuff merge harmoniously into the landscape.
The Goreme open-air Museum, a monastic complex of rock churches and chapels
covered with frescoes, is one of the best known sites in central Turkey.
Most of the chapels date from the 10th to the 13th century, the Byzantine
and Seljuk periods, and many of them are built on an inscribed cross plan
with a central cupola supported by four columns. In the narthexes
of several churches are rock cut tombs. Among the most famous of the Goreme
churches are the Elmali Kilise, the smallest and newest of the group; the
Yilanli Kilise with fascinating frescoes of the damned in serpent coils;
the Barbara Kilisesi; and the Carikli Kilise. A short way from the main
group, the Tokali Kilise, or Buckle Church, has beautiful frescoes depicting
scenes from the New 
Testament.
The town of Goreme itself is set right in the middle of a valley of cones
and fairy chimneys. Some of the cafes, restaurants and guest houses are
carved into the rock. For shoppers, rugs and kilims are plentiful. Continuing
on the road out of Goreme, you enter one of the most beautiful valleys
in the area. Rock formations seemingly out of a fantasy rise up before
you at every turn and entice you to look longer and wonder at their creation.
For those who climb the steps to the top of the Uchisar Fortress the whole
region unfolds below. Rugs and kilims, and popular souvenirs can easily
be purchased from the shops which line Ughisar's narrow streets. At Cavusin,
on the road leading north out of Goreme, you will find a triple apse church
and the monastery of St. John the Baptist. In the town are chapels and
churches, and some of the rock houses are still inhabited. From Cavusin
to Zelve fairy chimneys line the road. Unfortunately, it is dangerous to
visit the churches in the valley because erosion has undermined solid footing.
ÜRGÜP
Urgup, a lively
tourist center at the foot of a rock riddled with old dwellings, serves
as an excellent base from which to tour the sights of Cappadocia. In Urgup
itself you can still see how people once lived in homes cut into the rocks.
If you wish to buy carpets and kilims, there is a wide selection available
from the town's many carpet dealers. These characters are as colorful as
their carpets, offering tea, coffee or a glass of wine to their customers
and engaging in friendly conversation. If sightseeing and shopping haven't
exhausted you, the disco welcomes you to another kind of entertainment.
At the center of a successful wine producing region, Urgup hosts an annual
International Wine Festival in October.
AROUND
ÜRGÜP
Leaving Urgup
and heading to the south, you reach the lovely isolated Pancarlik Valley
where you can stop to see the 12th century church with its splendid frescoes,
and the Kepez church which dates from the tenth century. Continuing on
to the typical village of Mustafapasa (Sinasos), the traditional stone
houses with carved and decorated facades evoke another age. Still traveling
in a southerly direction, just past the village of Cemil, a footpath on
the west side of the road leads to Keslik Valley where you will find a
monastery complex and the Kara Kilise and Meyvali churches, both of which
are decorated with frescoes. Back on the main road you come to the village
of Taskinpasa where the 14th century Karamanid Mosque and Mausoleum Complex,
and the remains of a medrese portal on the edge of town, make for a pleasant
diversion. The next village is Sahinefendi where the 12th century Kirksehitler
church, with beautiful frescoes, stands at the end of a footpath 500 meters
east of the village. Soganli, 50 km south of Urgup, is a picturesque valley
of innumerable chapels, churches, halls, houses and tombs. The frescoes,
from the 8th to the 13th century, trace the development of Byzantine painting.
Four kilometers north of Urgup is the wonderful Devrent Valley where the
weather has eroded the stone into peaks, cones and obelisks called fairy
chimneys. Two kilometers to the west, in the Catalkaya Valley, the fairy
chimneys have a peculiar Mushroom like shape, which has been adopted as
a symbol of the town.
