Sights in Göreme
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Göreme Open-Air Museum
One of Turkey's World Heritage sites, the Göreme Open-Air Museum is an essential stop on any Cappadocian itinerary. A cluster of rock-cut Byzantine churches, chapels and monasteries 1km uphill from the centre of the village, it deserves at least a two-hour visit.
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Karanlık Kilise
The stunning fresco-filled Karanlık Kilise, is the most famous of the Open-Air Museum's churches. It took its name from the fact that it originally had very few windows. Luckily this lack of light preserved the vivid colour of the frescoes, which show, among other things, Christ as Pantocrator, Christ on the cross and the Betrayal by Judas. The church was restored at great expense, which partly explains the extra fee to visit it.
However, the charge is also intended to keep numbers down in an attempt to preserve the frescoes. It's worth every lira.
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Tokalı Kilise
When you exit the museum, don't forget to cross the road and visit the Tokalı Kilise , 50m back down the hill towards Göreme on the right. This is among the biggest and finest of the Göreme churches, with fabulous frescoes in the two main chambers, and two smaller chapels (one underground). Entry is via the 10th-century 'old' Tokalı Kilise, through the barrel-vaulted chamber covered with frescoes portraying the life of Christ.
The 'new' church, built less than a hundred years later, is also alive with frescoes on a similar theme.
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Refectory
A few steps from the Yılanlı Kilise, don't miss the Refectory , with its long dining table and benches cut from the rock. At the end of the table is a trough in the floor that was probably used for pressing grapes. Attached to the refectory is a larder, where you can see storage shelves carved into the walls, and a kitchen. Another smaller, nameless church here retains a rock-cut iconostasis.
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Roman Castle
Göreme village, set amid cones and pinnacles of volcanic tuff, is its own biggest attraction. At its centre is the so-called Roman Castle, a fairy chimney with a rock-cut Roman tomb; you can see the remains of the column tops on the temple façade. Some think Göreme may have been a burial ground for the Romans of Venasa (now Avanos).
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Yılanlı Kilise
The Yılanlı Kilise has 11th-century frescoes on part of the vault. On the left wall, St George and St Theodore attack the dragon, while Constantine the Great and his mother Helena hold the True Cross. On the right wall, the naked St Onuphrius, a hermit from Egypt, hides his nudity behind a date palm frond.
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Rahibeler Manastırı
Rahibeler Manastırı. Although this was originally several storeys high, today you can only see what is thought to be the large plain dining hall, with steps up to a small chapel (with unremarkable frescoes). To its right is the similar Monk's Monastery
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El Nazar Kilise
On the road between Göreme and the Open-Air Museum, a sign points to the El Nazar Kilise . Carved out of a fairy chimney, the church has been restored but is of marginal interest. It's a pretty 10-minute walk from the main road.
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Saklı Kilise
Back towards the Open-Air Museum is another sign pointing to the Saklı Kilise, tucked away behind the small shop Hikmet's Place. You'll have to ask Hikmet not just for the key but also to help you find it.
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Aziz Basil Şapeli
Follow the cobbled path until you reach Aziz Basil Şapeli. It's rather dark inside because the main room is off to the left, away from the door. The grate-covered holes in the floor were graves.
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Çarıklı Kilise
The Çarıklı Kilise is named for the footprints marked in the floor opposite the doorway. One of the best frescoes (in the arch over the door to the left) shows the Betrayal by Judas.
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