Hi
In Goreme today- visited the amazing Goreme Open Air Museum today. I am thinking of other towns with churches and beautiful valleys. Ihlara has been recommended though I would not like to travel very far unless they're amazing, and would prefer to avoid too many crowds.
I am reading about Soganli and Ortahisar- they're much closer than Ihlara and seem nice. I will have a car so transport is not a problem. Would you recommend these towns over Ihlara? Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Ansh
Ihlara isn't terribly far from Goreme. It is part of the Green tour that you see advertised by virtually every tour organisation in the town centre, and that is just a day trip which takes in multiple sites. Whether it's amazing probably depends on your experience with similar landscapes before. I'm from Australia and the environment in the canyon (it's more of a canyon than a valley) reminded me very much of Australia. The churches carved into the canyon walls were pretty similar to what you get in Goreme, although with better paintings. Cannot speak for Soganli and Ortahisar.
The St Katherine's monastery was pretty cool and quite different to the other churches we saw in the area.
I would vote for Ihlara. It's a beautiful place for easy hiking (weather permitting), and makes a good change from some of the other things you will see in Cappadocia.
Where is the "St Katherine's monastery"? Could not find it on several webpages about Ihlara. Does it have a different name in Turkish?
Hi Ansh
Hope you're enjoying Turkey!
I like Ihlara....I think it is well worth the trip.The' Green Tour' mentioned above includes it as well as a couple of other interesting sights. ...
Thanks for the replies all- and yeah, I am really enjoying Turkey!
So Ihlara is back on.
How about Gulsehir? Anyone been there? Lookf quite out of the way but if I am take a taxi as opposed to a shuttle back to Nevsehir airport, I can probably check it out.
cheers
Hi Meeuw - sorry, I should have been clearer. The monastery is not in the Ihlara Valley, I was just referring to other cool places to see in the area. I don't think it's the chapel david refers to - it's a bit difficult to tell from the photos on that link, although I will google it a bit more to see if I can find other photos. I'm currently at work so can't check my photos of it - when I get home I will check. I think I took a photo of the sign and it might have an alternative name on it.
Edit: no, the place I'm referring to is not in Goreme, so would not be the place david is referring to. I will keep looking!
If you have a car, why not go to Hacibektas? It's across the other side of Nevsehir (Although when I asked 'google' for directions between Goreme and Hacibektas it went through Avanos rather than Neveshir).
It's quite different from the rest of the countryside. I've only gone by dolmus from Nevsehir, so a different route, but we went past the airport turn-off (near where there is a church signposted) and on through Gulsehir (pretty town) and on through a river valley. 'google' gives options which pass through Gulsehir or a slightly longer one past Ozkonak underground city.
I'll leave you to look up the places mentioned ...
