Ortahisar/Soganli or Ihlara

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. ...

There's a St. Catherine's Chapel at Göreme - http://www.goreme.org/churches/catherine/index.htm

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

Thanks, David.
That's an excellent website you pointed to.
Cheers, Meeuw

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 ...

Thanks for all the suggestions.

We went to Gulsehir and Ortahisar today (among other places)- definitely worth visiting. Gulsehir's Open Air Palace ruins are nice and quiet, and the church is beautiful and photography is allowed. Ortahisar's castle is a good viewpoint. Also wanted to visit the church there but it seems to be closed.

We will visit Ihlara in the coming two days. Our balloon ride was cancelled today- hopefully the weather is fine tomorrow!

Paşabağı (aka Monks Valley) near Avanos is one of my person favorite places in Cappadocia. If driving north from Göreme to Avanos on Göreme Yolu, turn right just past the business named Çavuşin Seramik at the north edge of the village of Çavuşin. The little road is supposedly names "Paşabağı Yolu" but I seriously doubt that it is marked. After a couple hundred meters take the first (I think) right on a little dirt/gravel road and drive to the edge of a gorge. GREAT scenery and WONDERFUL hiking right around there. Then continue on Paşabağı Yolu for a few hundred more meters to take a right on Zelve Yolu (a decent sized road) for about 1/2 km to the main parking area for Paşabağı on the right. Immediately across the street from the parking area is a great little place for lunch/snack/etc. An old woman there rolls out the extremely thin little bread wrappers (I forget the name) for meat/vegetable fillings of various types--they're rather common but hers seem especially good and it was my best Turkish friends' favorite place for such.

So, the reason I couldn't figure out where that monastery was? Had completely the wrong name haha. It's the Selime Monastery, or Cathedral. My bad, sorry :P I have no idea where I got St Katherine's from!

@ Mike......gözleme.How could you forget??

@ Mike......gözleme.How could you forget??

I seemed to think it had something with an eye (göz) and observation (gözleme) but it seemed kind of stupid when I thought about it too much... I also get confused because the Turkish translate it to "waffle" but to me it's nothing like a waffle--more like an incredibly thinly rolled dumpling.

By the way... I made fresh chicken stock today so we get chicken and dumplings for dinner. I wish you and Necete were here to share.

The Turkish friends we used to stay with in Cappadocia (now Istanbul as they moved) seem to like it when we visit as I come back early and make dinner in my weird AmeriTürk style. I must admit enjoying springtime in Istanbul as we'd encounter a street bazaar nearly every day and I could find great and wonderfully fresh food. They'd never eaten fresh shelled green (English) peas lightly boiled and with a touch of butter and fell in love with them.

Well the verb gözlemek means to watch,to observe closely and I guess when cooking gözleme you do need to watch closely so they don't burn as they cook so quickly,so the name makes sense.I too wouldn't call them a waffle;more a Turkish style pancake with sweet or savoury fillings.Oh I want one NOW!

Hey I can't believe those friends have never eaten fresh peas(they haven't lived!),the pazars are full of them right now and either shelling them or ,if they are very young,cooking them as mange tout is well known here.In fact at the weekend a friend have me a great big bag of them fresh from her garden....I'd scoffed a good amount of them by the time I got home haa haa.

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.