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 Touristic Guide for Turkish Cities - 5 Dreams For Sale Popular culture in the 20th century. |
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 Cappadocia and Underground CitiesCappadocia occupies the centre of Turkey, the region between the Black Sea in the north and the Taurus Mountains, between the capital Ankara and the city of Malatya to the east. Famous for its spectacular natural rock formations and valleys, Goreme National Park, as it is known today, is strewn with underground cities, stone chapels, monasteries and dwellings that were hewn out of the eroded volcanic rock from as long ago as 400 BC.
Urgup
Thousands of years of wind and rain erosion on a landscape of soft volcanic stone topped with hardened larva caps has created a fascinating landscape of rock cones and pinnacles that are known as ‘fairy chimneys’. The Valley of Fairy Chimneys is the most popular area, roughly within the triangle formed by the three main towns of the region, Avanos, Urgup and the main transport hub of Nevsehir.
Outside the triangle to the south are the remarkable underground cities of Derinkuyu and Kaymakli, where layers of tunnels and an intricate system of caves hid generations of settlers and sheltered early Christians fleeing persecution. The Ilhara Canyon is another religious hideaway with more than 100 painted churches and about 4,000 dwellings carved into the rock walls or concealed within the cliffs; its river bed and lush vegetation stand in stark contrast to the dusty, seemingly barren land above.
Cave dwellings, ancient monasteries and painted chapels are well camouflaged, with entranceways that are barely noticeable among a landscape of perforated cliff walls and rock fissures. Houses of volcanic stone blend unobtrusively into the natural surroundings, pigmented in natural shades of ochre and yellow, to pinks, greys and greens, and many people still inhabit the cones and chimney formations. In tourist towns such as Goreme, delightful little hotels and pensions are built partially into the rock or are housed within a rock cone and offer cave-style rooms.
Goreme
The small town of Goreme is situated in the middle of the Valley of Fairy Chimneys, surrounded by the eerie shapes and fantastic rock formations that have made the region famous. It is one of the few remaining villages where fairy chimneys and rock-hewn houses are still inhabited, and several pensions, restaurants and cafes are carved into the rock.
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TURKEYIts biggest attraction is the Goreme Open-Air museum with over 30 beautifully frescoed Byzantine rock churches. The town makes an excellent base from which to explore the surrounding rock formations, villages, vineyards and attractions. For shoppers, carpets and kilims are plentiful.
Goreme Open-Air Museum
The Goreme Open-Air Museum is the most visited of the monastic communities in Cappadocia and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. It is a complex comprising more than 30 rock-hewn churches and chapels containing some superb frescoes, dating from the 9th to the 11th centuries. Inconspicuous from the outside, the interiors are characteristically Byzantine with a central dome and a floor plan in the shape of a cross. The three columned churches, the Elmali, Karanlik and Carikli churches are the best known, and are superbly painted. The largest and best preserved is the Tokali Church, its interior walls covered in some of the richest frescoes in the region depicting scenes from the New Testament.
The Underground Cities of Derinkuyu and Kaymakli
Central Cappadocia was overlooked by most as a dusty, infertile and barren landscape, making it a perfect refuge for the early Christians who established the first Christian communities here. They carved chambers, vaults and labyrinthine tunnels into the soft volcanic rock for use as churches, stables and homes. Of the 40 underground cities and settlements discovered in the area, Derinkuyu and Kaymakli are the biggest and most interesting, inhabited by Christians fleeing persecution in the 7th century and hiding from Arab invasions.
These cities were well-hidden complexes, a safe and self-sufficient environment that could accommodate up to 30,000 people. The most thoroughly excavated is Derinkuyu, consisting of eight floors with stables, a school room and dining hall, churches, kitchens, living quarters, wine cellars, store rooms and a dungeon. Original airshafts still function and the maze of tunnels and rooms are well lit. Kaymakli is similar but smaller with only five of its levels having been excavated so far.
Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia
With its high mountain ranges, remote plateaus, lakes and river beds splashed with colour, plus some of the best Turkish architecture anywhere, this region of Anatolia brings history to life. Sivas, Divrigi, Erzurum, Battalgazi, Harput, and Ahlat, allcities in this region, were important centres of Seljuk art. In Eastern Anatolia are the cities of Agri, Bingol, Bitlis, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Hakkari, Kars, Malatya, Mus, Tunceli, Van, Ardahan and Igdir, while in the southeast are the largercities of Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Mardin, Siirt, Sanliurfa, Batman, Sirnak and Kilis. Travelling around the east is more challenging, with huge distances between towns, extremes of climate and fewer facilities, but this is amply compensated bythe remote beauty, relatively unspoilt scenery and of course hospitality of the people.
Mount Ararat
The city of Erzurum is located on a large plane at an altitude of 1950 metres, and contains many religious schools, tombs and mosques from both the Seljuk and Ottoman period. Kars, in the far northeast, is famous for its castle, and nearby Ocakli (Ani)is a historical city with rich architecture from the 10th and 11th centuries.Mount Ararat (Agri Dagi), whose peak soars up to 5165 metres, is significant to different religions. It is believed that after the Flood, in which all humanity was destroyed, Noah’s ark came to rest on Mount Ararat and as the waters receded, Noah andhis family settled on the nearby plane of Igdir.
Ishak Pasha
As their numbers increased, they eventually spread along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to other parts of Anatolia. Accordingly, Igdir is seen as the centre from which the second generation of humanitymultiplied and again spread over the world.The magnificent palace complex of Ishak Pasa, which looks down onto Dogubeyazit, was built in the late 17th century by the Ottoman governor Ishak Pasa. The location and appearance of the castle is stunning, and is made up of a kitchen unit, a mosqueand separate womens and mens quarters.
Lake Van is one of the highlights of the country and a tour of the entire lake should be made in order to experience the full range of beauty, including beautiful mountain silhouettes, bays, beaches, islands and important centres of Turkish culture andart. The city of Van, on the southeast of the lake, was the capital city of the Urartu empire and Van Castle, built around 1000 BC, is a marvellous example of that age.
The Lake of Van
South of Van, the city of Edremit is a poplar vacation spot famous for its beaches, campsites and restaurants. On the island of Akdamar is a museum which was originally a 10th century church. As the Tigris and Euphrates flow towards the planesof Mesopotamia, they pass through an important region of Anatolia which contains the cities of Diyarbakir, Mardin, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa and Gaziantep, which is the oldest cultural settlement centre in Anatolia. North of Diyarbakir is Cayonu, the mostimportant neolithic settlement of the area. The basalt walls of Diyarbakir, which are more than 5km long, are the longest city walls in the country.Mardin is one of the few cities in the country that has preserved its traditional aesthetic architecture, and is unique also because of its unusual location on top of a hill.
The prophet Abraham, who is the father of three different religions,is believed to have lived in Sanliurfa and Harran and so are considered to be sacred places.The Ataturk Dam, built in Bozova near Sanliurfa, is the biggest in Turkey and the fourth largest in the world, and the area around Harran will be the most productive agricultural region of the country.
Gaziantep is the most important industrial andagricultural area in southeastern Anatolia, and best known for its special varieties of kebap, lahmacun and baklava, and its Antep pistachios
Nemrut Mountain
Northeast of Adiyaman, on top of Mount Nemrut (Nemrut Dag) is the mausoleum made for the Commagene King, Antiochus I.
On the east and west of the memorial grave site are the terraces where rituals were carried out, and of course the world famous hugestatues of the gods, which are best experienced at sunrise or sunset. Malatya is an important industrial and agricultural region on the lower Euphrates, famous for its apricots and the 13th century Ulu Cami mosque in Battalgazi with its beautifulglazed tiles.
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