Turkey 🇹🇷 ~Cappadocia The Beautiful Lhara Valley Canyon, Krater Lake and Mt Hasan”
On our first full day in Gorme, we took a tour. It was reasonably priced, and it was nice to sit back and let somebody else drive the long miles, instead of us, this one time. Another bonus of having a driver, was the hike we got to do through the canyon. We walked down into the gorge floor, and crossed the long trail, but was met by the driver at the other end, saving the long hike back up the canyon wall. It is still so hot during the day. Sweet!
We also enjoyed one other couple who were with us on the tour. They were a cute couple from Turkey, on vacation. She spoke a little English, and we all managed to communicate, somehow and enjoy tea breaks and lunch, together. A very memorable experience.
Ihlara Valley is the most famous valley in Turkey, for hiking excursions with its nature and cave churches. Ihlara, which is almost a 10 miles long gorge, cuts into the volcanic rock, and holds about 60 Byzantine churches, chapels and monasteries.
Located in Cappadocia region of Turkey, the dramatic Ihlara (Peristrema) Valley is one of the most famous gorges in the world. The valley opens itself out to you, revealing the secret of how it is a rare and tactful symbol of nature, humanity, history and art in harmony.
It has an incredibly beautiful atmosphere with its churches carved into the valley, caves and the view of Melendiz Stream. In each step, you come across a different period of the history. It is believed that the valley housed more than four thousand dwellings and a hundred cave churches decorated with frescoes. Around eighty thousand people once lived in Ihlara Valley.
Ihlara Valley, with the Melendiz Stream running along the bottom of it, is a magnificent place to visit, no matter what the time of year. It offers a fairly straightforward walk with spectacular landscape to explore along the way. The Valley leads as a religious center instead of a settlement. Hundreds of old frescoed churches engraved on both sides of the valley are amazing!
This ten mile-long Valley starts at Ihlara and end at Selime. The height of the valley reaches almost 500 feet.
Rock carved frescos in the orthodox church
Hike complete, and time to go to the next stop. The A/C in the van dent really good! We were told the hike was only about a mile or so. Ha!
Mount Hasan is part of a larger volcanic province in Central Anatolia known as the Central Anatolian or Cappadocian Volcanic Province, which includes ignimbrites, monogenetic volcanic fields and stratovolcanoes such as Mount Erciyes, Mount Hasan, Karacadağ and Melendiz Dağ.
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About Us
Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More