Cappadocia Fairy Chimneys

Gorgeous Goreme

Cappadocia Fairy Chimneys

Cappadocia has become synonymous with eroded valleys dotted with rock pillars known as fairy chimneys.  Why are they here?  Is this landscape really unique?  Where is the best place to see fairy chimneys?  In this post we discuss several places but three are especially worthwhile.

Paşabagh

First, we drove to Çavuşin and saw some old buildings and caves cut into the cliff.  Many old buildings are now being turned into hotels.  The locals want to cash into the tourism industry.
 

Then we drove on a side road to Paşabagh.  Here there was a caravan of tour buses to visit the rocks that locals call fairy chimneys.  Actually, these formations are more massive than chimneys.
  

 

Many paved walking trails meander around slender tree trunks and massive rock trunks, some of which were used as cave homes by hermit monks.  They would be appalled by all the tourists today. 
 

In spite of all the people, this is still one of the two places to see.  The best overall view can be found by climbing the trail that starts south of the formations.  You'll get an unimpeded view from above.  You won't be alone.

A bit further is Zelve Open Air Museum, with more rock formations.
 

Hoodoos

By the way, the correct word for these formations is hoodoo as per Wikipedia: “A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland.”  



Bryce Canyon Winter Magic

 

 

Cappadocia, contrary to some web sites, is not unique in the world.  The process is the same whether the hoodoos are in Bryce Canyon (Utah, U.S.), Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada), or Goreme (Cappadocia).  Each of these places is special it is own way.  Bryce is beautiful for its hoodoo forest, especially when capped with snow in the winter. 



Fred the Camel and his Pyramid



Dinosaur Provincial Park is the world's richest source of Jurassic-era dinosaur fossils.  Most of the fossil "skeletons" in top museums around the world originate where Fred the Camel lives.
 

Cappadocia has larger, more spectacular hoodoos.  This eerie landscape may look like a scene on the moon but it cannot be since the moon has neither sedimentation nor erosion.  Hoodoos have layers of soft rock protected by a harder cap rock.  The cap rock protects the softer layers from erosion.  The soft layers are laid down by sedimentation.  

The difference in Cappadocia was that deposits of ash, lava and basalt were laid down by three volcanoes. Two of these volcanoes are now just a volcanic plugs (vertical lava column that hardened and the rest of the volcano eroded away) we now call Uchisar (last post) and Ortahısar (see below).  The volcanic activity occurred as far back as 65 million years ago when the Taurus Mountains were formed 

Camel Rock, Devrent Valley

The hoodoos appeared after this period due to erosion in a hot, dry climate.  If there was more rain then the erosion would have been completed in a very short time and there would be no hoodoos at all. 

Devrent Valley, which is also in this area, we did not find as interesting.  There is not much left of these hoodoos other than the Camel Rock. 

 

  

Love Valley Hike

Phallic Fairy Chimneys

Love Valley starts at a turn off from the main highway just before Çavuşin, I did a one hour walk through apricot and apple trees to see stunning phallic fairy chimneys of all shapes and sizes.  My sister nicknamed this the “Penis Forest”. 

  

Ionic Columns?

The plus side was there were few tourists — only one family and another couple.  There were no tour buses here when we went.  As a result I definitely enjoyed this area the most.  It's just a short hike to the beginning of the "Stone Forest". 

Ürgüp

Ogling Ortahisar

From here we went to Ürgüp for lunch.  On the main street in the centre of town, we had a döner for merely TRY 3 ($1.50) each!!  The ice cream across the street was TRY 6 ($3) for four tiny scoops but it was quite good. 

Ortahısar

From Ürgüp we went to nearby Ortahısar.  We heard a restaurant there not only was very good but had a great view. 

 

Ortahisar Close-up

That really was a stellar view point of another volcanic plug that was used as a fortress (hisar).  Wow!! 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile all the tour buses go to the entrance to climb the fortress where once again there are wall to wall tourist stalls and shops. 

 

 

However, there were some good people pictures in a very atmospheric old city.

Then we came back to Göreme and got some cold water at the grocery — only 1 TL for 1.5 L.  Some hotels and restaurants charge 2 or 3 TL for 0.5 or 0.75 L.    We did not buy a case of bottled water.  You can easily get 1.5 L at a gas station for c. 1 TL; i.e. they do not overcharge.  But mainly, we use a steri-pen to sterilize water.  

 

 

Pigeon Valley Hike

From here we went on part of the Pigeon Valley Hike for circa 45 mins. It had lots of birds — this is where the locals collected bird dung.  The road-like trail had two walk-through "caves" but few interesting hoodoos so I turned back.

 

Zemi Valley Hike

Zemi Valley Hike is often overlooked but another very worthwhile trail.  You can drive for a little bit (about 2 km along this road to a field with a sign saying no further car travel).  From here, the road-like trail (there are three trails but sign-posted) was pleasant with more phallic and pyramid hoodoos.

Our favourite place was actually a short side-trail to the left close to the beginning of the hike after the field.  It goes uphill to the large conical, rock-cut El Nazar Kilise (church).  Do not pay to go inside.  Hike here for the good views from the top of this side-trail: you can see the Goreme Open-Air Museum in the distance. 

 

Also see these posts

   

Mustafapasa Magic to visit a Greek town to see typical Turkish life

Göreme Top 9 Sights for recommended things to do near Göreme

Gorgeous Göreme for Sunset Viewpoint

Goreme

Gorgeous Göreme

From the glorious first view of Uçhisar, we drove a short distance until the sign P. Canyon, a viewpoint on the right hand side.   It was our first glorious view of Göreme and Rose Valley.  Göreme, pronounced gur reh meh, is derived from Ancient Greek Κόραμα (Kòrama).  You can see the resemblance of the current pronunciation with the Greek name.  Göreme is very small (population 2500) and you can walk to the restaurants and nearby sights. 

But some of the more interesting sights and hiking trails need transportation: either bike, dolmuş, or car.  It is now the 20^th day of our 30-day 3700 km road trip.  Please see the Central Turkey Itinerary page for an interactive map of our trip from Antalya via Goreme and Safranbolu to Istanbul.

Vineyard Cave Hotel

Vineyard Courtyard

Finally, we arrived at the Vineyard Cave Hotel on a quiet side street in Göreme (on Ayaz Efendi Sokak 12 just a block north of Karşı Bucak Caddesi).  To keep the cost down, we had booked the standard room, a simple barrel vault, which is some kind of concrete arch used to create the ceiling.  Cave rooms always cost a lot more.

Hassan the owner

As described in our Turkey Trip Planning page, we prefer to stay in the smaller family-run hotels.  The down side of booking over the Internet is that you cannot bargain.  Normally in off-season we would recommend shopping around in person, especially if you are not on a tight schedule.  As we were on a work vacation, we researched all our destinations and booked our hotels in advance.  However, what we did is select a low cost room.  This turned out well because the hotel offered an upgrade to a better room almost every time.

Cave Room 4

In this case, Hassan (the owner) offered us the honeymoon suite (jacuzzi included) for the same price, which was nice since this was a four night stay.  The cave room was very large and beautifully decorated with antiques, crafts and carpets.  Hassan runs a carpet business as well. 

 

Shower with Ottoman Scene

 

 

 

 

The bathroom – as large as some pensions in Italy – was like a hamam with an excellent shower and painted tiles.  

Hittite-inspired crafts

 

 

Cave just means that the room was carved out of bed rock.  You can see the scrape lines in the solid rock wall.  So, the cave man and woman lived in cave 4.  The only other cavemen here are from South Korea.  Later in the week there were a few more travellers: some embassy staff from Ankara.





Breakfast is served



 

There was a very diverse, self-serve breakfast on the top floor and you can also get eggs to order.  We ate simit for breakfast since it is more aromatic than white bread.  The coffee was delicious. 
 

Breakfast Crafts

 

 

 



 

You can eat indoors in the breakfast room, which has are some very beautiful crafts.

Uchisar

Alternatively, you can eat outside on the terrace with a great view of the early morning balloons and Uçhisar.  No, the volcanic plug is not that close. The photo was taken with a 300mm lens. 

 

We spent a lot of mornings talking with Hassan.  He said that only the ground floor of this building existed before it was converted into a hotel.

Sunset Point View

At the end of our first day, we drove to Sunset View.  You can easily walk there. This is the (free) viewpoint on a ridge on the south side of Göreme town.  It is not the (not free) Sunset Point located outside of town. 

Everybody comes to Sunset Point for the dusk-tinted views of the town and Rose Valley but it is worth it for the soft lighting and unimpeded views. 

 

Rose Valley

There is limited car parking but few tourists drive.  You can walk uphill to the east above Sunset Cave Hotel to get to a wide open and undeveloped plateau. 

 

It is fortunate that the town is not allowing any tall buildings or desecration of the hoodoo areas.  There are lots of stalls near tourist areas but no touts or high pressure people.  However, more and more old buildings in the towns are being converted to hotels.  On the other hand, there are no large hotels and little traffic.  All in all, Göreme is an awesome, must-see place. 

Next Post: Cappadocia Fairy Chimneys
Last Post:  Göreme Top 9 Sights

Central Turkey Itinerary Map

Map of Second Part of Our Trip



Pretty Pasabagh

A map of our Central Turkey Itinerary showing stopovers is now available.  It can also be viewed via the Map 2 button at the top of every page.  


Rose Ridge -
view from Sunset Point

The most incredible places in the second part of the trip were Goreme (Cappadocia) with its fairy chimney and eroded landscapes, 
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Sweet Safranbolu

...
Safranbolu with its Ottoman houses decorating green hills. 



Amazing Yoruk

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and nearby, unvisited Yoruk with its decaying timber-framed Ottoman houses lining dirt streets.  These are truly must-sees for any itinerary plan. 

Next Post: Göreme
Last Post:  Göreme Top 9 Sights