Amazing Things to do Cappadocia Turkey

Cappadocia, lunar landscapes are unique and spectacular in the heart of Turkey

In the world, there are unique places. Cappadocia is one of them, both for its geological formation as for its rich historical and cultural heritage. Located in the center of Turkey, the region is very rich in history and nature. So much so that in 1985, the Unesco included in its list of the World Heritage site, with a protected area of almost ten thousand hectares.

• Soaring rock formations, underground cities, Churches embedded in stones… Cappadocia is a different place.
• The region has traces of many civilizations: Hittites, Persians, greeks, Romans, Christians, or ottomans.

Go to Cappadocia to enjoy the spectacular sites: lunar landscapes, soaring rock formations, underground cities, Churches embedded in stones and the discourse of the civilizations that have lived along the history. Cappadocia has been a point of union of different cultures, religions, and philosophies. For she talked the tough of the silk.

60 million years ago was formed the mountain range of the Taurus Mountains in Anatolia, while in the center of Europe forming the Alps. In Anatolia millennia, the wind and rain were eroding the mounds and the rocks to create the so-called ‘fairy chimneys,’ one of the main attractions of Cappadocia. The structures are conical and pointed.

Among the inhabitants of Cappadocia throughout the history are the Assyrians, the Hittites, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Seljuks, the root of the Ottoman Empire, in turn, the germ of present-day Turkey. They have all left their footprints. In the region, you can find cultural treasures of all these civilizations, including underground cities, churches, and houses carved in rocks or the remains of prehistoric peoples.

One of the musts is to Goreme and its open-air Museum. It is very close to Göreme, which is considered the tourist capital of the region, as it houses the majority of hotels. The museum houses numerous churches carved into the rock, filled with original frescoes.

The main churches are that of Santa Barbara (ELEVENTH century), with decoration of animals, the Church of Apple, the Church of the Sandals (with a drawing of a footprint of Jesus in a fresco), or the Dark Church, which has the finest frescoes of the valley of Göreme.

Another of the most important places in Cappadocia is the Valley of Devrent or the Imagination. Many of the rock formations have the shapes of animals, as, for example, camels, snakes, seals, dolphins…

If you want to enjoy another show, geological Cappadocia is a must visit the so-called Valley of Pasabag or Monks (since there used to be hidden hermits). Is filled with fairy chimneys of limestone, but with the form of fungus. A way to enjoy these wonderful landscapes is to hire an excursion in a hot air balloon. In Göreme is full. The tour standard, one-hour long, can be found from 150 euro per person.

In Cappadocia, and by extension in the whole of Turkey, there are many other distractions exciting for you to discover. For example, enjoy the famous Oriental Dance or Belly, the ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes, visit the flea markets and buy local handicrafts or take a Turkish bath and relax in the hammam.

Between the cuisine of Turkish, among many other dishes, döner kebab (chicken or lamb with vegetables and sauce), the dolma (stuffed grape leaves with meat, vegetables, and rice) or the famous pita bread. Also include the köfte, a kind of albóngidas with minced meat, mixed with spices, or chopped onion, and the lahmacun, known as the pizza Turkish: a base of thin crust with minced meat, onion, lemon, parsley, and spices.

Among the desserts, the baklava, sweet pastry with walnuts, pistachios and other fruits sixes, or lokum, sweets like fruit gums made from starch and sugar, and flavored with lemon or rose water. And among the drinks, are very typical, the ayran, a liquid yogurt from sheep’s milk, with lemon juice, Turkish tea (variety of black tea) and Turkish coffee (never with milk).

Currency: The official currency is the Turkish lira. The currency of most frequent use is us dollar and the euro that support in many stores. There are many exchange offices in Istanbul, Ankara and the main tourist areas of the country.

Passport or national identity card: Spanish citizens can enter or leave Turkey with a valid passport or DNI interchangeably.

Visa: Is required to obtain a visa to enter the country. The Spanish citizens must be in possession of a passport or national identity document with a minimum validity of 6 months from the date of entry into Turkey. More information: website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Plane: The airline company Turkish Airlines offers flights to Istanbul from different cities of Spain: Madrid 14 a week (two a day), Barcelona 28 per week (4 daily), Málaga 10 a week, Valencia 7, and Bilbao is five flights a week. Once in Istanbul you have to take another flight (of something more than an hour) to go to the airport of Nevsehir.