12 hours in Cappadocia

Day3 

Today is the day trip to Cappadocia Region.  Cappadocia is a region in central Anatolia, famous for its cave dwellings, underground cities and the moon like landscape.  I have read it from somewhere that it is in this region where Star Trek movies were filmed, but this rumor was proclaimed to be not true. 

Since we are staying at the SAW airport hotel the previous night, we just walked to the airport in the morning and got on the flight to Kayseri.  

There are two major airports which serve Cappadocia region.  One is Kayseri airport (aiprot code:ASR) and the other one is Neveshir airport(airport code:NAV).   If you look at the Cappadocia map, Neveshir airport is closer to Goreme, where most of the attractions are.  But I have heard that Neveshir airport is actually located farther out.  So, in the end it does not really matter which airport you fly into.  

Map of Cappadocia. Courtesy of New Goreme Travel.

It was very hard to make a decision on whether or not to spend overnight at Cappadocia.  In the end, we decided not to because:

1.  Our next stop is Pamukkale  and there is no direct flight to Denizli from Cappadocia region.  So instead of having to go back to Istanbul for transit, we decided to save time and money by doing day trip.

2.  The only other reason to stay overnight at Cappadocia is to do the famous hot air ballon ride.   Almost all people who visited Cappadocia experienced the famous hot air balloon ride and watched the sun rise.  After intensive thinking, we opted not to do the hot air ballon ride as:

- it was very expensive; I was quoted that it is at least >$150 per person.

- I think we will still have the chance to do the hot air ballon ride in life

- Hot air ballon is really a touristy thing.
(A friend of mine also went to Cappadocia recently and they did the hot air balloon ride.  The sunrise view from the balloon was so beautiful that I had tiny bit of regrets of not doing it.  But I am sure I’ll have this opportunity next time again.)

We rented a car in Cappadocia.  Cappadocia roads are good and not hard to drive around by yourself. The car rental was not expensive, but it was a bit difficult to find a rental which has automatic cars.  Luckily in the end, I was able to rent an automatic car with a chauffeur for about 58 euros from Sixt car rental.  We had trouble communicating with our chauffeur as he doesn't speak English.  But he can understand the name of the attractions and were able to drive us to where we wanted.  

First stop is at Goreme open air museum.  Before going, I was not sure what to expect there.  I went there because it was recommended as a must see.  After visiting, I would say that this is a place which I would recommend to skip if you do not have enough time.  There are small rooms hollowed out into the cave, and some rooms are actually churches with cave paintings.

Cave Rooms and Churches with Cave Paintings - Goreme Open Air Museum

After Goreme, we drove to Pasabag, where the famous fair chimneys are.  Visiting fair chimney does not take more than 15 minutes.   But if you like to hike, there is a path behind the chimneys which leads to a hill, and from the hill's top, you can see a nice view of panoramic view of the Cappadocia.

Fair Chimneys - Pasabag valle

View from top of the hill next to Fairy Chimneys

I have read about the underground cities when doing research about Cappadocia, and was very intrigued by it.  People actually lived in those underground cities, which can go down to 8 stories. So, our next stop after lunch was the Derinkuyu Underground city.  There is another underground city called Kaymalki which is closer in distance.   

After Derinkuyu, our last stop for the day is Uchisar Castle.  It is a citadel situated in the highest point of the region, and the view from top is stunning.

View from Uchisar Castle

Uchisar Castle

We flew back to Istanbul and get ready for our next stop, the cotton castle and ancient ruins of Ephesus.