Goreme Open-Air Museum

Thursday, May 5, Urgup, Cappadocia Region, Turkey

Ok for those of you who have forgotten your Turkish geography, the Cappadocia Region is in the middle of Turkey. There are seven regions in Turkey all together. If you start with Istanbul and work your way clockwise this is what they are. Mammara region, the Black Sea region, the East …

Caves are not conducive to sleeping. Well, maybe it's just the beds in this cave. We had no bottles of water in the room last night and I was too scared to drink the tap water, so I could not take an Ambien. Unfortunately, I have yet to master the art of swallowing pills without water. I was alone in my struggles, because Jill is already a master. …

The odd sounding Göreme Open Air Museum awaits us.

"Is it a museum without a roof?" asks Miryam.

"Not exactly. It's more like an archeological site. It's a huge complex of rock-cut churches and monasteries. These places are cut into the limestone just like our rooms are at the hotel. There are lots of primitive frescos on the …

Asmalı Konak
Yeraltı Şehirleri
Trion Kilisesi
Derinkuyu Park Camii
Temenni Tepesi
Pancar Vadisi
Üçgüzeller Peribacaları
Uçhisar Kalesi
Güvercin Vadisi
Aynalı Kilise
Saklı Kilise
Çavuşin Kilisesi
Avanos Kızılırmak Köprüsü
Alaaddin Hamamı
…

We arrived in Goreme early afternoon and we did the usual-scope for budget accom. We knew all the hotels listed in our guide book would cost a fortune so we explored the town on foot with our bugdar on. After about an hour we came across a very nice hostel which had many cave dorms (rooms built into a cave). Surprisingly the cave dorms just opened …

After the balloon ride, we arrived back to the hotel around 8.30am to grab our breakfast and regrouped at 9am to start on our tour. The itineraries for today were mostly a city tour of Cappadocia.

Magic Carpet Factory


Don't be fooled by my title, I just need to get your attention. Lol. First stop of the day is a Turkish …

... land formations in this area of Turkey called Cappadocia, a World Heritage Site. Our first day was spent exploring the Goreme Open-Air Museum, a cluster of rock-cut 11th century Byzantine churches, chapels and monasteries, an easy 1 km walk from the ...

... talked more travel. Next day we wanted to do some more walking so decided to walk through Çesme Gorge on our way to Zelve Open Air Museum. I had visited Zelve last time and it had been loads of fun wıth lots of climbing so I wanted to go again. ...

... in touch at least. Tuesday I put on my hiking shoes and spent 6 hours exploring the trails of Swords Valley and the Goreme Open Air Museum - both 1km from town. Swords Valley was actually much more fun, despite the fact that it's free (unlike the ...

... I'll plow on anyway. With hunger sated and desire to see more of Cappadocia suitably enhanced, we headed out to the Goreme Open Air Museum. The Central Anatolian area was a safe haven for Christians as Islam swept across the Holy Land and Egypt from ...

... before we moved on again as well. A lovely little spot but I'm not so sure it was worth the pain. The Open Air Museum is one of Turkey's many world heritage sites. Essentially what the open air museum entails is a cluster of rock cut Byzantine houses, ...

... village of Goreme.  This town has underground cities and cave dwellings dating back to around 300AD. We walked out to the Open Air museum and marveled at the strange lunar like landscape along the way.  When we got to the open air museum, it ...

... ate gozleme made by a man who had Helen Clark, the PM of NZ, visit his house a few years ago and then headed to the Goreme Open Air Museum. Its over-priced at 12 Lira but still very interesting. Worth it to sneak in with a tour group and listen to the ...

... slept on the coach journey, at about 8.30am lying in our cave(!) we decided that we would go up and visit the Goreme open air museum which is a world heritage site and consists of rock cut churches and convents, but we fell back asleep and awoke at ...

... in the 200's A.D. or so. The built monasteries and churches inside the rock flutes and hills. Today I poked around the Goreme Open Air Museum. I can't imagine what life must have been like for the people who lived here. Yesterday I had my first ...

... some scooters and decided the only way to see this place was to hit it on the scooter. First stop was the Goreme open air museum. Here carved into the funny rock formations are 100's of dwellings, plus there are a few churches with original frescoes. As ...