Hiking in the Valley of Churches

  Urgup, Turkey
Friday, April 20, 2007

I know I keep saying this, but Turkey just keeps getting better, and I think Cappadoccia might be my favourite place so far!  After our quad bike adventures yesterday we got a bit of a later start today, but after a wholesome Turkish breakfast of egg, bread, cheese, tomato and tea so strong you could use it as aviation fuel, we jumped in our car and headed off to do some more exploring.  We were particularly stoked with the deal we got from the rental company, 50 lira for 24 hours, which works out to 12.50 each between the four of us, and is a lot less hassle than trying to figure out the sometimes dodgy Turkish public transit system.  As well, it snowed heavily overnight, and we were especially glad of the luxury of being able to turn on the heater, which you don't have the option of on a scooter!  

We went first to Derinkuyu, about 30 mins drive from where we are staying in Urgup.  Apparently, one of the things that Cappadoccia is famous for is a series of underground cities used by the Troglodytes between 1900 BC and 1200 BC, mostly as refuges from invading armies.  Only five have been excavated so far, and Derinkuyu is the biggest, able to house about thirty thousand people for six months at a time.  The city is totally invisible from above ground,  but extends about 55metres below ground over about 8 storeys.  It was just incredible - I couldn't believe the engineering feat of constructing something like that entirely by hand, without the benefit of computer modelling or any other planning tools.  It was a little claustrophobic at times, since the troglodytes were obviously much smaller than us and some of the tunnels were pretty skinny, but we had a great time exploring all of the little chambers, storage areas, churches, schools, and even underground wineries in this massive complex.  They even had complete ventilation shafts, wells, and a winery underground!  At least they had the basics covered in the event of a seige - even six months underground isn't so bad as long as the chardonnay is flowing!  In the event of an attack, they had rocks they could roll across the tunnels to seal them off at several levels, with convenient round holes in the middle to shoot arrows through.  All in all, it was a pretty incredible feat of engineering, complete with chisel marks still visible in the ceiling.  

After Derinkuyu we headed to the Ihlara Valley, a spectacular rock canyon with a river running through the middle that stretches for several kilometres.  It is most famous for having several early Christian churches from around the eleventh century hidden in caves carved in the cliff face, many with frescoes and carvings still visible. Driving toward the valley we passed through several small towns, the last of which was Belisarma, which borders the valley. 

Back to... Civilization

It was clearly off the tourist track - the locals looked at us like we were from another planet as we inched the rental car down the steep cobbled roads between the cliff houses and crumbling stone homes with grass growing from the roofs.  There was no sign of any outside influence here, and you could imagine that this was pretty much how the village residents had lived for the past several hundred years, as we were passed by two small boys with a donkey, and a woman in a headscarf carrying what appeared to be an entire tree.  

We had lunch in a little restaurant that our guidebook said was located on the river (it was) and very cheap (it wasn't).  It did have a lovely view down the river, though, and as soon as we had finished our lentil soup and cheese pide we headed off.  It took us about half an hour to realise we were walking the wrong way down the valley, but it was a lovely day out despite the last of the snow, and it was so beautiful in the valley we really didn't mind.  When we did figure out which direction the churches were in, we didn't waste any time scrambling up the rock faces above the river to check them out.  They were in varying states of repair, some with beautiful frescoes still intact, although most had been vandalised with the faces scratched out and words carved over top of them except for the highest ones on the ceiling.

Not so fresh Frescoes

  I can't believe that people can be so ignorant as to intentionally damage something so beautiful and ancient.  Others looked as though they were being used as barns for the local farm animals, strewn with hay and plentiful droppings. 

Along with the churches there were a multitude of other carvings into the rock faces, dwellings and storage areas and barns, mostly, over at least a kilometre.  After exploring several, we walked along the valley floor for an hour or so to some of the churches further down.  One in particular was mentioned in our guidebook as having interesting frescoes.  Known as the Yilanli Kilise (Church of the Snakes) the original frescoes depicted four female sinners being bitten by snakes, including one being bitten on the nipples as a punishment for not breast-feeding her children.  We decided that was well worth seeing, so set out to find it.  We discovered the church about 1.5km down the valley, and although we were disappointed to discover that the frescoes in question were heavily damaged, the rest of the church was amazing well preserved, with vividly coloured and detailed frescoes on almost every surface - well worth the hike along the winding and rocky trail by the river.  

By this point the sun was started to get low in the valley, so we headed back and hit the road again, this time taking the winding back roads out of the valley on the way to Selime, a beautiful troglodyte village several kilometres away famous for a series of massive fairy chimneys,

Spooky Selime

the volcanic rock formations this area is renowned for, most of which have churches or even cathedrals carved into them.  We found it by late afternoon, and the views from the rock churches there across the valley and village below in the golden afternoon light were just amazing.  The churches themselves were incredible, and different again from anything we had seen earlier - they interconnected through a series of passages, tunnels and staircases through the fairy chimneys, and several still seemed to have people living in them, the rock dwelling slowing blending into the stone cottages of the village.  It's hard to describe, but it was just incredible.  

We arrived back in Urgup about 7.30pm, just as the sun was setting, 240km and several hours of hiking later.  We headed straight to our new favourite restaurant where the waiters greeted us like old friends after two days, and ordered as much food as we could eat (for less than 10 lira each, we figured we couldn't go wrong!), very satisfied with our adventures for the day.  Weather permitting, the plan is to explore more of the fairy chimneys near Urgup tomorrow, although if it snows again tonight, we might just chicken out and opt for the nice warm car again......  

Seref'e from Turkey!!  

Dan and Gabes