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Bright Sun
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Here's one of the best day
excursions in Cappadocia:
the underground
cities, (Kaymakli or
Derinkuyu), the
former Ottoman-Greek
town of Güzelyurt,
and the dramatic Ihlara
Valley with its
dozens of painted Byzantine churches
from the 11th to 13th centuries.
(The Agzikarahan Seljuk
Turkish caravanserai on the Silk
Road east of Aksaray,
which I used to include in this excursion,
apparently closed in September 2008
for extensive repairs.)
Starting from Ürgüp or Göreme,
this excursion will take a full day,
and requires your own vehicle,
either a rented
car or a car and driver, either
of which can be arranged through Argeus
Tourism & Travel. It would
be very difficult to do this entire
excursion in one day by public transport.
Bring
bottled water and snacks,
or even a picnic lunch.
Have an early breakfast and start
your tour by 08:30 am if you can. Drive
from your Cappadocian
hotel to either
Kaymakli or Derinkuyu, visit one of
these underground cities, then head
west over the mountains from Derinkuyu
to Güzelyurt.
Stop there for a walk around, a glass
of tea and perhaps an early lunch,
then continue southwest to the Ihlara
Valley.
You can spend two to four
or even five hours hiking in the
valley. If you have a car and
driver,
the driver can drop you at Ihlara
Village,
the Ihlara Valley Touristic
Installations (visitors
center), or Belisirma village, you
can hike, and the driver can pick
you up at another of these points.
Finally, drive north to the Aksaray-Nevsehir
highway, and you'll pass the Agzikarahan Seljuk
Turkish caravanserai before driving
east toward
Nevsehir and
back to Cappadocia.
If you are driving
from Ephesus and/or Pamukkale to
Cappadocia via Konya,
you can do this excursion along the
way, though it makes for a long day.
Start from Konya after breakfast,
see the caravanserai, then Ihlara,
then Güzelyurt,
then an underground city, and end
the day at your Cappadocian
hotel. You
may want to limit your hiking in the
Ihlara Valley to
two hours.
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