Cappadocia is like a treasure chest. I convinced myself of this during the first day exploring the historical region of Central Anatolia.

I started the day with a delicious Turkish breakfast at the hostel, prepared by the owner Ahmed. A typical Turkish breakfast consists of black olives, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, bread, white cheese and eggs, plus the traditional Cay (Turkish tea). When it comes to breakfast, Turks are definitely tea people.

After breakfast I headed to the lookout point for a first nice view of the valleys. The lookout point is in the middle of the Goreme-Uchisar road. These are the shots of the first stop.

Rock formations near Goreme.

Our new friend explaining us the geography of Cappadocia.

A view of the white hill from the lookout point.

This is me trying to move like a whirling dervish. Just kidding! haha

Souvenirs portraying the Whirling dervishes of the Sema ceremony.

Bro and me with rock formations and Uchisar castle on the upper right corner of the photo.

Valleys, towns and  rock formations in Cappadocia.

Cappadocia.

The next stop was the Selime Monastery. Located in the town of Selime, the rock monastery is one of the largest religious structures in the region. It includes churches with rudimentary icons and frescoes; the latter are barely visible because of the soot that has accumulated in the walls, from the time when the monastery was used for cooking.

To get to the church you only have to climb a steep hill and follow the green arrows. One feature that called my attention was the size of the corridors. I was told that this place was also used as a Caravanserai, which was a very typical construction along the Silk Road. Merchants crossing from West to East or vice versa stayed in caravanserais (roadside inns) to ensure their goods and camels were safe from robbers. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the networks of trade routes in antiquity. The reason for the size of the corridors was for camels to easily transit through the complex. Amazing!

View of Selime Monastery.

Landscape in Selime.

Corridors of Selime monastery.

Soot covers the walls of Selime monastery.

Selime monastery.

Selime monastery.

The cathedral with frescoes and icons.

 More of Cappadocia on coming posts!
Astrid