Cappadocian Valleys from Uçhisar to Paşabağları

Start the day around the municipal square of Uçhisar and walk up towards the castle through the narrow streets of the old village. The old village is made up of stone houses huddled at the foot of the huge rock cone, while the newer settlement lies closer to the road from Nevşehir to Göreme. As you climb, notice that the rock mass is not actually a single hill. According to the Uçhisar Municipality, the castle consists of two large adjoining cones, which local people call the Ağa's Castle and the Çavuş's Castle. Today the summit of the castle is reached by a path; according to the Turkish Wikipedia, the inner routes once used were closed for safety reasons. The English Wikipedia also writes that the passages and rooms running through the rock are today largely blocked or impassable. So do not plan to wander around inside, but to climb to the summit by the route that is open. On the way up, look at the door and window openings on the slope; according to the municipality, the interior of the castle was carved with food stores, cisterns that collected rainwater and tunnels so that it could hold out through long sieges. Some of the rock-cut structures date from the Byzantine period and are part of the settlement. There are two accounts of where the name comes from. The municipality explains it through the frontier role the place had in the Seljuk and Karamanid periods, as the seat of a frontier, or uç, principality. According to a local account cited on Wikipedia, the region was watched over by three castles: Uçhisar at the far edge, Ortahisar in the middle and Ürgüp, called Başhisar, as the seat of government. Sources give different figures for the height of the castle, but they all agree that it is the highest point of the region. Do not hurry at the summit, but read the surroundings by dividing them into four directions. Right below you stretches Pigeon Valley, which you will walk shortly, and beyond it you can see the fairy chimneys of Göreme. Look also towards Avanos and at Erciyes on the horizon; the MTA bulletin gives the height of this stratovolcano as 3916 metres. Erciyes is one of the sources of the tuff that shaped this landscape, so the mountain on the horizon and the rock under your feet are parts of the same story. Uçhisar lies on the edge of Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, which entered the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. For photographs, the first light of morning and the last light of evening show the colours of the tuff best; midday light flattens the rock. On the way down, take another look at the rock houses around the castle. According to the municipality, the people of Uçhisar lived in these rock houses until the 1950s and 1960s, and then the settlement moved outside the area because of erosion and the danger of falling rock. Many of the abandoned stone houses have been restored today, and stone carvings can be seen on some of the facades. After you come down from the castle, the road at its foot takes you to the Uçhisar entrance of Pigeon Valley. Check the visiting conditions and opening information of the castle in official sources before you go.

Source: Uçhisar Belediyesi, Uçhisar Kalesi; Wikipedia, Uçhisar Kalesi ve Uçhisar; MTA Doğal Kaynaklar ve Ekonomi Bülteni.

Enter the valley from the Uçhisar entrance, right at the foot of the castle. According to the Uçhisar Municipality, a tree with hundreds of evil eye beads hung from its branches stands at the entrance, and this is one of the most photographed spots in the valley. At this point, put the castle behind you and look into the valley; you see in one frame the depth stretching all the way to Göreme and the sculptural texture of the fairy chimneys. The path winds along the valley floor and takes about four kilometres to reach Göreme. The municipality rates this walk as moderately difficult and gives its duration as one and a half to two hours on average. Because Uçhisar lies higher than Göreme, walking in this direction is mostly downhill and more comfortable. As you walk, keep your eyes on the small, regular openings in the slopes; the valley takes its name from these pigeon nests carved into the rocks and into the fairy chimneys. According to the municipality, the nests were carved into steep cliffs at heights that predators such as foxes and martens could not reach. Pay attention to the red bands and motifs at the entrances of many dovecotes. These decorations were made with red ochre paint or with root dyes from local plants, and they are thought to have helped the pigeons recognise their nests from afar and find their way back. The real job of these nests was farming. Pigeon droppings are rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, and according to the municipality this manure was the greatest support of the region's vineyards. The English Wikipedia writes that the manure was widely used in the region until the 1970s. Sources state that the tradition of keeping pigeons goes back as far as the 9th century. The vineyards and gardens that remain on the slopes today are a continuation of this relationship. On the valley floor you will see oleaster, apricot, plum and apple trees, and in spring wild flowers. This greenery is fed by the Vasıl Stream, which runs through the valley and can dry up depending on the season. In places the path passes through short tunnels carved into the rock, old living spaces and abandoned cave houses. The Göreme Municipality also writes that there is a waterfall in the valley dropping from a height of about fifteen metres; whether the water is flowing depends on the season. The ground can be dusty, slippery and uneven, so place your feet carefully, especially on the descents. In summer try not to be caught out in the midday heat, and keep plenty of water with you. For a break, choose a shady spot under a tree and listen to the birds in the quiet of the valley. Do not write on the rocks, do not damage the vegetation, and carry your rubbish all the way to Göreme. The path brings you out in Göreme; from here a short drive to Örencik on the Göreme-Uçhisar road is needed for the next stop.

Source: Uçhisar Belediyesi, Güvercinlik Vadisi; Göreme Belediyesi, Vadiler; Wikipedia, Uçhisar.

The official name of Love Valley is Bağlıdere Valley, and according to the Göreme Municipality it is one of the best known and most frequently visited valleys of Göreme. Start the walk from Örencik on the Göreme-Uçhisar road. The municipality writes that the valley starts from this point, ends on the Göreme-Avanos road and is 4900 metres long; the same page also refers to the trail in round terms as five kilometres. So be ready to walk about five kilometres and to set aside two and a half hours for this stop, including photo breaks. As you descend into the valley the landscape changes; the slopes full of dovecotes in Pigeon Valley give way here to the rock's own shapes. What makes the valley famous are the long, slender fairy chimneys rising from the floor towards the sky. The Göreme Municipality notes that some of the rocks in the valley reach a height of fifty metres. As you study these columns up close, look at the difference between the body and the top. Sources describing Göreme National Park explain that a harder rock layer covered the soft tuff and that the body beneath this protective cap wears away slowly. The differences in colour on the bodies come from the different mineral layers of the rock. For the name of the valley, the English Wikipedia gives two explanations: an old folk tale about the love between the children of two feuding families, and a more recent interpretation based on the shape of some of the rocks. Know the story, but in the valley give your real attention to the rock. The Göreme Municipality also considers the vegetation in the valley worth seeing. Annual rainfall in the region is low, and according to the English Wikipedia there is little vegetation except along watercourses; this is why the green strip on the valley floor stands out. In places you will pass between vineyards and fruit trees, and in some spots you will see the path narrowing. The municipality also writes that the valley is one of the most popular spots in Cappadocia for watching sunrise and sunset. In the mornings, if the weather allows, balloons pass over the valley because of its view. For photographs, shooting the tall fairy chimneys from a low angle against the sky shows their height best. As it is a long walk, ration your water and snacks, and choose the shade of a rock in the middle of the valley to sit and rest. Do not climb the fairy chimneys and do not carve writing into their bodies; these formations are already thinning through natural erosion. The valley comes out on the Göreme-Avanos road, and the same road takes you to the next stop, Paşabağları. Plan a short drive to get from the road to Paşabağları.

Source: Göreme Belediyesi, Vadiler; Wikipedia, Love Valley, Cappadocia ve Göreme Historical National Park.

Paşabağları lies on the right of the Göreme-Avanos road, about a kilometre in from the road according to the museum guide of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The area is part of the Zelve-Paşabağları archaeological site under the Ministry, so you enter it as a ticketed archaeological site. The Ministry's Museum Pass Cappadocia card also covers it, together with the museums and archaeological sites of the region; check the current entry conditions and fees on the official website. After the entrance, follow the walking path in among the fairy chimneys. The Ministry page writes that the area was once known as the Priests Valley and notes that a chapel and sitting areas were carved into some of the fairy chimneys. What brings you here today, though, is the rock itself. Paşabağları is one of the places where the two- and three-headed fairy chimneys that have become the symbol of Cappadocia are seen most densely. You will see that some of the bodies carry more than one top, and that some branch into several bodies on a single base. To understand these mushroom shapes, look at the boundary between the top and the body. The top of a fairy chimney is a hard rock that resists erosion, while its body is soft tuff; the hard cap protects the body beneath from rain and floodwater. When the cap falls, the unprotected body wears away quickly and disappears, so also look in the area for pointed cones that have lost their caps. The Nevşehir Governorate stresses that the fairy chimneys were shaped by natural erosion, above all by rain and wind, and that this process is still going on today. So the view in front of you is not a frozen moment but a process that is slowly changing. For this reason the Governorate describes the fairy chimneys as a fragile heritage in the face of a changing climate and human activity. Do not touch the bodies, and do not leave the walking path to climb the slopes. For photographs, step back a few paces inside the area and try to fit several caps into the same frame. As reported by Vatan newspaper, the Cappadocia Site Directorate installed a lighting system here that does not harm nature, and the fairy chimneys take on a different appearance after sunset as well. Find out from official sources whether an evening visit is possible and at what times. Right next to Paşabağları lies the Zelve archaeological site, made up of three valleys, where settlement continued until 1952 before it was evacuated because of the risk of falling rock. If you have time left, you can stop there as well at the end of the day. Sit for a while near the site and think back to Uçhisar Castle, the first stop of the day; you have come here by walking through the very landscape you saw from above in the morning. On the way back, the Göreme-Avanos road quickly takes you to Avanos or Göreme.

Source: Türkiye Müzeleri, Zelve-Paşabağları Ören Yeri; Nevşehir Valiliği, Peribacaları; Wikipedia, Peribacası; Vatan Gazetesi.