Cappadocia Budget Tours

~ cheap tours of Cappadocia ~

B9. Cappadocia Highlights Tour
Budget Tour – 1 Day

√ Both Goreme Museum and Kaymakli Underground City.
√ A one day whirlwind tour of Cappadocia.

SUMMARY:
 ● Pasabaglari (Monks Valley) fairy chimneys
 ● Cavusin Castle
 ● Avanos pottery demonstration of historical technique
 ● Goreme Museum for cave churches and frescos
 ● Pigeon Valley & Uchisar Castle panorama
 ● Kaymakli Underground City.

INCLUDED:
Museum entrances & lunch, English speaking guide, a/c transportation.

NOT INCLUDED:
Drinks at lunch, any personal expenditure including tips.
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BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS TOUR DETAILS

Cappadocia Fairy Chimneys

PASABAGI means "The Pasha’s Vineyard", a name it received after the Byzantine Greek population left the region. In Seljuk and Ottoman times, it was called "Papaz’in Bagi" because Christian hermits chose to locate hermit cells and churches in these three–headed pinnacles symbolic of the Holy Trinity. Perhaps such symbolism helped these monks develop a greater understanding of God. This peaceful, attractive valley is famous for its three headed fairy chimneys, and it’s possible to see all the stages in the formation of fairy chimneys at this spot. The vineyards surrounding these natural wonders are still cultivated by locals (you can taste the grapes from September on), and trees such as apricot, apple, pear, quince, cherry, mulberry and walnut are plentiful. BOOK by EMAIL ››

Cavusin Castle Cappadocia

CAVUSIN CASTLE is a spectacular rock citadel that once housed everyone in the village. While it was a relatively safe place to live, the villagers had to carry their water up to their homes every day. Castle cave life wasn’t easy but it was considered a safer option. BOOK by EMAIL ››

Avanos Pottery Cappadocia

AVANOS has been famous for thousands of years for its pottery made from the red, iron-ore bearing clay deposited by the longest river within Turkey, the Kizilirmak (Red River). During the second millennium BCE, Avanos was inhabited by Assyrian traders and was later taken over by the Hittites; some of the techniques and designs used by potters today date back to this period. At one time every house had a potters wheel, and no family would give their daughter in marriage if the groom could not make pots! Today, the best of the ceramics and tiles on sale in Istanbul and other major cities are made here. You can watch potters spinning their traditional kick–wheels with their feet, and even try throwing a pot yourself. BOOK by EMAIL ››

Dark Church Goreme Cappadocia

GOREME OPEN AIR MUSEUM is home to the world’s most important Byzantine cave churches in these once remote valleys where monks and nuns pursued monastic life from the 3rd century on. Saint Basil, one of the three Cappadocian Fathers of the Church and Bishop of Caesarea (Kayseri) who first formulated the rules for monastic life directly influenced the lifestyle of the monastic orders in these valleys. Here you can see the best preserved in situ Byzantine cave wall paintings and frescos from the late Byzantine period through to the end of Seljuk rule. Icons with scenes from the Old Testament and the New Testament above portraits of Church Fathers and saints depict the structure of the Byzantine universe. The best examples, the Dark Church (private tour only) and the Buckle Church, should not be missed. BOOK by EMAIL ››

Pigeon Valley Cappadocia

PIGEON VALLEY viewpoint you have a bird’s eye view of the dovecotes carved out of the rocks, the snow capped Mount Erciyes (the mountain that gets bigger the further away you are), as well as a spectacular view of old abandoned fairy chimney cave homes and old Greek houses and UCHISAR CASTLE. BOOK by EMAIL ››

Underground City Plan

KAYMAKLI UNDERGROUND CITY is one of the most amazing wonders of the world. Although all towns and villages in Cappadocia once had safe and secure secret rooms dug out of the soft tufa (tuff) rock, the underground cities of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu are intrinsically different because their size, scale, and evidence of underground city planning. Up to 50 meters deep and 3 kilometers wide, as many as 5,000 people were able to hide safely underground out of site of the enemy, with their store of food that could last for months if necessary.

Underground City Plan

Life (and death) could continue relatively normally in these well–ventilated cities lit by linseed–oil lamps, which had their own water supply, stockpiled food, kitchens, toilets, churches and even graveyards safe behind their gigantic circular mill–stone doors which could only be opened from the inside. The people could even cook food safely, as multiple chimneys dispersed the smoke imperceptibly so their presence would not be discovered by the enemy. BOOK by EMAIL ››