Cappadocia: Hot Air Balloons, Evil Eye Trees, and Underground Cities

Cappadocia, this city is called the land of beautiful horses. Please remember this for later on, you can win a prize from the onyx factory.

Cappadocia is very unique for the landscape. It is also known for their lemons. Many people in the area make a living growing lemons and holding them in the underground cities during the winter and sell them during the summer.

Cappadocia’s landscape was actually the inspiration for Star Wars.  But due to permits, they decided just to use the idea and build the set elsewhere.

Hot Air Balloon

This was absolutely an amazing experience.  Riding a hot air balloon has always been a bucket list item for Lisa and me, even though Lisa is scared of heights. When we found out that Cappadocia is famous for their hot air balloon rides, we knew we had to do it.

You have to be prepared to wake up early.  We were picked up at 4 AM to make the site by 5 AM.  Once we arrived at the central location, we were taken over to the hot air balloon to hop in and start flying to by sunrise.

In each hot air balloon, there are a total of 4 baskets and 4 people in each one. Always try to be on the outer edge because you can get a clear shot without poles in the way.

4 AM wake up calls are tough, but trust me it’s worth it.

Fairy Chimneys

Throughout Cappadocia, you will see all these formations called “fairy chimneys,” which the area is famous for.

Göreme Open Air Museum

The museum is a Byzantine settlement for 20 monks.  It is definitely worth exploring.

Devrent Valley

This site is considered the top view of the Cappadocia. You can see the valley as well as all the formations.

Ihlara Gorge

This was a nice walk along the river.

Uchisar Castle

The castle is created from rock formations.  To be truthful, it completely did not look like a castle at all.

Underground City of Derinkuyu

The Underground City of Derinkuyu was built by Christians to evade the Arabs. Going through the underground city, it is amazing how they built it.  The city was built to house everyone for several months at a time. There were traps throughout, storage areas, even a makeshift morgue.

Pigeon Valley

Pigeon Valley has one of the famous Evil Eye tree. The reason it is called Pigeon Valley is because there tends to be flocks of pigeons that gather and fly around there.

Selime Monastary

The monastery was built-in the rock formation.  You have to hike up a narrow path to get up to the monastery, but after you reach the top, you can see the rooms in the caves that the priests used to practice their religion.