Cappadocia Ihlara Valley: The Canyon Hike Along the Melendiz River, Selime Monastery Cave Complex, Aksaray Museum, Byzantine Rock Churches in the Valley Walls, and the Cappadocia Green Tour
The Cappadocia Ihlara route covers the 14-kilometer valley hike along the Melendiz River between the canyon walls carved with Byzantine cave churches, the Selime monastery cave complex at the valley head, the Aksaray archaeological museum, the riverside restaurant lunch tradition, and the Cappadocia green tour that combines Ihlara with Derinkuyu.
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Ihlara Valley: The 14-Kilometer Canyon Walk
The Ihlara Valley, the 14-kilometer gorge carved by the Melendiz River through the volcanic tuff plateau between Ihlara village and Selime at a depth of 100 meters, is the most scenically spectacular hiking route in Cappadocia and the one that most completely combines the geological landscape with the Byzantine heritage of the cave churches carved into the canyon walls at regular intervals along the entire length. The most commonly used section is the 8-kilometer middle stretch between the Ihlara village staircase descent and the Belisirma village, where the riverside restaurants provide the midday meal.
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Ihlara Byzantine Churches: The Valley Wall Heritage
The Ihlara Valley contains 105 Byzantine cave churches carved into the canyon walls between the 9th and 13th centuries, with the Agacalti Church, the Kokar Church, the Yilanli Church, and the Kirk Dam Alti Church preserving the most complete surviving fresco programs of the Byzantine communities that used the inaccessible valley as the refuge from the Arab raids and as the early monastery sites before the organized monastic communities moved to Goreme and Soganli. The Ihlara churches represent a distinct regional school of Byzantine painting with the heavy Syrian influence that distinguishes them from the Goreme Open Air Museum tradition.
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Belisirma: The Riverside Restaurant Village
Belisirma village in the middle of the Ihlara Valley, where the river widens into a flat-bottomed section and the 3 riverside restaurants have built their platforms directly over the Melendiz River water, provides the most atmospheric midday meal in Turkey with the trout from the local rivers, the shepherd salad, and the cold ayran yogurt drink served at the table suspended above the flowing river in the shadow of the valley walls. The Belisirma riverside lunch is the most memorable single meal experience in the Cappadocia travel circuit.
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Selime Monastery: The Cathedral Cave Complex
Selime at the northern end of the Ihlara Valley, the most impressive single cave complex in Cappadocia with the cathedral church, the monks cells, the stables with the stone mangers, and the kitchen with the carved stone fireplace and chimney arranged over 4 floors carved into the cliff face, is the most complete example of the monastic cave complex in Cappadocia and the site that most powerfully communicates the scale of the Byzantine community that carved these structures without power tools from the volcanic tuff. The Selime monastery complex appears in the Star Wars film as an exterior location.
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Aksaray: The Regional Museum and Gateway City
Aksaray, the provincial capital 45 kilometers west of Ihlara at the edge of the Anatolian plateau, provides the regional museum with the finds from the Ihlara Valley churches, the Assyrian trading colony objects, and the Hittite period artifacts from the surrounding region that provide the historical context for the Cappadocia visit. The Aksaray Egri Minaret mosque and the caravanserai on the Silk Road are the most significant Ottoman and Seljuk architectural monuments in the Aksaray area.
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Cappadocia Green Tour: The One-Day Circuit
The Cappadocia Green Tour, the organized daily excursion from Goreme that combines the Ihlara Valley 4-kilometer walk, the Selime monastery, the Derinkuyu underground city, and the Pigeon Valley viewpoint, is the most efficient way to cover the major attractions of the southern Cappadocia area in a single day for the visitor with limited time. The green tour is the complement to the Red Tour that covers the Goreme Open Air Museum and the northern valleys and together they constitute the minimum 2-day Cappadocia coverage for the visitor who cannot extend to the recommended 3 nights.