Cappadocia

Stand at the edge of a valley in central Anatolia and the scale of Cappadocia becomes clear. Tuff — soft volcanic rock laid down by eruptions from Erciyes, Hasan Dağı and Mount Güllü three to ten million years ago — has been carved by water and wind into pillars, cones and ridges that rise on either side of you. This is a landscape you move through on foot, and that changes everything.

Walking through the valleys

The trails through Rose, Love, Pigeon and Red Valleys wind between rock formations whose colours shift with the light. Early morning is quiet — a few herders walking to nearby fields, the sound of water in Ilhara Canyon below. The paths are clear and the distances manageable, though the terrain is uneven and sturdy footwear makes a real difference. Most walkers return to their base village by midday, when the heat settles and the air stills.

What lies beneath

Cappadocia's other dimension is underground. Early Christian communities fleeing persecution and later groups facing invasions hollowed living spaces, storerooms, ventilation shafts and churches deep into the tuff, creating multi-level underground cities. Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı are the largest open to visitors — you descend several floors and the architecture makes practical sense as you move through it: the deeper you go, the cooler and quieter it becomes.

Goreme and its cave churches

The Goreme valley floor was once a Byzantine monastic settlement. Rock-cut churches and refectories were hollowed directly from the cliff face, their walls painted with frescoes in the tenth to twelfth centuries. The Goreme Open Air Museum contains the most complete group of these churches. Inside, the pigment of the original colours is still visible — deep blues, warm reds, gilding on some faces — and the carved stonework above the doorways shows real skill. The setting, carved into the rock itself and surrounded by the valley's formations, is unlike a conventional museum visit.

Avanos and its living craft

The town of Avanos sits beside the Kızılırmak, Turkey's longest river, where the same clay that colours the water has been worked by potters for generations. Workshops here still throw and paint by hand, using techniques recognisable from ancient Hittite pieces found nearby. Walking through the town's old quarter, you pass workshops where you can watch the work and, in quieter streets, houses carved from the rock — some still inhabited.