There are unique landscapes and then there is Cappadocia. Because we think this famed wonderland is so worth a visit, we’ve constructed this short Private Departure as an addition to our Istanbul and the Aegean Coast or any of our Custom Journeys in Turkey.

Cappadocia’s fairy landscapes are the result of seas of volcanic ash solidified into soft stone, or tufa, which in turn eroded magically into deep valleys, needle-like towers, and irregular cones. Early Christians, on the run from the Arabs, carved sanctuaries into the tufa resulting in a complex maze of cave dwellings, churches and passageways. These sanctuaries are still present, like the fabulous underground city of Derinkuyu which was burrowed eight stories underground! The Byzantine frescoes of Cappadocia’s famed cave churches are among the most moving expressions of early-Christian art in the world. The entire region is something that must be experienced. As Alan Weisman wrote in The World Without Us, “The muezzin’s call to evening devotion, resounding among Cappadocia’s tufa walls and spires, is like a congregation of mountains praying.”

Day 1: fly to Cappadocia, visit Goreme and the potters’ workshop in Avanos • Day 2: Red Valley’s Byzantine churches, evening Whirling Dervish performance • Day 3: underground city of Kaymakli, Valley of the Spears, evening flight to Istanbul • Day 4: depart Istanbul.

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