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Ihlara vadisi'nde geçen yaz çektiğim bir fotoğraf.Bu fotoğraf sayesinde haritada bir ili daha sarıya boyamış oluyorum.

Ihlara Valley, near Mount Hasan and Mount Melendiz (two of the three volcanoes of Cappadocia) is a canyon with a depth of approximately 100m and was formed by the Melendiz River thousands of years ago. It begins at Ihlara village and ends with Selime Monastery at Selime village of Selime after making 26 bends along 14 kilometers.

It is believed that the valley housed more than four thousand dwellings and a hundred cave churches decorated with frescoes. Around eighty thousand people once lived in Ihlara Valley.

There are 4 entances to Ihlara valley. The first one is the start of the valley at Ihlara Village. The second one opens to the 4th kilometer of the valley and it is the most popular entrance, which has more than 300 steps down to the valley. The third entrance is Belisirma village which allows you to enter the valley by driving. It is located in the middle (7th kilometer) of the valley. If you will visit the valley by your car, this is the best spot to park your car. Belisirma has also some restaunrants by Melendiz river to have lunch. Most of the guided tours end their walking here after lunch. The last entrance is the end of the valley, Selime Monastery. Some of the trekking tours which walk the whole valley starts from here. The best part of the valley is the first 7km part from Ihlara Village until Belisirma Village where you can see most of the churches and natural beauty.
It is very pleasant to walk through the Ihlara valley by the vineyards, poplars and pistachio trees to the soothing sound if the rushing water (Melendiz River), and surrounded by a rich wildlife of lizards, frogs, butterflies, birds and sometimes eagles and other mammals like lambs and sheep.

There many cave churches in Ihlara Valley. Most of them display scenes dissimilar to the scenes depicted in other Cappadocian churches. In fact, they are reminiscent of the early churches of Syria and the Coptic churches of Egypt.