Cappadocia national park Goreme. Cappadocia Goreme National Park is the tourist center of Cappadocia. Church of St. Barbara

Goreme is a small village considered a tourist center. All thanks to the national park and open-air museum of the same name, located around the settlement. On our trip to Turkey, this was the last point before returning home through.
In this essay we will tell and show you both the village and the national park, although only a small part of it, because due to some circumstances mentioned below, we did not manage to see everything we wanted.
So, leaving , and , behind us, on August 2nd we took a night bus to Goreme. At about 7 o'clock in the morning we were dropped off near the Goreme otogar and we went to check into our hotel - . We didn’t have a special plan for the day; to admit, after a 12-hour drive we were “slightly” tired, so the task for the day was set to be as unburdensome as possible - to see the surroundings, i.e. Goreme National Park. After breakfast, we cleaned ourselves up and went to explore the nearby beauties.

1) To see the famous stone pillars of Cappadocia, you don’t even need to go outside of Goreme; there are plenty of them within the village. Most of them are surrounded by hotels and restaurants, and in some places the homes of local residents.

2) Tuff pillars towering over the local market.

3) One more. And we are just walking along the main street of the village.

4) Restaurant-cafe-bar “Zhirobas”.

5) A cheerful car with a not entirely clear purpose. 🙂

6) Moving from the hotel along one of the main streets to the highway that connects the cities of Uchisar and Ortahisar, we turned onto Müze Cd, towards the Göreme Open Air Museum. And then we ran into a whole “mycelium” of tuff sculptures.

7) We decided to wander among them.

8) We climbed a small hill with a view towards Red Valley. Cappadocia owes the originality of its relief to ancient volcanic eruptions and long-term, ongoing processes of erosion and weathering.

9) Locals call these pillars peribajalary or fairy fireplaces. They come in completely different shapes, sometimes quite bizarre. They can stand stuck together as a solid wall or be broken into separate mushroom-shaped cones. In Love Valley (or as it is also called Penis Valley), you can find elevations of phallic shapes with characteristic caps made of basalts and andesites. And before, imagine, people lived in these penises.

10) Fireplaces are everywhere you look. They literally strewn the entire space for many square kilometers around.

11) We walked along the road to the “Museum” and decided to climb a small hill on which there were several pillars. And then something went wrong. Making our way along some vague path (as if hinting that normal people don’t walk here) to the top, we suddenly heard a completely inhuman roar. Not understanding “where does the sound come from” (c) stood rooted to the spot, looking around. The tuffs rose around us, the space was filled only by low, ankle-deep, thorny bushes, and it was completely unclear where this wild howl was coming from. With their ears pricked up, they followed the sound. He led us to bushes in which it looked as if pigs were being slaughtered. Still not understanding what/who we were dealing with, we (well, as “we” - Christina, of course) plucked up courage, parted the bushes and found in them...

12) ...a tiny German Shepherd puppy! He screamed like crazy, got entangled in thorny bushes and couldn’t get out of them. Christina immediately rescued him from captivity and began to clean him of the pierced needles.

13) This find largely determined all our plans for the day ahead. 🙂 There wasn’t a soul around, we couldn’t just leave the dog. In addition, she could barely walk (we later found out that it was her) and clearly wanted to eat. When we gave her the food we had brought with us, she greedily ate every last crumb. We had to take her with us for a walk in the hope that we would be able to place her somewhere.

14) In the place where we found the puppy, we were unable to climb the hill overlooking Goreme. So we headed back to the road and decided to find another way up. On the way we came across a hotel, we walked around it and came across someone's farm. Along the way, the puppy happily vomited the food he had just eaten.

15) Sheep on the farm.

16) Horses on the farm.

17) Alya in the wild west.

18) Farmer's dwelling. By the way, we offered to take the dog to the farmer, but he refused because... he already had his own dog.

19) Rapunzel could live in such a tower under the supervision of an evil stepmother.

20) Having walked around the farm, we finally found the way up. From the low hill there was a panoramic view of the surrounding area. On one side onto farmland.

22) And of course on Goreme itself.

23) Tuff hills like the one we took these pictures from eventually produce free-standing tuff cones. The previous photos clearly show that the cones closest to the hill are still connected to it by sort of tuff isthmuses that have not yet disappeared during the weathering process.

24) This concludes our walk around the outskirts of Goreme. It was necessary to somehow decide on the dog’s fate. And carrying it around in the heat was very tiring. In general, we went back to the village without really seeing anything. On the way, we spoke several times with the locals, trying to understand what we should do and who we could give the dog to. But all attempts were in vain. Unable to think of anything better, we took her to the hotel. 🙂 They settled the dog in their Sultan’s mansions. To our surprise, the hotel manager did not oppose this turn of events; moreover, the administration showed maximum participation in determining the fate of the dog and, as a result, one of the girls from the reception took him home. 🙂

25) The rest of the day we took care of the dog and relaxed at the hotel. And in the evening we decided to go watch the sunset at the same point where we had climbed earlier in the day. We climbed along the beaten path from Goreme. On the way up we met a very good-natured Turkish family picking blackberries from a blackberry tree. We stopped for a second to take a few photos and were immediately treated to a ripe berry. 🙂

26) Dwellings of local residents.

28) Quite a lot of people from the surrounding area come to watch the sunset from this observation deck.

29) A huge blinding ball is approaching sunset.

30) Eroded slopes in sunset colors.

32) The Uchisar fortress carved into the rock visible in the distance.

35) Goreme at sunset.

39) Tourists watching the sunset.

Address: Göreme Tarihi Milli Parkı, Müze Cd., 50180 Göreme/Nevşehir Merkez/Nevşehir, Turkey

Coordinates: 38.641589, 34.843158

How to get there

From Moscow

Experienced travelers, as a rule, buy combined air tickets from Moscow to Nevsehir or Kayseri with a transfer through Istanbul. Direct flights to Istanbul are operated from the capital's airports: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo.

Flights depart from here to Nevsehir. Further from the bus station of this city, there are many options for traveling to Goreme.

From other cities

From other resort towns, such as:, etc. - you first need to get to Antalya bus station.

Description

Goreme National Park is a unique natural and cultural reserve in Turkey, including the remains of ancient cave settlements and monasteries in the historical region of Cappadocia.

It was one of the largest Christian centers, formed during the period of Roman persecution of Christians. Starting from the 2nd century. Christians fled here from Jerusalem, Rome, Syria, and the cities of Asia Minor. Here people settled in rock caves. For the period before the 9th century. More than 400 Christian churches and monasteries were built here. Many temples were painted with frescoes, which gave rise to a new one - the Cappadocian style. fresco painting. Partial paintings of some temples have survived to this day.

It is interesting that the saints now known as the Great Cappadocians were born or preached in these parts (or Holy Trinity of the Great Cappadocians): Basil of Caesarea, Archbishop of Cappadocia (known as Basil the Great), Gregory the Theologian (one of the associates of Basil the Great), Gregory of Nyssa (younger brother of Basil the Great ), sometimes Amphilochius of Iconium is also considered to be the Great Cappadocians (brother Gregory the Theologian). Also, according to one of the legends, a certain George of Cappadocia, a martyr who became one of the prototypes of St. George the Victorious, found refuge in Cappadocia.

During the Ottoman period, most of the temples ceased to function. Today Goreme is an open-air museum, a unique collection of cultural and architectural monuments of Cappadocia. Among the museum objects you can see: , c Church of St. Basil,

Goreme National Park is the largest and most famous open-air museum located in Cappadocia. Believers hid here during the birth of Christianity, fleeing persecution by the authorities.

Description

There are 10 churches and chapels in the park, which were built in the period 900-1200. They were created in the Byzantine style, the buildings were decorated with arches and columns, as well as elements in the Cappodacian style.
Behind the small stone tower of the Monastery, there is the Church of St. Basil. Further behind it is the Apple Church. The Church of St. Barbara was named after the image of the saint, which is depicted on the north wall. Light in the church is provided only by a small window. A unique metal walkway leads to the entrance. The largest rock church is called the Curved Church. Visitors will find it outside the museum, 50 meters from the entrance.

Churches in the park

The Church of St. Basil is visible from behind a small stone tower called the “Monastery.” At the entrance to the churches there are niches with small tombs. The walls are covered with images of St. George, Theodore, scenes from the Gospel, and images of St. Basil the Great, Bishop of Cappadocia in the 6th century.
In memory of the Egyptian saint, the Church of St. Barbara was built in Goreme National Park. Protecting his daughter from the influence of Christianity, Barbara's father put her in prison. The girl nevertheless found a way to practice Christianity, for which her father personally tortured her and then executed her. The church is painted with colorful patterns, and huge locusts are depicted on the walls - a symbol of the devil.
This church is so called because of the red ball in the hands of the Archangel Michael, or because an apple tree used to grow here.
This is one of the smallest churches in Goreme National Park. Here visitors will see a Greek cross and four columns supporting the central dome.
The Serpentine Church has low ceilings and a long nave. One of the frescoes there depicts Saints George and Theodore fighting a dragon.
There was a dovecote in the Dark Church until the 1950s. Over the course of 14 years, the walls were cleared of pigeon droppings and frescoes depicting scenes from the Gospel were seen on them. This is a fine example of Byzantine art from the 11th century.
The Church with Sandals got its name from two imprints on the floor near the entrance. The frescoes here, dating back to the 11th century, depict the Nativity, Epiphany and other episodes of the Gospel.
The "Maiden Tower" is a six-story convent carved into the rock. It is characterized by a peculiar system of tunnels, corridors and stairs.
The Curved Church is the largest rock church. It is located near the entrance to Goreme National Park.
It consists of four parts - the New and Old Churches, the Lower Church and the Paraklesion.

The city of Goreme in Turkey is a popular and beloved place for tourists. There is a developed tourist infrastructure here, and most importantly, the National Museum is located a kilometer away, and the city itself is called the heart of Cappadocia and the center of a national park with an area of ​​300 square meters. km. Having settled in Goreme, it is convenient for tourists to visit all the attractions on the map, and there are many of them. In addition to the Open Air Museum, the national park includes:

— Red and Rose Valley;
— Valley of Love;
— Pigeon Valley;
— rock cities of Cavusin, Uchisar, Urgup, Ortahisar, Zelve, etc.

Video: Goreme National Park and caves… (UNESCO/NHK)

Goreme Rock City of Early Christians

Tourists arriving in Cappadocia first of all go to the Museum-Reserve. Entrance is open daily from 8.30 to 17.30, and in winter only until 17.00. Photography is permitted throughout the entire territory, with the exception of interior spaces. Taking care of the safety of fragile frescoes, the use of flashes in buildings is prohibited.

The national park can easily be added to the list of places you definitely need to visit. It is mysterious and enchanting, the combination of rocky anthill churches against the backdrop of a clear sky is breathtaking. Early Christian structures (monasteries, churches and chapels) built inside the unusual peribajaral stones are the main attractions of the complex. The age of the churches dates back to the 9th-11th centuries, there are about 30 of them, and most of them have preserved frescoes.

The churches have a simple architectural form in the Byzantine style. They are simple square or rectangular rooms hewn out of the rock. In some temples, architects tried to give the pillars the appearance of columns with capitals.

Frescoes give the cave structures the appearance of churches. They are stunning with the brightness of the colors, which are perfectly preserved in some churches. The earlier paintings are simple ornaments of Christian symbols, while the later ones depict the faces of saints. Not all images are well preserved; some are badly damaged by time and people.
More than 60 objects are shown on the excursion map of the Open Air Museum; each attracts attention and can tell its own story. To see all the sights, it is convenient to follow a marked route, photographing and filming everything you see.

The buildings that look like anthills will leave an indelible impression; you should definitely visit them to experience the charm of Goreme in person, not just from the photos.

Goreme National Park is located 3 km northeast of Uchisar (Cappadocia), between the cities of Nevsehir, Urgup and Avanos. This park is a real open-air museum with an area of ​​about 300 square meters. km. Goreme Park has become very famous due to the rock monastery complexes and cave settlements located on its territory; also within the park you can find 6 churches, more than two dozen ancient villages of the “ordinary” type and a museum complex. The territory of the Goreme National Park and the adjacent areas of the Gorgunder Valley are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Goreme Park has its own history. It is known that from the 6th century. until the end of the 9th century. Goreme was one of the largest Christian centers, then there were more than 400 churches in its vicinity. Saint Paul declared Goreme to be the most suitable place for raising the righteous. During the Roman Empire, the modern area of ​​Goreme Park was named Cappadocia, which translated from Persian means “land of white horses.” It is also known that Christians who were here for centuries carved out easily processed tuff volcanic rocks, thereby creating real underground cities, monasteries and villages. Thus, during an archaeological expedition in 1963, which took place in the area of ​​​​the modern village of Derinkuyu, 29 km from the city of Nevsehir, a huge underground city was discovered. The total length of its living rooms, utility rooms, underground galleries and passages exceeds 30 km. The underground city was able to count about seven floors, the total depth of which was 85 m; scientists roughly calculated that up to 20 thousand people could live here. All passages to this underground city were tightly closed from the inside with huge round boulders. However, the defensive function was also performed by the city plan itself, drawn up in the form of a labyrinth, without a map of which a guest of the underground kingdom would not have been able to escape on his own. Local residents subjected special protection to water wells and ventilation shafts, which were skillfully disguised in the rocks.

The structure of the park also includes the following objects: the Refectory, the Convent, as well as the Church of St. Basil, the Apple Church, the Church of St. Barbara, the Snake Church, the Dark Church, the Church with Sandals.

They say that Goreme National Park has the most interesting landscape in , and this is not without reason. The Hasan and Erciyes massifs (3916 m above sea level) are the largest extinct volcanoes in Central Anatolia, they once erupted with lava flows that covered the site of the modern Goreme Valley , although Mount Erciyes is located about 100 km from Goreme.

One cannot help but admire the numerous fairy chimneys located within the park (this is the name given to the cone-shaped rocks scattered throughout the park). Local caves and rocks amaze with the unusualness of their shapes, as well as the unusual color scheme; previously red, pink and brown, they turned into gray, yellow and green.