Cappadocia afternoon · Subterranean city of Kaymakli

113 km from Cappadocia

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Why this ride

A 113 km round trip from Göreme - roughly 1 h 57 in the saddle. On the way it passes Karain site, Karlik site, Yesilöz site and Subterranean city of Kaymakli. The highest point is about 1,550 m.

Roadbook

1. Cappadocia start

   Cappadocia is a high plateau in central Turkey where two volcanoes, Erciyes and Hasan, once covered the land in ash, and where the wind and rain have since carved that soft rock into a landscape of cones, towers and ridges. The locals call the pointed pillars fairy chimneys, and some of them stand twenty metres tall, topped with a cap of harder stone. The rock is easy to dig, and for thousands of years people have cut homes, churches, storerooms and pigeon lofts into it, so that whole hillsides are riddled with doorways and windows, and some of the valleys look inhabited by ghosts.

   Göreme, a village of a few thousand people, is the usual base, a cluster of cave houses and small hotels in a valley of pink and cream rock. Early Christians arrived in the first centuries and, during the long years of Arab raids and later iconoclasm, carved chapels with painted ceilings into the cliffs. Many of the frescoes still survive in the Göreme open-air museum nearby, and the colours of the saints' robes, in red, blue and ochre, are a surprise inside the dim stone rooms. Further afield, villages like Uçhisar, with its huge castle rock, and Avanos, famous for pottery made from the red clay of the Kızılırmak river, make good stops.

   At dawn the sky fills with hot-air balloons, dozens or hundreds of them rising from the valleys in the first light, and it is one of the sights that justifies the early alarm. For motorcyclists the area is a delight, with well-surfaced roads that wind between valleys, rise over low ridges and drop through villages, and long views across a landscape of strange shapes. Traffic is moderate, though tour buses and quad bikes are common near the main sights. In summer the heat is dry and strong, with cool nights, and in winter the plateau gets snow and sharp frost, which makes the roads icy in the early morning.

   Göreme and nearby towns such as Ürgüp and Avanos have fuel, cafes and workshops, so planning is easy. Pottery kebab, a stew sealed in a clay pot that the waiter cracks open at your table, is the local dish, and the local wines from Ürgüp are surprisingly good.

2. Karain site sight

   Cappadocia is a land that was made by volcanoes and then carved by people. Millions of years ago, the eruptions of Mount Erciyes, which still stands at 3,917 metres, and other volcanoes covered the high plateau of central Anatolia with deep layers of ash, which hardened into a soft rock called tuff. Wind and water then eroded the tuff into valleys of pinnacles, cones and ridges, the fairy chimneys, and people found that the rock was easy to dig. Ever since, they have been carving houses, churches, stables and storerooms into it.

   Karain, near Ürgüp, belongs to that landscape, and the label points to the rock-cut world that lies all around. In the early centuries of Christianity, communities of monks settled in the valleys of Cappadocia and decorated rock chapels with frescoes of saints and Bible stories, some still vivid with red and blue. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the best known, and many other churches are scattered across the valleys, often reached by narrow paths. Beneath the plateau, the underground cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu run down for many levels, with storerooms, wells and stone doors that rolled across the passages in case of attack.

   The ride in Cappadocia is gentle and spacious. The roads are generally good, running through high, treeless country of vineyards, apricot orchards and fields, with pale rock formations rising on either side. Dawn brings hot-air balloons, dozens of them drifting over the valleys, and the roads fill with tour vans heading to viewpoints. Traffic around Göreme and Uçhisar can be heavy in summer, so go early. In winter the plateau is cold, with snow and ice, and the fairy chimneys look magical under frost.

   Ürgüp, a town of sixteen thousand, has fuel, shops and wine bars. Cappadocia has a long tradition of winemaking, and local reds and whites are a pleasure after a day's ride. Pottery from nearby Avanos, shaped from the red clay of the Kızılırmak river, is worth a look, and a meal of testi kebab, cooked in a sealed clay pot that is broken open at the table, is a local spectacle.

   Visit in spring or autumn, when the temperature is mild and the light is soft.

3. Karlik site sight

   The Karlık church, one of the rock-cut sanctuaries of the district, is usually described as a dark church, with a simple cross-in-square plan cut into the stone and painted decoration that has faded over the centuries. Many rock churches here were cut by monks in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and their interiors imitate built architecture, with carved domes, pillars and arches that look like masonry but are all hollowed from a single mass of rock.

   The point of visiting such a place is the quiet. There may be no ticket office, no bus park, and only a shepherd and his dog to share the view. The rock walls are pitted with pigeon holes, a reminder that for centuries villagers collected pigeon droppings to fertilise the vineyards and orchards, and painted the little dovecote entrances with white patterns. Hawks wheel above the ridge, and in spring the fields have poppies and wild mustard. In summer the heat from the rock is intense, and by late afternoon the stone turns a deep orange.

   The riding on this side is easy and pleasant. Smooth country roads link the villages through vineyards and apricot orchards, with long views toward the snow-capped cone of Erciyes on a clear day. The traffic is light, and the hazards are tractors, flocks of sheep and the occasional unmarked speed bump at a village entrance. Autumn is lovely, with the harvest and golden leaves, and winter brings snow that closes minor tracks and turns the stone churches to white shells. Many of the rock churches in remote spots are locked or require a local guide, so ask in the nearest village.

   Ürgüp, about ten kilometres away, has fuel, shops, good restaurants and several wine cellars, and it is a better base than the busier Göreme if you prefer calm. Take water with you, and wear boots with grip on the rock, which can be slippery with fine dust.

4. Yesilöz site sight

   Cappadocia was made by volcanoes and carved by people. Millions of years ago, the volcanoes of central Anatolia, Erciyes and Hasan, covered the plateau in thick layers of ash that hardened into a soft rock called tuff, and wind and water have since eroded it into the cones, pinnacles and ridges that are known as fairy chimneys. People found the rock easy to carve, and for thousands of years they have dug homes, churches, storerooms and whole underground cities into it. The area is a World Heritage site, and it is hard to find a corner without a cave or a dovecote cut into a cliff.

   It lies in the quieter country south and east of Urgup, where the valleys are less crowded than Goreme, and where you can still find a rock church or a cave house that is not on any signboard. In the Byzantine period, from about the sixth to the eleventh centuries, monks and villagers decorated rock-cut chapels with frescoes, and the hidden valleys sheltered communities from Arab raids. The underground city of Kaymakli, on the ride, has eight levels, though only four are open, with ventilation shafts, stables, kitchens and rolling stone doors that could be closed against attackers.

   The riding is pleasant and varied. The main roads are wide and smooth, and the side roads wind between vineyards, apricot orchards and fields of sunflowers and wheat, with the strange rock formations rising on every side. The best time of day is the early morning, when hot-air balloons rise over the valleys, a hundred or more at a time, and the light on the rock is soft. Winter brings snow and ice, and summers are hot and dry. Take care on gravel roads and watch for tractors and sheep.

   Urgup has about sixteen thousand people and Goreme about six thousand, so fuel, food and rooms are no trouble. Taste the local pottery kebab, cooked in a sealed clay jug that is broken open at the table, and the local wines, since Cappadocia has produced wine since ancient times.

5. Subterranean city of Kaymakli turn

   Kaymakli sits in the soft volcanic country of Cappadocia, about eleven kilometres from Derinkuyu and eighteen from Nevşehir, and from the road you would never guess what is under your wheels. The village is ordinary: flat-roofed houses, tractors, a few carpet shops. The wonder is below, a city dug downward into tuff, the pale rock that ash from ancient volcanoes pressed into something a person can cut with a hand tool and that hardens with air.

   Go in and the scale gets to you in odd ways. Corridors are low enough to make a rider in boots and a jacket walk bent over. Round stone doors, shaped like millstones, can be rolled across a passage from inside and could not be opened from outside. There are wells, ventilation shafts that run down through the levels, stables, storerooms and kitchens whose ceilings are still blackened. Around eight levels are said to exist, and only the upper ones are shown to visitors. Who dug it first is argued over; the habit of hiding underground here goes back many centuries, and Byzantine Christians certainly used these refuges when raiders came through the plateau. Stories of a tunnel linking Kaymakli to Derinkuyu get told with confidence, though nobody has proved them.

   The riding around it is gentle, wide and quick on the main roads, with rock chimneys and pigeon-hole cliffs appearing in the fields. Early morning light on the tuff is the best of the day, and tour coaches arrive mid-morning, so you will be glad to be first in the tunnels. Summer on the plateau is hot and dry, spring has green wheat and poppies, and winter can bring real snow at this height, so check the forecast before you set off for the day.

   For practicalities, Derinkuyu is a proper town of over twelve thousand people and has fuel and plenty of food, and Nevşehir is bigger still. Between the two there are tea gardens where a glass of çay costs very little. Take a light layer into the underground city, because it stays cool and damp while you sweat outside, and bring a small torch if you want to peer into side passages that the lighting skips.

6. back through Yesilöz site stop

   back through Yesilöz site comes up 71 km in.

7. back through Karlik site stop
8. back through Karain site stop

   back through Karain site, late in the day.

9. Cappadocia finish

   The route ends here after 113 km.

Where this sits

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