CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
411 km from Derinkuyu to Derinkuyu, about 6 h 30 of riding. It goes by way of Yesilöz site, Soganli site, Karlik site and back through Soganli site. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,550 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Derinkuyu means deep well, and the town above the underground city is named for it. Beneath the plain of Cappadocia, south of Nevşehir, people have carved a maze of tunnels, rooms, stables, kitchens, chapels, wine presses and storerooms to a depth of some sixty metres, over many levels, though only the upper eight or so are open to visitors. At its busiest the city could shelter thousands of people along with their animals and food stores. Large round stone doors, shaped like millstones, could be rolled across the passages from the inside to block intruders, and narrow shafts supplied air and water, so that a community could live below ground for months.
Read the complete Subterranean city of Derinkuyu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Subterranean city of Derinkuyu is where the day begins. Next is Yesilöz site.
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.
Read the complete Yesilöz site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yesilöz site comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Soganli site.
Soğanlı lies in a side valley of Cappadocia that most tour buses skip, south-east of Ürgüp and Yeşilhisar, on the slopes of the volcanic uplands. The name means with onions, which tells you something about the humble character of the place. The valley sides are made of soft volcanic tuff, which the local Christians carved out in the Byzantine centuries into churches, chapels, monasteries, and houses. Many of the rock churches date from the ninth to the thirteenth century and keep fragments of frescoes: Karabaş, the Yılanlı or Snake church, the Barbara church and others, whose names reflect old stories more than documented history.
Read the complete Soganli site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach Soganli site. Next is Karlik site.
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.
Read the complete Karlik site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Karlik site, about halfway. Next is back through Soganli site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Soganli site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Soganli site sits at 117 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yesilöz site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yesilöz site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Yesilöz site comes up about 346 km into the recorded legs. Next is Subterranean city of Derinkuyu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Subterranean city of Derinkuyu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Subterranean city of Derinkuyu closes the day.
Subterranean city of Derinkuyu → Yesilöz site is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yesilöz site → Soganli site is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Soganli site → Karlik site is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Karlik site → back through Soganli site is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Soganli site → back through Yesilöz site is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yesilöz site → Subterranean city of Derinkuyu is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.