Cappadocia, Days 2 & 3 - Derinkuyu Underground Museum, Uchisar, Goreme Open Air Museum

Driving to Derinkuyu

Hello readers, apologies for the prolonged delay for my unfinished Turkey budget trip. Got busy in various engagements. I just want to dive in straight to our Day 2 itinerary in Cappadocia where had planned to to drive to Derinkuyu town where there is an ancient multi-storeyed underground city in the Nevsehir province. We had a typical Turkish breakfast (with most of the items missing) and left Goreme. It took about 45 minutes by car to reach Derinkuyu from Goreme. This underground city is said to have housed a population as large as 20,00 along with food & livestock & is almost 85 m deep. It has chapels, storage rooms.

Varkala, Kerala, India

Sunset from Varkala South cliff

Ever since I moved to Bangalore in 2022, I have been hearing about Varkala as if this is the "Goa" of Bangaloreans. I started planning for a Varkala trip but due to many unavoidable circumstances, the planning didn't see light of the day until September 2023 during the Ganesh Chaturthi extended weekend. I didn't drive down to Varkala (I usually drive to any nearby holiday destination as I love driving) but took an overnight AC sleeper bus from Punchiry Travels. I'm mentioning their name as I found their bus to be very comfortable, hygienic & less rolling compared to other sleeper bus companies. For the return journey, I booked train tickets for 16525 KSR Bengaluru Express (Kanyakumari t KSR Majestic) from IRCTC. While there is still daylight, one can get to witness some spectacular Kerala landscapes form the train window.

Coming back to the trip, I wouldn't say I had a "fantastic" trip because of many factors which I will elaborate further as you continue reading this blog.

Cappadocia, Day 1 - Zelve Open Air Museum & Fairy Chimneys/Paşabağları Müze ve Örenyeri, Turkey

At Goreme Open Air Museum

After having a phenomenal sojourn in Istanbul, we flew to the historical region of central Turkey - Cappadocia/Kapadokya (in Turkish). It is famous for its unusual & exclusive historical heritage, rock formations & scenic hot air balloon rides. I had kept 2D/2N in Cappadocia. But personally I felt even 5 days is too less to properly explore the whole of Cappadocia. Hence, it is always good to decide which attractions one wants to delve into.

In front of Red Valley, Goreme

Flying over interior Turkey

Notable sights of attraction/activities:

• Goreme Open Air Museum (Northern Cappadocia/Red Tour, MUST visit)
• Zelve Open Air Museum (Northern Cappadocia/Red Tour, MUST visit)
• Fairy Chimneys (Northern Cappadocia/Red Tour, MUST visit)
• Devrent Seyir Terasi (for breathtaking sunsets & overall view of the terrain, Northern Cappadocia/Red Tour)
• Love Valley/Aşıklar Vadisi (Northern Cappadocia/Red Tour)
• Rose Valley/Gül vadisi (Northern Cappadocia)
• Three Beauties/Üç Güzeller (Northern Cappadocia)
• Uçhisar Kalesi/Uçhisar Castle (Northern Cappadocia/Red Tour)
• pottery workshops in Avanos (Red Tour)
• hot air balloon rides
• ATV tours in Rose Valley
• renowned & extensive underground cities of Derinkuyu & Kaymakli (Southern Cappadocia/Green Tour)
• Pigeon Valley (Southern Cappadocia/Green Tour)
• Ihlara Valley (Southern Cappadocia/Green Tour)
• Selime Cathedral (Southern Cappadocia/Green Tour)
• Onyx Museum & Factory (Southern Cappadocia/Green Tour)
• Narlıgöl Krater (Southern Cappadocia/Green Tour)
• Belisırma Vadi Girişi (Southern Cappadocia/Green Tour)

Zelve Open Air Museum

If one visits Fairy Chimneys with ample amount of time, it is not required to spend more time on Love Valley, Rose Valley, Three Beauties, Devrent as the rock formations, terrain, landscape are more or less very similar to one another (we actually skipped these as we took our own sweet time to explore Fairy Chimneys). Cappadocia local tours & travel agencies operate 2 types of tours viz:

1. Red Tour covering the northern locales of Cappadocia
2. Green Tour traversing the southern Cappadocia

Fairy Chimneys

It goes without saying that both the above tours CANNOT be done on the same day and many attractions are not included in the above tours. For example, either Kaymakli or Derinkuyu underground city tours are included in the Red Tour but not BOTH the underground cities. If the stay in Cappadocia is exceeding 3 days, then all the above attractions can be explored with ample time & energy without hurrying.