The world without visas:
Around the world with Valery Shanin
Travelling across Cappadocia became the next stage of The World without Visas project,
within which, Valery Shanin travels only around the countries, visa-free for Russians.
On this trip Katya Klementieva became his fellow traveler.
Turkey: Ihlara and Gyuzelyurt Valleys
Cappadocia — one of the most surprising landscape and cultural heritage of all the regions in Turkey.
Its name comes from the Persian word "Katpatuka",
that is translated as: "The country of beautiful horses".
But now, it is not the horses that attract millions of tourists from around the world here.
Cappadocia surprises with fancy rocky formations,
uge cave monasteries and underground cities.
The flat, deprived of vegetation plateau, lying at the altitude of about 1000 meters above sea level,
is limited from the South by the volcanoes Erdzhiyas and Hassan,
and from the North — by the valley of the Kyzyl Irmak River and the salty Tuz Lake.
As a result of volcanic eruptions, the entire territory of Cappadocia was flooded with lava,
filled with volcanic tuff and covered with a thick layer of ash.
Then pouring rains, wind and rivers came into effect.
o for millions of years in the process of erosion, the landscape so unique and, not similar to anything, was created.
Local people also worked hard.
They have hollowed thousands of caves in the soft tufa.
The biggest cave Church, it is even called a cathedral, is in the village of Selime,
near the lower entrance of the Ihlara Canyon.
- All this was cut out by Christians in pre-Islamic times.
- The column looks like it was bit.
The small Melendiz River, for a couple of millions of years, created a deep canyon with steep red walls,
through the soft rocks made of volcanic tufa and ashes.
We enter the canyon from the exit side and we will go against the stream of the river.
Higher and higher.
The slope is very small. It is almost imperceptible.
It is just the same as walking on a flat ground.
The water in the river is clean.
Hundreds of streamlets and springs fall into it from all directions.
- It is necessary to gather water from the spring.
Pyramidal shaped poplars and olive trees replace wheat allotments, vegetable gardens and pastures.
The largest village — Belisirma.
Its lower part is in the valley, and the upper — already on the plateau.
Within the walls of the canyon, 100 — 150 meters high, in the IX-XI centuries, the set of cave dwellings and early Christian Churches have been cut down.
105 of them have remained up to now.
But only 14 are open for official survey.
They have established plaques, made comfortable stairs and indexes in front of them.
They slightly cleaned.
However, neither protection, nor lighting can be seen here.
Inside a typical cave Church, everything is cut down from the tuff — both the altar, and niches in walls.
Here and there medieval frescos have remained.
Paints have partially faded.
But the murals have suffered much more from vandalism.
Almost on all faces, the eyes are put out and ugly inscriptions are scrawled on the walls.
A little before reaching the village of Ihlara, the trail climbs the steep slope of the canyon,
and out on the plateau - the road to Gyuzelyurt.
Gyuzelyurt
The first settlement on the site emerged in the middle of the third millennium BC.
The highest blossoming the city experienced, was in the first centuries of Christianity.
It is here that, Gregory the Theologian — created the well-known Gregorian calendar.
The Church of Saint Gregory — one of the main sights of the city.
It was constructed in the 4th century. And repeatedly reconstructed.
In 1924, Greeks have gone to Greece, and their place was taken by Turks from Thessaloniki,
the walls were whitewashed to hide the frescos decorating them.
And the Church was converted into a mosque.
Right in the churchyard, is the entrance to a huge underground city.
A complex system of tunnels, passages and ventilation shafts are available for tourists to explore.
- I didn't understand.
- There is a dead end? I don't want to go there. I am afraid of closed spaces.
The Greek Orthodox Church of Analipsis, stands on a small mound near the reservoir.
The location is so remarkable that, the first temple appeared here, already at the time of the Hittites.
The Church and the monastic cells, which have remained up to now,
were built at the very end of the XIX century,
when the majority of the population in Gyuzelyurte were Greeks.
From Gyuzelyurt to the settlement of Sivirikhisar, stretches the Monastery Valley — a reduced in size copy of the Ihlara Valley extends.
In the IV century, with the personal participation of Saint Gregory, they began to create the first cave monasteries and Churches in this valley.
In the Monastery Valley, the travel across Cappadocia comes to an end.
And The World without Visas project continues.
Ahead, new travels around the countries, visa-free for Russians.