The unfortunately named Urgup is probably the busiest of the small towns in the vicinity of the Cappadocian sites. It's possibly the tattiest as well, recent development has mushroomed leaving a grim legacy of poorly designed and serviced buildings. The road down into the town however does take you past some pleasant rock carved dwellings, accommodation and restaurants. It's worth wondering around the old town for a taste of what the place must have been like before we all arrived.

This said it does offer services, such as banking, which are a little scarce elsewhere. It has a scattering of hotels and pansiyons of varying degrees of sophistication and a couple of good places to eat.

The central bus station can feel a little bit like a gladiatorial arena if you arrive looking disorganised and vulnerable to tour operators. It just is that way and there's not much you can do about it. Cappadocia is a training ground for guides and travel operators and Urgup seems to be a bit of a target range.

Urgup, a lively tourist center at the foot of a rock riddled with old dwellings. serves as an excellent base from which to tour the sights of Cappadocia. In Urgup itself you can still see how people once lived in homes cut into the rocks. If you wish to buy carpets and kilims, there is a wide selection available from the town's many carpet dealers. These characters are as colorful as their carpets, offering tea, coffee or a glass of wine to their customers and engaging in friendly conversation. If sightseeing and shopping havent exhausted you, the disco welcomes you to another kind of entertainment. At the center of a successful wine producin gregion, Urgup hosts an annual International Wine Festival in October.

Leaving Urgup and heading south, you reach the lovely isolated Pancarlik Valley where you can stop to see the 12th century church with its splendid frescoes, and the Kepez church, which dates from the 10th century. Continuing on to the typical village of Mustafapasa (Sinasos), traditional stone houses with carved and decorated facades evoke another age.

Still traveling in a southerly direction, just past the village of Cemil, a footpath on the west side of the road leads to Keslik Valley where you will find a monastery complex and the Kara Kilise and Meyvali churches, both decorated with frescoes. Back on the mainroad you find the village of Taskinpasa where the 14th century Karamanid Mosque and Mausoleum Complex, and the remains of a medrese portal on the edge of town, make for a pleasant diversion. The next village is Sahinefendi where the 12th century Kirksehitler church, adorned with beautiful frescoes, stands at the end of a footpath 500 meters east of the village.

Fairy Chimneys
Soganli, 50 km south of Urgup, is a picturesque valley of innumerable chapels,churches, halls, houses and tombs. The frescoes, from the 8th to the 13th centuries, trace the development of Byzantine painting.

Four kilometers north of Urgup is the wonderful Devrent Valley, where the weather has eroded the stone into peaks, cones and obelisks called fairy chimneys.

Two kilometers west, in the Catalkaya Valley, the fairy chimneys have a peculiar mushroom like shape, which has been adopted as a symbol of the town.

Goreme | Avanos | Uchisar | Urgup | Nevsehir | Goreme Museum | Zelve | Ihlara Valley | Bits and Pieces



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