A Cappadocia tour from Ankara runs from the capital across the steppe to the rock valleys. This route passes a salt lake, a volcano, a rock-church valley and a Seljuk city. For island trips, open Greece Tours on the homepage.
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Which roads and trains link Ankara with a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
Roads carry the link. The O-21 motorway and the D.750 state road both run south from Ankara towards Aksaray. The D.300 road goes on to Nevsehir, under 300 kilometres from the capital. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara follows that corridor.
Ankara lies in central Anatolia, 938 metres above sea level, with steppe vegetation around the city. It is the second-largest city of Turkey by population, after Istanbul. Capital since the Republic began on 29 October, it stands at the centre of Turkey’s road and railway networks. Every Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore starts from that hub.
Want more of Anatolia? The Turkey tours on the homepage add Istanbul, Ephesus and the coast.
Ankara, Aksaray, Nevsehir and Kayseri all belong to the Central Anatolia Region. Aksaray and Nevsehir lie wholly inside it, and Ankara and Kayseri lie mainly inside it. These towns therefore share one region, and a Cappadocia tour from Ankara links all of them.
The O-20 motorway forms a ring road of 110 kilometres around the capital. It is the only ring motorway in Turkey that closes into a complete circle. In the northwest it joins the Anatolia Motorway, and in the south it joins the O-21. Drivers heading south take the southern link, because the O-21 begins there.
The O-21 starts at Golbasi, in Ankara, and runs 432 kilometres to Tarsus in Mersin Province. It is the longest motorway in Turkey. About 214 kilometres from Golbasi, its Aksaray exit joins the D.300 road, which leads to Nevsehir. Its southern end meets the O-51 motorway at Tarsus.
The D.750 is a state road of 722 kilometres that runs north to south. It starts at Zonguldak on the Black Sea coast and ends at a junction near Tarsus. It forms part of the European route E90. Inside Ankara province it passes Sereflikochisar, and at Aksaray it meets the D.300.
Past Aksaray the D.300 runs through Nevsehir and on to Kayseri. Nevsehir stands under 300 kilometres from Ankara and lies within the historical region of Cappadocia. The touristic part of Cappadocia sits in Nevsehir province. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara heads for that province along this road.
Rail runs a different way. Ankara was linked to Istanbul by railway before the First World War. Kayseri has railway service to Ankara, but no railway line runs directly into Cappadocia. Passengers who take a Cappadocia tour from Ankara by train finish the trip by road. Kayseri lies about 45 minutes by road from the region.
Road and rail are the two ways to reach the region. Buses and cars cover the road leg all the way to Nevsehir. The railway covers only the stretch up to Kayseri, and the region lies southwest of that city. Kayseri lies on the D.300 as well, the same road that serves Nevsehir.
A loop by road begins and ends in the capital. The way back from Kayseri takes approximately three hours by road. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara built as a loop can leave through Aksaray and return from Kayseri.
This route spreads a Cappadocia tour from Ankara over two days. Day one runs southeast past Lake Tuz to Aksaray, with Mount Hasan in view. It goes on to the Nevsehir and Goreme area for the night. Day two visits the Soganli valley, then Kayseri with Mount Erciyes behind it. The road then leads back to Ankara.
What does Lake Tuz show on the road of a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
Lake Tuz is a very shallow salt lake on the central plateau of Turkey, about 150 kilometres south-southeast of Ankara. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara passes it on day one. The lake holds white salt flats, three salt mines and the main flamingo colony of Turkey.
Only Lake Van is bigger, so Tuz is the second-largest lake in Turkey. It sits in a closed basin that spreads over three provinces: Ankara, Konya and Aksaray. The basin is called the Konya basin. Driving south from Ankara, this route reaches the shore of the lake before it reaches Aksaray.
Two major streams feed the lake, along with groundwater and surface water, yet it has no outlet. Winter rain and snow dissolve minerals from the surrounding rocks, and the runoff carries them into the basin. The water cannot flow out, so natural evaporation leaves thick salt deposits behind.
The lake is very shallow, with water barely a metre deep for much of the year. It reaches its maximum level in the spring months. In summer the lake dries up, and in August a salt layer about 30 centimetres thick lies exposed. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore meets a different lake in spring than in August.
Three salt pans work the lake, called Kaldirim, Kayacik and Yavsan. Salt water is let into the pans, the salt settles out, and the leftover water drains away. Wagons then carry the salt along a rail network to warehouses on the shore.
Mines on the lake produce more than half of the salt that Turkey consumes. The salt is harvested, refined and sold all over Turkey. Drivers on a Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore pass the country’s main salt source.
Sereflikochisar and Eskil are the settlements listed for the lake. Sereflikochisar lies southeast of Ankara, and glinting light to the west marks the lake as the road approaches. The salt crystals look deceptively like snow and ice. The Ankara to Aksaray highway leads to the lake. An access point on the Aksaray side lies close to it.
Greater flamingos breed on a group of islands in the southern part of the lake. The lake that a Cappadocia tour from Ankara passes holds the largest natural flamingo colony in Turkey. The young leave in autumn. In a drought year, flamingo chicks have died of thirst before taking flight.
Turkey has declared the lake a specially protected area, the Tuz Golu Special Environmental Protection Area. The zone covers the lake surface, the surrounding waterbeds and part of the neighbouring steppe. The lake is also a stopover for migratory birds on the East Mediterranean Flyway. Its water level follows the seasonal rains, and the level affects the flamingo population.
Scientists explain the crimson colour that appears in summer. Tiny algae called Dunaliella salina make a pigment named beta carotene. The algae multiply as the water grows saltier. In winter the water level rises and the redness disappears.
Anyone stopping at the shore during a Cappadocia tour from Ankara can walk onto the salt in high rubber boots. Swamps lie in parts of the lake, so walkers keep close to the shore. When water covers the salt, the surface reflects the sky.
Why does Aksaray with Mount Hasan matter to a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
Aksaray is a town with Seljuk landmarks at the western edge of Cappadocia. Mount Hasan, a volcano above 3,250 metres, rises over it. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara reaches both on day one, before the night in the Nevsehir and Goreme area.
Aksaray is a city in Central Anatolia and the seat of Aksaray Province. Its average height is 980 metres above sea level. The Silk Road crossed Anatolia for centuries, and the town was an important stopover on it. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore reaches a former Silk Road stopover on day one.
Travellers between Ankara, Konya and Nevsehir can break their journey in Aksaray. The Seljuk sultans of Rum left important landmarks in and around the town. Buildings from the Beylik period, the age after the Seljuks, stand there too. The Red Minaret and the Ulu Mosque, one from each age, rise in the city centre.
In Aksaray itself, a Cappadocia tour from Ankara has Seljuk work close at hand. The Egri Minaret stands in the city centre. It is built of red brick, which earns it the name Red Minaret. Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad ruled when builders raised it, in the thirteenth century.
The tower is also known as the Leaning Minaret. The ground settled at its foundations, and the shaft has a distinct lean. Because the minaret was in danger of collapse, it was tied with steel ropes in the twentieth century. The Ulu Mosque, the town’s other landmark, lies a short walk away.
The Ulu Mosque, or Grand Mosque, is a large mosque in the city centre. Karamanoglu Mehmet Bey had it built in the early fifteenth century, and Mehmet Firuz Bey is named as its architect. It belongs to the Beylik age that followed the Seljuks. So one town gives a Cappadocia tour from Ankara two ages of Anatolian building.
The mosque’s wooden minbar, its pulpit, is the chief feature of the mosque. It is a typical piece of Karamanoglu art. Byzantine floor mosaics came to light under the mosque while workers built its minaret. A Roman sarcophagus also lay near the mosque, so the centre of Aksaray holds layers older than the Seljuk tower.
In the twentieth century, a museum collection for Aksaray began in the Zinciriye Medrese, a seminary from the fourteenth century. The museum building stands on the state highway D.750, which links Aksaray with the south of Turkey. Its three storeys echo the look of the Seljuk cupolas in the city.
The museum shows the Aksaray Stele, the lower half of a Hittite monument. It carries a relief of the Hittite Storm God, and its text is in Luwian. Byzantine-era mummies are on display too. These objects predate the Seljuks, which adds an older layer to a Cappadocia tour from Ankara.
Mount Hasan is a volcano between Aksaray and Nigde, and it is visible from the city. Aksaray lies 30 to 40 kilometres north-west of the mountain. Hasan rises about one kilometre above the surrounding terrain. Small Hasan, the lower summit, stands at 3,069 metres. On day one of this Cappadocia tour from Ankara, the peaks stay in view.
Hasan is a stratovolcano, and no eruption in recorded history is known. Its dated eruptions took place thousands of years ago. Fumaroles, vents that release water vapour, still mark the summit. Between October or November and late spring, snow frequently covers the mountain. People also used Mount Hasan as a source of obsidian.
What stands in the Soganli valley on a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
The Soganli valley holds rock-cut churches, painted walls and cliff dovecotes in Yesilhisar district, Kayseri Province. Day two of a Cappadocia tour from Ankara opens here, before the road runs on to the city. Monks carved the churches from soft volcanic tuff.
Soganli lies in the south-east of Cappadocia, away from the centre of the region. The village sits in the triangle between Kayseri, Nigde and Nevsehir. This route visits the valley first on day two. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore meets the churches before it turns to Kayseri.
The site is not one single canyon. It has two linked arms, the Asagi and Yukari Soganli valleys, which meet around the village. Karabas, Yilanli and Kubbeli stand in the northern arm, where the main cluster of churches lies. Tahtali and Geyikli stand in the southern arm.
People have lived at Soganli since the Roman period. Romans used the rock spaces as cemeteries, and Byzantines later used them as churches. Christian life took root here from the fourth century. Monks lived in the valley between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara reaches that monastic past on day two.
Domed rock churches set Soganli apart from the Goreme, Ihlara and Zelve valleys. Kubbeli, the Cupola church, stands across from Yilanli and has side rooms around its dome. Its outer wall is cut to imitate blocks of masonry under a toothed cornice. The wall is carved from the rock, not built from blocks.
Karabas, the Church with the Black Heads, has a barrel-vaulted nave. Its latest frescoes date from the thirteenth century and show scenes from the Life of Jesus on a black background. An inscription above the door names the donors and gives a foundation date in the eleventh century. Nearby buildings point to a monastery around the church.
Not every wall kept its paint. At Yilanli, the Snake church, black paint covers the frescoes and they are heavily damaged. At Tokali the frescoes are completely destroyed. Tahtali, also called the Church of St Barbara, keeps the only picture of the Seven Sleepers in Cappadocia. A barely legible inscription dates it to the eleventh century.
Tokali stands high on a cliff at the start of the valley. A steep staircase of more than 50 steps leads up to it. Graves are cut into the wall in front of the church, and the nave inside has two aisles. The ground is rocky and sloping, so sturdy shoes help.
Dovecotes are carved into the cliffs of the valley, and white paint marks their entry holes. Monks built them to house pigeons. The droppings were collected as guano and spread as fertiliser on the grapevines and orchards. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore shows farming as well as worship cut into the rock.
Soganli is much less visited than Goreme or Zelve. Courtyard monasteries and cave churches give the valley a calm setting. Mostly flat dirt tracks link the main sights, while Sakli church needs a steep climb. Allow at least ninety minutes here during a Cappadocia tour from Ankara.
A car park and a restroom serve the site, and the village restaurants sell drinks and food. Local women make cloth Soganli dolls for visitors. After the valley, a Cappadocia tour from Ankara turns toward Kayseri.
Which Seljuk buildings in Kayseri belong on a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
Kayseri holds a black basalt citadel, the Hunat Hatun mosque complex and the Gevher Nesibe medical school. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara reaches them on day two, after the Soganli valley. The covered bazaar lies close to the walls.
Kayseri sits at the foot of Mount Erciyes. In the Roman era the city carried the name Kaisareia, which means the emperor’s city. Mazaka was an older name for the same place. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum later made Kayseri its second capital. The city stayed a key centre until the Mongols took it in the thirteenth century.
The citadel stands in the very centre of Kayseri, on Cumhuriyet Square. The Hunat Hatun complex and the covered bazaar stand beside it. Builders raised its walls from black volcanic basalt, quarried on the slopes of Mount Erciyes. Dark walls in the middle of town make the citadel a clear landmark for a Cappadocia tour from Ankara.
The foundations of the fortress date to the Roman period, in the third century. Later rulers repaired it and added to it. In the thirteenth century, the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I carried out a large rebuilding. That work gave the citadel the outline it keeps today. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore sees Roman foundations beneath Seljuk rebuilding.
A sultan’s wife founded the Hunat Hatun complex. Mahperi Hunat Hatun, the wife of Sultan Keykubad I, commissioned it in the thirteenth century. Her name Hunat means lady in Persian. The complex is made up of a mosque, a tomb, a madrasa and a bath. The bath has separate sections for men and women.
The Gevher Nesibe complex stands in Mimar Sinan Park. The site is also called the Cifte Medrese. Sultan Giyaseddin Keyhusrev I commissioned it early in the thirteenth century, in memory of his sister, Gevher Nesibe. She is buried inside. So a Cappadocia tour from Ankara includes the grave of a sultan’s sister, set within a school of medicine.
The complex has two halves. The hospital stands in the west and was designed to treat patients. The madrasa, a school of medicine, stands in the east and taught medical theory. Later Seljuk and Ottoman medical complexes took it as a model. It is one of the earliest designs in the medieval Islamic world to join teaching and healthcare.
Builders used cut stone in the Seljuk style. The plan has an open central courtyard, domed chambers and carved stone ornament. The buildings house the Museum of Seljuk Civilisations. Inside the old halls, a Cappadocia tour from Ankara meets the Seljuk age twice, in stone and in exhibits.
Not every landmark in the old centre is Seljuk. Kayseri has its own covered bazaar, a commercial centre close to the walls. The Vezir Han stands inside the bazaar. The Bedesten lies next to the third courtyard of the han. It stands near the Great Mosque and is linked to the covered bazaar.
An inscription dates the Bedesten to the fifteenth century and names Emir Mustafa, son of Abdulhay, as its builder. Its plan is square, and each of the four sides has one door. Beside the Seljuk places of worship and medicine, a Cappadocia tour from Ankara also finds a building of trade.
How does Mount Erciyes rise over a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
Mount Erciyes is a snow-capped volcano and the highest mountain of central Anatolia, with a summit above 3,800 metres. Kayseri lies north of it. On a Cappadocia tour from Ankara, the city is the last stop of day two.
Geologists class Mount Erciyes as a large stratovolcano, built from lava flows of andesite and dacite. Small vents surround the main cone, and the mountain stands in Kayseri Province. It has the greatest volume of any volcano in central Anatolia. Part of its summit has collapsed towards the east.
The name Erciyes is the Turkish form of the Greek name Argaios, which means bright or white. The ancient geographer Strabo described the mountain as Argaeus. He wrote that its summit never lacks snow and that forests grow all round it. He added that the Pontus and the Issian Sea are both visible from the top.
A Cappadocia tour from Ankara in any month faces the same snow facts. The summit is covered with snow throughout the year. One regular glacier still exists on the volcano, although it is receding. Glaciers also formed on the mountain during the Pleistocene.
Radiometric dating gives the volcano a long record. The oldest activity, called Koc Dag, forms the eastern slope. The last eruption of dacite lava came about 80,000 years ago, at a spot called Carik Tepe. The same dating shows a major pulse of volcanic activity in the early Holocene.
The youngest stages of the volcano are named Karagullu, Perikartin and Dikkartin. Explosive eruptions formed tuff rings there. The Karagullu ring formed more than 11,000 years ago. Fine ash from that eruption lies as a layer in the Black Sea and in lakes in Romania. The Perikartin eruption followed about 9,700 years ago.
The city of Kayseri stands directly on the pyroclastic deposits of these blasts. Pyroclastic deposits are loose ash and rock thrown out by explosions. The Kayseri stop of a Cappadocia tour from Ankara therefore sits on ground that the volcano laid down.
Erciyes also helped to make the rock of Cappadocia. The Valibaba Tepe ignimbrite, also called the Incesu ignimbrite, was linked to this volcano and extends east of the cone. It is the last of the Cappadocian ignimbrites. That layer ties the mountain behind a Cappadocia tour from Ankara to the rock of the region.
The Erciyes ski resort, one of the largest in Turkey, lies on the Tekir Plateau on the northern slopes. Skiers use the northern and eastern slopes between 2,200 and 3,100 metres. The season lasts from late November to late April, with snow about two metres deep.
A Cappadocia tour from Ankara in those months reaches Kayseri in ski season. Erciyes is a major winter sports site. The resort offers restaurants, ski instruction and equipment rental, and the snow there is very powdery. It also has a large cafe and medical facilities.
Mount Erciyes dominates the landscape of central Anatolia. It towers over Kayseri and serves as a centre for trekking and mountaineering. In the centre of Kayseri, a Cappadocia tour from Ankara is 30 minutes by road from the mountain. On this route the city has the volcano behind it, and the road then leads back to Ankara.
What do Ankara and Kayseri serve on a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
Ankara is known for tava, a slow-cooked sheep dish, and for crisp simit rings. Kayseri is known for tiny manti dumplings, pastirma and sucuk. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara starts in the first city and passes through the second.
Ankara tava is a traditional meat dish that belongs to Ankara Province. The meat comes from the forelimb and rib of sheep and lambs. Cooks bake it in a stone oven. Tin-lined copper pans hold the meat. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara begins in the home city of this dish.
The Ankara Chamber of Commerce obtained the geographical indication for Ankara tava. The sheep are raised in districts including Cubuk, Beypazari, Kalecik, Polatli and Haymana. The stone oven burns oak, beech or hornbeam wood. Baking takes about six hours, and the meat cooks in its own fat and juices.
Simit is a round bread covered in sesame seeds. Makers dip each ring in water and molasses syrup instead of poaching it, as bagel makers do. Simit from Ankara is smaller and crisper than simit from other cities. It is a common street food in the capital, where a Cappadocia tour from Ankara ends the loop.
Ankara has long been a productive farming region of Anatolia. In the Ottoman period the city was known for grain, cotton and fruit. The city is also known for its pears. Ankara has its own type of honey, light in colour. The Ataturk Forest Farm and Zoo in the Gazi district is the main producer.
Three foods carry the name of Kayseri: sucuk, pastirma and manti. Manti is a cultural marker of this Central Anatolian city, and the dish has a very old history. The second day of a Cappadocia tour from Ankara reaches Kayseri before the road turns back toward the capital.
Kayseri manti is a tiny, dumpling-like pasta. Cooks make the dough with flour, water, egg and salt. The filling is finely minced beef or lamb with onion, salt and black pepper. A traditional serving puts up to 40 pieces on a single spoon.
Cooks serve the tiny version with yoghurt and melted butter. The butter is flavoured with spearmint or Aleppo pepper, and dry mint and pepper flakes go on top. Tray-baked manti is another form. Cooks bake the tray, add a minced-meat sauce and serve it with garlic yoghurt.
Pastirma is a specialty of Kayseri, a city on the loop of a Cappadocia tour from Ankara. Kayseri pastirma is made from beef or buffalo meat. Makers salt the meat, wash it and let it dry for ten to 15 days. A paste called cemen, made of fenugreek, cumin, garlic and hot paprika, coats the meat.
Kayseri sucuk is a fermented meat product. Makers knead minced beef with garlic and spices, fill natural casings and tie the sausage into finger-shaped links. The links hang to dry. Fermenting under controlled humidity and temperature takes three to five days.
The traditional sucuk formula adds sweet and hot red pepper, black pepper and allspice. Kayseri sucuk is distinguished by a balanced blend of garlic and spices, and its flavour develops as it matures. The Kayseri Chamber of Commerce applied for the geographical indication. Sucuk finishes the Kayseri list for a Cappadocia tour from Ankara.
Which grapes of Ankara and Cappadocia belong on a Cappadocia tour from Ankara?
Two native grapes give a Cappadocia tour from Ankara its wine story. Kalecik Karasi is a red grape from Ankara Province, and Emir is a white grape from the Nevsehir area. One grape nearly vanished, while the other counts among the oldest of Central Anatolia.
The name Kalecik Karasi points to Kalecik, a district of Ankara Province. The district stands on a plain, and the Kizilirmak river forms its eastern edge. The grape grows well near that river. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara starts the loop in the province that gave this red grape its name.
The river shapes the vines. Around the town of Kalecik, the Kizilirmak creates a microclimate, and the soils are rich in marine fossils. The district is known for its wine, along with sugar beet and grain. Its history goes back to the Hittites and even earlier.
The red grape came close to disappearing. Phylloxera, a vine pest, and a long period of neglect pushed Kalecik Karasi to the brink of extinction. Prof. Sabit Agaoglu of Ankara University is credited with its revival. He rediscovered the variety and spread it through clonal selection.
Kalecik Karasi makes a light to medium-bodied wine with red berry and floral notes. Its style invites comparison with Pinot noir. The vines thrive in the pebbly clay loam soils of Central Anatolia. Pickers bring in the grapes from mid to late September. The variety counts among the quality red grapes of Turkey.
Emir is the white partner. This indigenous grape of the Cappadocia region in central Turkey is planted chiefly in Nevsehir Province and its surroundings. A Cappadocia tour from Ankara spends its first night in the Nevsehir and Goreme area. That is the home ground of Emir. The grape’s name comes from a Turkish word meaning lord or ruler.
Emir ripens in mid-season and gives dry musts that stay fresh and high in acid at harvest. The wine is light to medium-bodied. Winemakers commonly use stainless steel tanks to keep the wine vibrant. The grape makes still wine and traditional-method sparkling wine. Growers have worked it in Cappadocia for centuries.
Soil explains the sharp edge of Emir. Cappadocia’s volcanic tuff soils are the home of this grape. The minerals in Cappadocia’s soil give Emir its high acidity. That acidity and mineral character define the white wine of a Cappadocia tour from Ankara.
Wine in Central Anatolia is older than either grape, and its history reaches back to Neolithic communities. Hittite laws protected the growing and harvesting of grapes. Cappadocia is believed to have made wine since Hittite times. Anyone planning a Cappadocia tour from Ankara joins a story thousands of years old.
Under Ottoman rule, commercial wine was made almost entirely by non-Muslim subjects, among them Greek Orthodox communities. Vineyards persisted in inland regions such as Cappadocia. Urgup was then called Prokopi, and it held a mixed population of Turks and Christians. Its Greeks left Turkey under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne.
Urgup marks the grape harvest with a festival every September. It opens with a parade, then brings folk dances, light shows and concerts at night. Anyone timing a Cappadocia tour from Ankara around the harvest can look to that month.