Alternative tourism getting popular in Cappadocia region

The Cappadocia Tourist Guides Association initiated a series of activities titled “Unknown Cappadocia” with an aim to explore the lesser known features of the area. The initiative is a joint project by the association, state officials, local authorities and nongovernmental organizations, reported Doğan News Agency. The association president, Sami Yılmaz, said Cappadocia was not solely a tourism center. “Besides its visually magnificent natural beauty, the region also possesses a rich cultural and historical legacy. We want to highlight and promote different and lesser known characteristics of the Cappadocia region with our initiative ‘Unknown Cappadocia,'” he said. “We believe that our project will reveal the rich tourism potential of the region in other respects. We organize tours to the lesser known and visited areas of region especially for those who are involved in the tourism sector in order to make them closely acquainted with the hidden wealth of the region for their future tourism projects,” he concluded. Cappadocia is generally regarded as being part of the plains and the mountainous region of eastern central Anatolia. The origins of this region can be traced to the Tertiary period some 50 million years ago, when craters and chimneys dominated the landscape. Forces of erosion have shaped the incredible and unique Cappadocia tuff-coned landscape. The Cappadocia region is thus a famous and popular tourist destination due to its numerous cone-shaped geological formations.

Among the must-see spots in the region are the Fairy Chimneys, the Göreme Valley National Park and rock churches, the underground cities of Kaymaklı, Derinkuyu and Özkonak, the Zelve Valley and Paşabağ, Avanos with its pottery and carpets, the Uçhisar and Ortahisar rock fortresses, Ürgüp, the Ihlara valley, Soğanlı, Sinasos and Hacıbektaş. In summer (from May to November) several alternative tours are available including a hot air balloon trip over the chimneys, trekking, walking, horse riding, motorbike or mountain biking around the valleys.