Morning in Goreme

No, we didn’t go ballooning again today but we took some great pictures of this place from the balloon yesterday and went to see it on foot today.

The Goreme valley was home to a continuous Christian monastic tradition for over 900 years (until the 11th or 12th century). The monks carved over 300 churches, chapels and monasteries into the rocks. Some of these have been preserved in the World Heritage site of the Goreme Open Air Park. St. Basil the Great is the most famous of the Cappadocian monks and St. George (the dragon slayer) was born in Cappadocia.

The highlight of Goreme is Karanlik Kalise (Dark Church). It’s narthex collapsed many hundreds of years ago, sealing the church. The frescoes were undisturbed by light (though covered in pigeon poop) until the late 1800’s. Some have been restored, others repainted. You can see the influence of the Italian Byzantine era painters in these 11th century frescoes.Read more