The lovely and quiet tiny village of Soğanlı is 36km south of Mustafapaşa. We hiked for a few hours through its valleys – Aşağı (Lower) Soğanlı and Yukarı (Upper) Soğanlı. There are hidden several rock-cut churches carved from the soft tuff stone. Byzantine monks inhabited the valley from...
We parked in the southwest Cappadocia next to a canyon rimmed by high cliffs that hide rock-cut churches. The 15 km long and up to 150 m deep canyon was formed in prehistoric times by the Melendiz River. From the 7th century AD, the valley was settled by Byzantine monks who dug their...
Near Narlıkuyu, a road winds north for 2km to several caves (🎫 75 TRY) – sinkholes carved out by a subterranean river and places of great mythological significance. The mammoth underground Chasm of Heaven (Cennet Mağarası) – 250m long, 110m wide, and 70m deep – is reached by 450-odd steps...
Mount Chimaera was the name of a place in ancient Lycia, known in Turkish as Yanartaş, or ‘Burning Rock’, where methane and other gases emerge from the rocky slopes of Mt Olympos and burn. Some ancient sources considered it to be the origin of the myth of the monster called...
Pamukkale has been made eternally famous by the gleaming white calcite travertines overrunning with warm, mineral-rich waters on the mountain above the village. It´s not allowed to roam freely around the photogenic travertines, but walking down remains one of Turkey’s singular experiences...
Just 18 kilometers from Litochoro, on the way to Karay, there is a mysterious place called Levithra Magnetic Field, where water can flow uphill, and even a vehicle put in neutral can travel uphill. We had never seen anything like this before and it sounded exciting. The basic laws of...