Photo report about Cappadocia

I have been to Cappadocia many times already and it would seem that I had the opportunity to photograph every corner of it. However, the Cappadocian landscapes are so attractive, and human memory is so short-lived, that every time I again and again photograph these quaint mountains and the cheerful tourists who walk along them. By the way, on this trip I took a 70-200 telephoto lens with me for the first time, so most of the pictures were taken with it.

First day - Pigeon Valley, Uchisar, Valley of Love.

Traditionally, we arrived in Cappadocia from Antalya early in the morning, when normal people are still sleeping, and abnormal people have already finished flying in balloons.

Our journey begins with a leisurely walk through the quiet and green Pigeon Valley.

There really are a lot of pigeons here. However, not all of them fly)

In the neighboring village of Uchisar, everyone is watching the fortress, and I take pictures of colorful grannies with souvenirs.

The sky is cloudy, it looks like it's heading for a thunderstorm.

We decide not to have lunch in an open field, but to reach a small cafe in the middle of the mountains, so that in case of rain we will have a roof over our heads.

And here is a cafe in the middle of the Valley of Love. Without false modesty, we take our seats, take our groceries out of our backpacks and begin to prepare for lunch. However, the guys buy fresh orange juice from the owners, so decorum is maintained, table rental is paid for :)

The pigeons are right there. They are also preparing for our snack.

That rain cloud that had been hanging over Cappadocia since the middle of the day hit us in the middle of dinner. At our campsite, just in case, the lights were turned off and the evening became 100% camping.

Second day - Red Valley, Cavushin, Ak-Tepe.

The next morning I perform a heroic feat and wake up at 5 am so as not to miss the balloons.

Already at 6:30 the balloons are landing en masse.

And I make my way through the abundant grass back to the tent.

And I make my way through the abundant grass back to the tent.

We set out on the route - it begins with the ascent to Ak-Tepe.

Alexey is bored walking along the path and is looking for other paths

The outskirts of Goreme are visible in the distance

Below us lies the Red Valley, where we will find ourselves in the afternoon.

View of yesterday's fortress in Uchisar.

We are approaching the stone mushrooms of Pashabaglar. The sun burns mercilessly - I batten down the hatches and put on dark glasses.

Having previously examined the ruins of the cave monastery, we have lunch in Cavusin

Ahead is a tour of the Red Valley.

Here so many cosmic rays were mixed into the cosmic landscape that it would be just right to walk in a spacesuit.

During the day we were in such a way that it would be quite logical to see a complete absence of presence at dinner. Nevertheless, the people pulled themselves together, thawed in their souls and heroically came to our campsite for evening soup.

Third day - Ykhlara Canyon.

In spring, the Khasan-Dag volcano is quite covered with snow.

Before descending into the canyon, we finally took a group photo.

Thanks to the river and shady trees, the climate in the canyon is strikingly different from the hot desert that we saw on the “surface”.

Here, really, is the kingdom of spring and life))

In the Ykhlara (Ihlara) canyon there are a huge number of cave temples, where Byzantine frescoes have been preserved in more or less decent condition.

And finally, we plunged into the darkness of the underground city of Derinkuyu. This time I didn't take a flash with me, so I didn't take photos there.

After dinner we boarded an overnight bus to wake up in Antalya in the morning and continue our journey along the Lycian Sea route, which I hope to write about later.

Kirill Yasko, Kyiv

P.S. There are even more photos from this hike in my album on Google Photos.