Many of the frescoes are damaged, but it's possible to make out the one outlining the punishments for sinners, especially the three-headed snake with a sinner in each mouth and the nipple-clamped women (ouch) who didn't breastfeed their young.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
28.21 MILES
Kaymaklı underground city features a maze of tunnels and rooms carved eight levels deep into the earth, though only four are open to the public. The…
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4.02 MILES
The 4.5km Monastery Valley is full of rock-cut churches and dwellings cut into the cliff walls. Exploring it makes for a scenic stroll. From Güzelyurt's…
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24.86 MILES
Derinkuyu underground city, 10km south of Kaymaklı, has cavernous rooms arrayed on seven levels reached by skinny long tunnels. When you get all the way…
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8.62 MILES
Hasan Dağı (Mt Hasan), Cappadocia's second-highest mountain, provides a challenging summit-bagging hike. The closest village to the 3268m inactive volcano…
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3.73 MILES
Rimmed by high cliffs that hide rock-cut churches, the lush Ihlara Valley is one of Cappadocia's most popular hiking destinations. Most visitors arrive on…
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28.16 MILES
Niğde Museum houses a well-presented selection of finds from the Assyrian city of Acemhöyük near Aksaray, through the Hittite and Phrygian Ages to…
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3.99 MILES
Just after the Monastery Valley ticket office, you come to the large Büyük Kilise Cami (Mosque of the Great Church), which began life as the Church of St…
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1.07 MILES
This cross-shaped church has four columns, with lovely partially preserved frescoes of saints. The large adjoining chamber originally had two storeys, as…
Nearby Cappadocia attractions
0.08 MILES
Some frescoes remain, but this church is mostly noteworthy for its simple but elegant facade.
0.12 MILES
This monastery structure includes a chapel with a dramatic carved, cross-patterned ceiling and pillared chambers with geometric red and white decoration…
0.16 MILES
Hardly anyone bothers to go to the Eğritaş Kilise, which is a shame because although the frescoes covering its half-collapsed, barrel-vaulted chapel are…
0.18 MILES
This cruciform-plan church is most famous for its incredibly well-preserved fresco ceiling depicting the Ascension.
0.24 MILES
This double-nave church has a wealth of 10th- and 12th-century frescoes depicting stories from the Gospels. In 2019 it wasn't possible to access the…
0.31 MILES
This church has some fabulous frescoes – the Nativity and the Crucifixion for starters – dating from the 9th and 11th centuries.
0.41 MILES
Although badly graffitied, the frescoes are still gloriously vibrant, and above the entrance you can see St George on a white horse, slaying a three…
8. Bahattın'ın Samanlığı Kilise
1.06 MILES
Sitting on Belisırma village's cliff face, next door to the Direkli Kilise, this tiny church contains defaced but still vivid frescoes depicting scenes…