ITINERARY

• The tour begins with Soganli which was once the third largest monastic center in the area and hosts many cave churches.We take a hike along various churches with reasonably well preserved wall paintings dating from the 10th to the 13th centuries. Also, the locally made doll is the symbol of the village.
• Sobessos, a newly discovered archaeological site, with excavations still underway, that once was a wealthy Roman-Byzantine city. Here we visit remains of a church, tombs, a bath and Roman mosaics.
• Taskinpasa is a popular stop to see a Seljuk Medrese (Madrasa or Islamic High School). The Monumental entrance of Medrese building is a very good example of Seljuk architecture in the area.
• The monastery was built in volcanic tuff stone and used in the Byzantine era until the end of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s. This monastery complex, situated in a paradise-like green valley, contains the Church of the Archangel, the Chapel of Saint Stephen, a huge dining area, living quarters and a pool of sacred water.
• Mustafapasa, known as Sinasos, is where originally Turks and Greeks lived side by side for centuries. Mustafapasa is very famous for its beautiful characteristic architecture. Mustafapasa was one of the largest Greek towns in Cappadocia until the 1924 when population exchange between Turkey and Greece happened. It’s still possible to walk into some buildings that still have the original paintings on the walls, and the town is home to the remains of the largest concentration of modern churches in the region and very well-preserved Ottoman Medrese.
• Carpet weaving is one of the most ancient crafts in Turkey, and for centuries, women have played a pivotal role in their creation.Historically, the Turks were among the earliest carpet weavers. The earliest known carpet utilizing the double knotted Gordes style dates between the 4th and 1st centuries BC. It is believed that the Seljuks introduced carpet weaving techniques into Anatolia in the 12th century.Marco Polo notes in his travel diaries that Konya, the Seljuk capital, was the center of carpet production in the 13th century.