Another beautiful morning in Goreme! I woke up to the incredible view of the balloons rising over the Cappadocia valley. Today, we are going on the Cappadocia Green tour. We will visit the Pigeon valley, Kaymakli
underground city, Ihlara Valley, and the Selime cathedral.

I had booked this green tour from a tour agency in Airbnb. The trip was in a Mercedes van and I was joined by around 8 people from various countries. Our guide today was a fun guy who looked almost like Jesus.

The first stop in our trip was the Pigeon Valley. The name comes from the pigeons living in the valley. This Valley offers a spectacular view of the
rock formations in Cappadocia.

A small attraction in this valley is a tree tied with hundreds of nazars. These nazars are blue stones with an eye in the center and it is believed to ward off evil eyes.

If you go down into the pigeon valley, you can go into some cave rooms and fairy chimney structures.

Our next stop was the Kaymakli underground city. It is similar to the Ozkonak underground city in the red tour, but much bigger and more exciting.

These underground cities are a great example of the mind-blowing engineering and survival skills of our ancestors. The underground city had wineries, kitchens, rooms, wells, and more. I wish I could travel back to those days when people used to live in these underground cities.

It is said that all the underground cities in Cappadocia are connected to each other through secret tunnels.

After the amazing adventure at Kaymakli underground city, we headed to Ihlara Valley. It is a valley that is around 150 meters deep and was formed due to earthquake and volcanic eruptions millions of years ago.

The valley is very beautiful and looks magnificent, and there is a river flowing through it. It was settled by monks in the 7th Century A.D and they built several churches in this valley.

We hiked over four kilometers through the shores of the river in the Ihlara valley. The temperature in this valley was nice, thanks to the shadows provided by the trees.

About halfway into the hike, we came to a place where there were restaurants right in the middle of the river. There were also ducks swimming around in the river. It was a fun and beautiful spot to have lunch and relax.

We continued our hiking and reached a spot called the Fountain of Lovers elixir of happiness. The water was flowing from a tree without
any special mechanism. Nobody knows how exactly it works, anyways, according to the legend, if you drink this water you will find love.

After the amazing time at Ihlara Valley, we reached our final spot of the day – Selime Cathedral. Selime Cathedral is the largest and most detailed cave complex in Cappadocia. It houses a church and number of halls and kitchens.

The place is pretty incredible with very challenging pathways to get inside the complex. There is a lot more to explore in this complex. I think it could have been functioning like a mall in those old times.

I explored as much as possible in the limited time we had there.