You will be picked up from your hotel in an air-conditioned mini-bus for your Cappadocia Tour. With your English-speaking guide you will travel through the extraordinary landscape of Cappadocia. See how nature has carved the soft local rock (tufa), formed from solidified volcanic ash, into fantastic chimneys columns, cones, mushrooms and pinnacles.
The tufa of Cappadocia can be easily excavated and the area is full of rock-cut dwellings, storehouses and churches. Your first stop, after a drive of about 15 minutes, is at Derinkuyu Underground City. It is said that this huge complex was discovered when a cave-dweller knocked down a wall of his house and discovered a rabbit-warren of rooms and tunnels.
At Derinkuyu you will see underground cellars, chapels, refectories, stables, storage rooms, and wine and oil presses, plus a huge room that may have housed a religious school.
After Derinkuyu, you will drive to the Ihlara Valley, a steep-walled gorge 14km (8.5 miles) in length, with a tranquil stream at the base.
Take a short walk (3km, 1.8 miles) along the stream. See how the rock walls of the gorge are honeycombed with cave dwellings and churches from the Byzantine period. The canyon contains an estimated 150 churches and several monasteries. Availability of water and the seclusion made this place a perfect hiding place for Christians escaping Roman persecution.
Your next stop is at the troglodyte village of Belisirma, where you will have lunch at Tandir Restaurant. Lunch will be an open buffet of delicious Turkish dishes. There will be plenty of choice, including vegetarian options.
After lunch you will go on to Selime, which has the biggest rock-cut monastery of Cappadocia and a cathedral-sized rock church. From Selime you can enjoy panoramic views over the fantastic lunar landscape with its incredible rock cones.
At the end of a fabulous day's sightseeing you will be dropped back at your hotel.