Cappadocia Zelve the fairy land of extraordinary nature

The rock houses and the fairy chimneys of Zelve are one of the most  important site of Cappadocia which is visited  as a open-air museum today. Maybe, Zelve does not have the frescos as the other dwellings of Cappadocia but the rooms and passages in the rocky slopes are as interesting as the other ones. It is amazing to think how people settled in these natural hideaway and made  living for themselves for long years in the history. 

The area spread out onto 3 valleys and  contains honeycombed style churches, houses, a tunnel joining two of the valleys, a mill and a small mosque. Inhabitants lived in the territory have taken great amount of  advantage from the geography while drilling the soft rocks of  these chimneys and making rooms  to live in. The style of the rooms and are quite unusual for today’ s living style but certainly serves for the main purpose of people’ s sheltering need.

This area was a very important settlement for the monasteries and religious activities especially between 9th and 13th centuries. The holistic power of the geography magnetized people from different religions for secular  activities for many years in history. Here in this area Muslims and Christians lived in great harmony until 1924. The churches and the mosques next to each other was made in great modesty in the heart of the nature and people were lived in peace for long years. It is clear there is no extravaganza or showing off purpose in the architecture.The most attractive part of it is pure simplicity and holistic philosophy which housed civilizations on its ground.

 The rock-cut mosque with a lovely small minaret humbly stands there and adds an elegant man-made beauty to the silhouette of the natural land  

 The natural color palette and the texture of the region is truly inspiring. I understand how people in Avanoz who are only 10km away  became so creative in the environment. As soon as you step into Cappadocia  you feel art of nature & creativity on the air.  The wild nature hides so many clues for new shapes and designs… You just need to know how to look and digg in…

A view from the window of rock caved mosque

There are strange shapes everywhere. I thought this big hole looks like a giant mouth and ready to take you in…

 Layers of stone and fair chimneys pose by different silhouettes according to direction of light. Therefore it is possible to see  different shape and detail in every other visit.

I thought looking outside from the caves could  even be more dramatic

I loved the nature surrounded me so much that the high emotion made me want to  connect and cuddle by touching the trees and its beautiful fragile yellow leaves…

It takes a good amount of energy to climb into the rock dwellings. While checking out the amazing complex of nature and civilizations, looking back Barış realizes how further he had climbed:)

 The tunnels in the rock-cut complex connect  passages and space. I m dreaming about making a room here and imagining its wonderful decoration, thinking yes I could make a life here…

I really liked the piece of this rock-cut mill with a grindstone which remained in use until the 50’s

Well these photos were belong to our last trip to Cappadocia which I could not find a chance to share them with you before. I hope you like them. And if you have still not visited this fantastic area, I highly recommend you to arrange some time as I can say  it is truly worthy.  It can be one of the most inspiring and unusual trip that you will have ever made…