9 Best Sights in Cappadocia and Central Turkey, Turkey

The open-air museum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to its spectacular landscape and amazing collection of cave churches decorated with elaborate Byzantine frescoes that were once part of a monastic complex. Within the museum is the 11th-century Elmalı Kilise (Church with the Apple), which has wonderfully preserved frescoes of biblical scenes and portraits of saints. The Karanlık Church (Dark Church) was extensively restored by UNESCO, and vividly colorful scenes, dominated by deep blues, decorate the walls and domed ceiling; the painting of Christ Pantocrator on the dome is particularly impressive (entrance to the church is an extra 30 TL). In the nearby kitchen/refectory, a huge dining table that could seat 50 is carved from the rock, and it's easy to imagine priests and members of the early Christian community here packing in for meals. The museum covers a large area with dozens of caves, nooks, and crannies to explore, almost all of them easily reachable on paved paths.

Ankara's main historic sites are clustered around its ancient citadel (known as the Hisar or Kale in Turkish), high on a hill overlooking the city. Though the citadel's precise origins are not known, the inner and outer walls standing today are thought to have been built between the 7th and 9th century, during the Byzantine period. Although the modern city has grown up around the citadel, the area inside the walls has retained an almost villagelike atmosphere, an entire neighborhood with winding, cobblestoned streets and old houses built with timber and plaster. The municipality has recently cleaned up the entrance area, but some parts of the neighborhood inside the citadel remain fairly rundown. The easiest place to enter the citadel is from Parmak Kapısı (Finger Gate), also known as Saat Kapısı (Clock Gate), across from the Divan Çukurhan. Head toward the center, where you'll see the restored Şark Kulesi (Eastern Tower). Climb the stone steps to the tower's upper ramparts for excellent city panoramas.

Meaning "deep well," Derinkuyu is the deepest of the known underground cities that have been explored. Eight floors are open to the public, though there may be many more. The subterranean labyrinth has stables, wineries, a chapel and baptismal pool, a school, scores of other interconnected rooms, and as many as 600 entrances and air ducts. You'll also see a ventilation shaft that plunges 180 feet from ground level. Claustrophobes, take note: spaces here are so tight that you'll have to walk doubled over for about 330 feet up and down steps in a sloping cave corridor.

Some say the 11th-century Eski Gümüşler church inside this monastery complex has the only image of a smiling Virgin Mary in the world. Others say that this is due to an error made during the church's restoration. Whatever the case, the frescoes inside, though dark, are beautiful and amazingly preserved. When facing the alter of the church's main nave (the room on the right-hand side), look for the "smiling" Virgin in a rock niche on the left-hand side. Parts of the monastery were carved as early as the 7th century, but most of the frescoes are from around the 11th. They were later painted over by local Turkish Muslims, who considered the depiction of human beings idolatrous.

The monastery also contains a kitchen, rock-carved monks' chambers around the central courtyard, and two levels of underground rooms that may have been used in part as a water reservoir. The sign for the monastery is one of the first things you see as you approach Niğde; it's about 4 km (2½ miles) down the road from there.

A stone's throw from the Temple of Augustus and Rome, in a small traffic circle surrounded by government buildings, is the Column of Julian. It commemorates a visit by Julian the Apostate (Rome’s last pagan emperor), who passed through town in 362 en route to his death in battle with the Persians. The column, topped by a stork's nest, has 15 fluted drums and a Corinthian capital. A few steps away, in front of the Ankara Governorate, a section of Roman-era road has been excavated and covered with Plexiglass.

About 9 km (6 miles) north of Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı was discovered in 1950 and is thought to be the largest of Cappadocia's underground cities in square area, though fewer levels can be visited than at Derinkuyu. It's believed that many of the current homes in the area are connected to the tunnels, and the story goes that before parts of the underground city were closed off to the public, unsuspecting homeowners periodically found tourists popping up in their living rooms. The city extends below ground for eight levels, of which only four are currently open. Sloping corridors and steps connect the floors, with different areas used as stables, kitchens, wineries, and a church. The ceilings are low and can be difficult for tall visitors to navigate.

You can't bathe at this 3rd-century complex just north of Ulus Square, but you can see how the Romans did. The large bath system featured a frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium (cold, warm, and hot rooms), as well as steam rooms that had raised floors. An illustration near the entrance shows the layout of the Roman city superimposed over a map of the modern area, indicating just how little of ancient Ancyra has been excavated. Also scattered around the open-air site are various stone fragments, some of which appear to be ancient gravestones, with Latin and Hebrew inscriptions.

Excavations of this 4th-century Roman town have been going on for about a decade. So far, the well-preserved remains of a Roman bathhouse and a meeting hall with an extensive mosaic floor have been uncovered, as has as a Byzantine church that was later built on top of the mosaics. A roof protects part of the site. There are catwalks and some limited explanatory panels for visitors.

Although the prizes at Göreme are the fresco-decorated churches, the outdoor museum at Zelve provides a fascinating look at how people lived in fairy-chimney communities. Zelve was a center of Christian monastic life from the 9th through 13th century, and the town was inhabited until the early 1950s, when erosion and cracking caused slabs of rock to fall, forcing villagers to move out. The site is only about 2,145 feet long, but there's plenty to explore. The valley is made up of several uneven, naturally carved rows of fairy chimneys. These—and just about every spare rock face—shelter hundreds of dwellings that vary in size. Some are just simple cavelike openings, and others are multistory houses with rooms on several floors linked by stairs carved deep inside the rocks. There's also a rock-cut mosque and several small churches. Certain structures have collapsed, leaving giant pieces of carved ceiling upside down on the ground. You can probably see the whole place in a little over an hour but could easily linger longer.