Cappadocia: Three Days of Hiking, Flying, and Dreaming

Cappadocia looks like another planet. I don't mean that in a poetic way. The rock formations, the carved-out valleys, the hundreds of balloons at sunrise; it feels like somewhere that don't exist on Earth.

I spent three days there recently with my Fujifilm X-E5 and the XF 23mm f/2.8, and came back with more photos and video footages than I've shot in months.

Getting there

I flew in from Istanbul. The flight takes about an hour and a half and lands at Kayseri airport. From there, I arranged a shuttle to Göreme, the small town at the center of everything. The drive took about an hour.

One thing to know: Cappadocia is expensive. Noticeably more than the rest of Turkey. Hotel rooms, restaurants, balloon rides, everything is priced for international tourism. It didn't ruin the trip, but it can caught you off guard.

The hotel

We stayed at the Asteria Cave Hotel in Goreme. The room was carved directly into the rock. Stone walls, stone ceiling, stone bed frame. It sounds uncomfortable, but the mattress was thick and the room stayed warm with heating. Sleeping inside a cliff is a strange experience the first night. By the second, it felt completely normal.

The hotel was quiet in the evenings. After long days of walking, that was exactly what we needed.

The balloon ride

I had planned to fly on day one, but flights were cancelled that morning due to wind, and there's nothing to do about it.

Day two worked out. We woke up around 5:15 AM. A van picked us up from the hotel while it was still dark. We drove to the launch site, watched the crews inflate the balloons by gaslight, and took off just before sunrise.

From up there, you see the full scale of the landscape. The fairy chimneys, the valleys cutting through the rock, and dozens of other balloons drifting at different altitudes. It lasts about an hour. It's expensive, but it's totally worth it.

Day one: Love Valley, Uchisar, Pigeon Valley

The first day of hiking was long. We started early in Love Valley, where the rock formations are tall, narrow, and shaped in ways that make you stop and stare. The trail winds between them and opens up to wide views of the surrounding plateau.

From there, we walked up to Uchisar Castle, the highest point in the region. It's a massive rock formation with rooms and tunnels carved inside. You can climb to the top. The view from up there covers everything: Goreme, the valleys, and the distant mountains.

We ended the day walking through Pigeon Valley, named for the hundreds of pigeon houses carved into the cliffs. The light in the late afternoon was cold and low. It was a good time for photography, and a nice way to wind down but felt a bit tired after a full day of hiking.

Day two: Rose Valley and Red Valley

The second hike took us through Rose Valley and Red Valley. The rock here shifts in color depending on the time of day, from pale pink in the morning to deep orange in the late afternoon. The trails are quieter than Love Valley, with fewer tourists and more space.

Some sections are narrow, in-between high rock formations. Others open suddenly into wide amphitheaters with churches carved out centuries ago. Take your time.

The photography

Cappadocia is almost too photogenic. Every viewpoint looks already like a perfect composition. I shot hundreds of frames over the three days, mostly with two recipe loaded on the X-E5 (Cinematic Gold and Grain Noir).

The landscape lent itself well to double exposures. I spent a lot of time layering rock textures to create some 'inception inspired' images using the dark blending option of the multiple exposure mode of my X-E5. This mode keeps only the darker pixels from the second image to overlap with the first. The results have a surreal vibe that fits the place.

Cappadocia already looks like out of a dream, and double exposures just push it further.

I also shot two short films in the valleys, both on the theme of dreams. The shapes, the silence, the scale of it all; it felt like walking through a set that someone had designed for exactly that kind of work.

The vibe in the city of Göreme

Göreme is a strange mix. A place that feels ancient and remote, but with a gift shop at every turn. It can feel a bit overdone, but I don't think that ruins it either. You just have to be willing to walk a bit further than most visitors do and lose yourself in the long and narrow valleys.

For the rest, the landscape does most of the work. You point the camera and follow whatever it gives you.