It’s 6am in Pigeon Valley, Cappadocia, and apart from the seam of neon pink rising by Mount Erciyes, the scenery is cloaked in darkness.
Suddenly, however, there’s a flash and shortly afterwards the burners of two dozen hot air balloons begin to blink in the distance – and by 7am the sky above the valley is speckled with them, effervescing upwards like champagne bubbles.
This region – more reachable than ever when new direct flights begin from Stansted later this month – has the wonder of a hundred Phileas Fogg stories, with its landscape of one-of-a-kind rock formations: fields of pinnacles known as ‘fairy chimneys’.
The Göreme Open Air Museum is the place to learn more about these peculiar-but-beautiful, horn-shaped structures. Forged as the wind and rain ate into the soft ‘tuff’ rock left from volcanic eruptions 60 million years ago, the rocky landscape was hollowed out creating accompanying cave complexes between 1,200BC and the 12th century AD.
Many were made into dwellings, plus monasteries and churches. ‘This is Cappadocia’s heart,’ my tour guide Adem says. ‘When the first travellers came here, they saw lights in the caves and smoke from fires rising out of the tops of them. They couldn’t believe people lived here, so that’s how they got the name fairy chimneys.’
Hot air balloons over Cappadocia, effervescing upwards like champagne bubbles
The Urgup Evi rock house cave hotel. Outside Göreme, many of the caves have been repurposed as modern restaurants and guesthouses
In Göreme, 11 of the ancient churches are open to the public. Inside, many of their walls are lined with frescoes of religious scenes such as the Last Supper. The effect is otherworldly, with colours in royal-blue, rust-red and yellow – formed using dies made from lapis lazuli, walnut shells and onion skins.
Outside Göreme, many of the caves have been repurposed as modern restaurants and hotels – one of which becomes my home in Cappadocia. Although to call Argos a cave hotel doesn’t quite do it justice; set around a series of caves, chapels, a linseed oil mill, a caravansary that became a monastery and a tunnel, it’s more like a cave village.
Rooms have balconies overlooking the fairy chimneys – a few splendidly featuring next-to-bed hot tubs. My own has a softly-lit subterranean pool and a log fireplace, which quickly becomes my favourite place for a post-dinner glass of wine.
The latter is something both Cappadocia and Argos take seriously. The region’s volcanic soils provide the prime growing conditions for native Anatolian grape varieties.
Holding 70,000 bottles, Argos’s wine cellar is the largest of its kind in Turkey, partly including a former chapel. It’s here that I take part in a tasting of wines grown on Argos’s vineyards in the Gülşehir and Sofular areas of Cappadocia.
The six varieties in the tasting include a white emir that tastes of gooseberries and a delicious kalecik karası red.
As well as flying the flag for Cappaocia’s wines, Argos is a champion of its cuisine. The region’s and Argos’s signature dish is manti, petite pillows of pasta filled with minced lamb served in a silky pepper sauce. ‘Testi kabab’ comes a close second, a steamy lamb stew served in a clay jug.
Sarah Holt in Cappadocia. This region – more reachable than ever when new direct flights begin from Stansted later this month – has the wonder of a hundred Phileas Fogg stories
A cave-like bedroom at the Argos Hotel in Cappadocia
Breakfast on a rooftop in Cappadocia at sunrise. Many rooms have balconies overlooking the fairy chimneys
Hot air balloons at sunrise over Goreme
Dinner is served at Argos Hotel in Cappadocia. As well as flying the flag for Cappaocia’s wines, Argos is a champion of its cuisine
Pigeon Valley is etched with walking trails, as are the neighboring Love, Red and Rose Valleys. Horse riding is a popular pastime, too. The region’s name derives from the Persian word ‘Katputuka’, meaning ‘Land of Beautiful Horses’, as wild Yilki horses once roamed Cappadocia.
Uçhisar village, which encircles Argos, is home to a 60-metre-tall rock formation called Uçhisar Castle – which it’s possible to climb.
Or, like me, you can meander around the shops. Local artisans sell rugs and pottery, including modern versions of Hittite sun jugs. These are circular wine decanters first used 4,000 years ago.
The pool at Argos Hotel in Cappadocia. Pigeon Valley is also etched with walking trails, as are the neighboring Love, Red and Rose Valleys
Like me, you can meander around the shops. Local artisans sell rugs and pottery
‘Around here women can’t marry if they can’t make rugs and men can’t marry if they can’t make ceramics,’ a shop assistant at Berra Ceramic says, smiling.
Argos hotel is blessed with the largest cave spa in Turkey – a warren of scented relaxation areas, pools, and massage rooms, where my muscles feel as soft as mousse by the time I depart.
And on my last evening in Cappadocia, I watch the sunset. Even without those hot air balloons, Mount Erciyes looks gorgeous in pink. This must be one of the most prepossessing places on Earth.
TRAVEL FACTS
Doubles at Argos from £266 (argosincappadocia.com). Return flights from Manchester to Nevsehir via Istanbul are from £172 (turkishairlines.com). Return flights from Stansted to Kayseri, the main airport serving Cappadocia, begin on 25 June, from £150 (flypgs.com).
