Travel-World Photography
The Ihlara Valley is a canyon which is 15 km long and up to 150 m deep in the southwest of of Cappadocia. The valley contains around 50 churches dug into the rock, as well as numerous other rock-cut buildings.
The canyon was formed in prehistoric times by a nearby river. At the north end of the village of Ihlara, there is a stairway with almost 400 steps, which descends close 150 m down into the canyon.
From the 7th century AD, the valley was settled by Byzantine monks who dug their houses and churches out of the tuff stone, which had been deposited by the eruptions of Mount Hasan.
