RIFAT AĞAR · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & license
Cappadocia · Place 3 · 1163M
Paşabağ (Monks Valley)
Paşabağ, also called Monks Valley, is the tuff grove where multi-stemmed, multi-headed fairy chimneys were carved into chapels and dwellings.
Suggested time45 min
Elevation & effort1163 m · Level walk
Best windowLate morning or mid-afternoon
Walking noteShort level path through the grove
PRACTICAL ACCESS & WALKING METHOD
On the Göreme–Avanos road, the Paşabağ grove sign west of Zelve leads in among the chimneys.
HISTORY & ARCHITECTURAL CONTEXT
The Zelve–Paşabağ page says Paşabağı was formerly known as the Valley of the Priests and that people carved these chimneys into chapels and living spaces. The same account notes a chapel dedicated to Simeon, with an attached cell, inside one of the three-headed chimneys.
Why visit
A short grove walk at Paşabağ is enough to see fairy-chimney geology and a hermit cell cut into the same cone.
VISITOR TIP — WHAT NOT TO MISS
Leave the roadside crowd at Paşabağ and walk in to the carved chimneys; the Simeon chapel is in one of the three-headed cones.
