Ihlara - Cappadocia - Turkey

Ihlara Valley (often misspelled as Ilhara Valley), near Mount Hasan and Mount Melendiz (two of the three volcanoes of Cappadocia) is a canyon with a depth of approximately 100m and was formed by the Melendiz River thousands of years ago. It begins at Ihlara village and ends with Selime Monastery at Selime village after making 26 bends along 14 kilometers.

The pisturesque Ihlara Valley gorge, cut by a small stream (the Melendiz Suyu) through the volcanic Cappadocian landscape, holds about 60 Byzantine churches, chapels, monasteries and hermits' caves dating from the 11th to 13th centuries.