Aksaray

Central Anatolia, Turkey 1 tours visit here

Aksaray is a provincial capital on the Central Anatolian plateau, at the western gateway to Cappadocia and in sight of Hasan Dağı, the dormant volcano whose eruptions laid down the soft tuff Cappadocia's rock landscapes were later carved from. Its position on the caravan roads linking Konya with the east made it a natural halt, and Seljuk caravanserais still stand along that route across the province, among them Sultanhanı, the largest in Turkey. The city itself is a working Anatolian town rather than a resort, with its monuments clustered near the centre: the Ulu Mosque, the Zinciriye Medrese and the brick Eğri Minare, or Red Minaret, a Seljuk-era tower that leans visibly. Most travellers come for what surrounds it. The Ihlara Valley, a green canyon cut by the Melendiz river and lined with rock-cut Byzantine churches, is entered by a long stairway and usually walked between Ihlara village and Belisırma in a few hours. North of the city, Lake Tuz spreads across the plain as a shallow salt lake that dries to a white crust in high summer. Spring and early autumn are the most comfortable seasons; the plateau is hot and dry in midsummer and snowy in winter.