Çavuşin

Overview

Drive north from Göreme toward Avanos, and a great wall of pale rock rises beside the road, pocked with hundreds of doors and windows. For centuries, a whole village lived inside that rock. Today the cliff stands mostly empty, the modern houses sit below by the road, and two old churches wait to be found. This is Çavuşin.

The Village in the Rock

In early Christian times, the village may have been called Kodessane. Later, generations of villagers carved their homes into the ridge. In the early 1960s, the villagers moved to new houses near the main road, because the old rock dwellings risked collapse. Since then, the old village above has stood mostly empty, although in recent years a few small hotels have opened among the old houses.

What to See in Çavuşin

The Big Pigeon House church by the road

First, see the church beside the main road from outside, because it is closed for restoration. Part of its facade has fallen away, so two huge painted angels now face the open air. Inside, bright frescoes tell familiar Bible stories, such as the Nativity. Along the lower north wall, a line of soldiers shows the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, whom persecutors drove onto a frozen lake to die in the early 4th century.

An emperor on the wall

Look also for the portraits of Emperor Nikephoros Phokas, whose mother came from Cappadocia, and his wife Theophano. Because the emperor visited the region in the 960s, the frescoes can be dated unusually precisely, to his reign between 963 and 969. Theophano later played a part, in the plot that killed him.

The old basilica

Then, climb into the old village to find the rock-cut Church of St. John the Baptist. It is a huge, soot-blackened basilica of the early 6th century, more remarkable for its carved decoration than for its faded paintings. In the floor of the apse, a cross-shaped hole may once have held relics of St. Hieron, a local saint.

The view from the ridge

Finally, walk up onto the ridge. Below, a group of fairy chimneys shows clearly how wind and rain carved the soft rock into the shapes that made Cappadocia famous.

Walking from Çavuşin into the Rose Valley

From the edge of Çavuşin, the Güllüdere trail, the Rose Valley walk, runs about 4 km (2.5 miles) back to Göreme between rock-cut churches. After a while the path divides, and one branch leads to rock-cut monastic settlements. So you can arrive by car, see the roadside church and the old village, and walk to Göreme for the evening. The roadside church, built in 964–965 after Emperor Nikephoros Phokas visited Cappadocia, is reached by an iron stair, but ask us to confirm whether it is open. From the top of Uçhisar Castle, Çavuşin is one of the villages you see below. For lesser-known painted churches, join our hidden Cappadocia churches tour.

How to Visit Çavuşin

Çavuşin lies on the road between Göreme and Avanos, about 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from Göreme.

We stop here on our North Cappadocia tour on request. Nearby, visit Göreme and the Göreme Open-Air Museum, the valleys of Zelve and the pottery town of Avanos.