One of the most spectacular sights south of Jürgüp is the Soganli valley Soganlı Valley, named after the village of the same name at its centre, five kilometres west of the road from Jürgüp to Yesilhisar.
The Soganla Valley is located twenty-five kilometres from the underground city of Derinkuyu, where one can see an ensemble of tufa-carved buildings similar to those in Göreme, an open-air museum. Not far from the village there is a place where locals used to breed pigeons. During the work to recreate of the area's original appearance, Christian churches were discovered, which lie on both banks of the stream.
Even before the 13th century, from the early Byzantine period, the valley was inhabited. Soganli means "with a bow" in Turkish, but there is a another hypothesis that the name of the valley comes from the word combination sona kaldi (stayed until the end). This theory is related to the fact that Soganli was the last valley in Cappadocia that Arab invaders led by Batal Ghazi reached in the 6th century. Nowadays the valley is also located away from the main roads. It attracts travellers and tourists by its isolation from the the rest of the world
The village comprises two settlements - the upper Yukary-Soganli and the lower ones Ashagy-Soganli. Yukary-Soganly village is located on a rocky promontory that splits the valley into into two parts of the valley. A footpath crossing the stream starts from the local square and follows the hillside up through the village. Following this you come to the Hidden Church with frescoes depicting the apostles, and after another hundred metres you come to the Kubbeli Kilise, or Church with a Dome.
This church consists of two parts located on different floors. At the entrance there are three portals. The church is further divided by two rows of pylons and pilasters into three naves and is provided with pews. In the depth of the centre and side aisles aisles have vaulted aisles with altars. The upper floor has a more complex plan: two parallel long chapels are adjacent and are provided with narthexes. A small apse with a vestibule that covers the dome can be seen in the right chapel, and in the left chapel there is an altar. It stands directly against the back wall. The square narthex itself faces both chapels, the vestibule and the the inner room. It feels as if this church was built inside a huge flytrap, with the cap becoming the dome.
Of equal interest is the Serpent Church and its interior decoration, which you can only see with a torch. The most popular and famous religious scene in Cappadocia is St George slaying the dragon. His image is located to the left of the entrance. It's also worth a look at Church of the Black Head, on the walls of which are frescoes with episodes from the life of Christ and the saints, various religious scenes, and various religious scenes. Christ and the saints, various religious symbols, but at the same time, some of the frescoes depict unconventional subjects related to ancient cults. Part of the of the building was destroyed and has not survived to this day. The church has rooms for worship rooms connected to each other.
A must-see is the Church of the Predator, which gets its name from the the beast of prey depicted in the frescoes next to St John. The church has two rooms: one contains an altar with funerary niches in the walls; the second room is square in shape and is adjacent to the first.
The church of St Barbara also consists of two adjacent churches. It is much collapsed, but it was found that the two parallel rooms were nearly identical, but with different proportions. The image of St Barbara, after whom the whole ensemble is named, was identified from fragments of frescoes.
The temple, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is located in a low-lying area. Virtually all the walls of the church are painted with frescoes. In some places you can see the lower layer, on which are applied more primitive images and not as colourful.
The church of Yilanla is dedicated to St George. Above the entrance hangs an inscription telling us that it is very old. On its frescoes are a large number of images of St George, St John, the Twelve Apostles and other biblical scenes. On the walls of most on the walls of most of the temples, there are quite a few inscriptions, mostly in Greek, some of which some of which date back to the 19th century. Not without vandalism: tourists, as well as the Turks themselves, have written on the walls of most of the temples, mostly in Greek, some dating back to the 19th century. Not without vandalism: tourists, as well as the Turks themselves, have written on the walls of most of the temples, mostly in Greek, some dating back to the 19th century. Turks themselves, have written their names all over the walls and permanently destroyed some of the frescoes.
The next temples are located at the top of the valley. Of particular interest is the church of Blast Furnace Church. It is a full-fledged temple with columns in two floors. The lower floor is used for farming and the upper floor for the church. It is a labyrinth with a lot of steep steps, a couple of no-go exits and small rooms. It creates some semblance of an anthill. There's also a lot of underground graves. The condition of the monastery is gradually deteriorating, in some the floor is falling through in some places. There are almost no frescoes here, the walls are mostly covered with simple geometric ornamentation.
