The Gomeda Valley takes its name from the Gomeda Ruins. In the Gomeda Valley there are countless tunnels that seem to go on without end, and the insides of these tunnels are pitch dark. One of these caves was used in olden times as a place where rainwater was collected; today it is used to irrigate the poplar trees.
The Gomeda Valley receives fewer visitors than the other valleys, and the thinking is that this is because the fairy chimneys we see so often in the other valleys are rarely encountered in the Gomeda Valley.
It is estimated that there were around 600 dwellings here, along with 2 churches and 1 underground city. In its day, the valley was inhabited by Greeks.
According to legend, the Gomeda Valley was a haunt of the fairies. It was also the battlefield of the wars between good and evil. As the story goes, evil lost the war and descended into the depths of a cave in the valley, where it sank into a long sleep. It would only wake from its slumber when goodness had been completely wiped from the face of the earth.
The caves of the valley are quite eerie. This is why, in 2007, the Turkish director Tan Tolga Demirci shot a horror film in this valley and named the film Gomeda.
For your accommodation needs during this trip, you can choose the MDC Hotel.
The Alakara Church
The church, whose construction began in the Roman period, is today sadly no more than a ruin. There is a door on the western side of the church, but it is no longer in use. The church has a single apse, and in this apse are depicted angels, Jesus and the apostles. Despite all the time that has passed, these paintings can still be seen clearly.
The Church of Saint Basil
Located on the western side of the valley, the church cannot be seen from the valley floor. It is a church dating from the Byzantine Iconoclastic period. On the cornice of the building there is an inscription, which records that St. Konstantin Malvarian saw the cross found in the church in a dream, and that the war ended in victory. After this, Christianity became the official religion. It is estimated that the Church of Saint Basil was built between 726 and 843.
To the east of the church there are three Maltese crosses, and these crosses bear no figural decoration. Inscribed upon the crosses are the names of Isaac, Jacob and Ishmael.
The Underground City
There is also an underground city in Gomeda. Getting inside the underground city is unfortunately difficult — to do so, you will have to crawl along the ground. Besides various horizontal and vertical tunnels, there is also a toilet section known as a latrine. Sadly, in many sections the passages are closed.
