Places to Visit in Mustafapaşa

Mustafapaşa is an old Greek village, known in antiquity by the name Sinasos. Until 1924 it was home to nearly 700 stone mansions. In those days its inhabitants were engaged in producing medicinal goods and making wine, and the merchants here are known to have been wealthy Greeks. Following the population exchange of 1924, the Greeks living in the village were sent to Greece and Turks came in their place. Mustafapaşa contains around 93 houses and 30 churches and chapels. The places to visit in Mustafapaşa are every bit as precious as those in the other parts of Cappadocia.

Cappadocia Art and History Museum

This is a roughly 170-year-old mansion in the Mustafapaşa area of Cappadocia. Also known as the “Doll Museum”, the mansion houses dolls that are all handmade. The dolls on display were made by Sibel Radiye Kül with her own hands, and the museum contains around 3,000 of them.

The handmade dolls take as their subjects epics and legends from Turkish history — the most important feature that sets this museum apart from all the others.

Mehmet Şakirpaşa Madrasa

Built as a madrasa and later used as a mansion and a carpet store, the Mehmet Şakirpaşa Madrasa serves today as a vocational college. It is Mustafapaşa’s most important Ottoman monument and was built in 1900. The Ottoman tughra carved into the marble on the building’s front façade resembles the tughra of Abdülhamid II.

Monastery of Saint Nicholas

The construction date of this uniquely beautiful monastery, set among fairy chimneys and vineyards, is unknown. Under its rounded arch is the inscription “Oayios Nikolaos”, that is, “Saint Nicholas”.

The monastery’s kitchen was carved into a fairy chimney. It also has a cemetery containing forty-one graves. Unfortunately, some of the gravestones have been broken, which suggests that the site was looted.

Wish rags can be seen tied to the ivy in the courtyard — and notably, these wish rags are a tradition passed down from the old Greeks.

Church of Saints Constantine and Helen (Aios Konstantinos and Eleni)

“I am the church of the most holy royal family; I, of Constantine and Helen, was built in the time of Sultan Ahmed I. I was adorned in the time of Abdülmecid I and, when the famous Paisios was bishop, I was completed in 1792 through the efforts and expenditures of the people of Sinasos. I was repaired in 1850.” These sentences are written in the inscription above the church’s entrance door. Built in 1729 and repaired in the reigns of Sultan Ahmed and Sultan Abdülmecid, the church’s paintings have unfortunately faded and disappeared over time.

Church of Saint Basil (Aziz Vasillios)

We also know it as Ayios Vasilios or Aya Vassilios. Before its restoration it looked like a ruin. It is known as a multi-storey monastery church carved out of the rock.

One of its most important features is that it is the only rock church built in the post-Byzantine style. It is estimated to have been built in the 19th century. The church is entered through a small room in the upper part of the valley. On its walls you can see paintings of saints and apostles set within medallions. The fresco of Saint Ioannis is found only in this church.

Gomeda Valley

In fact, the Gomeda Valley sits at the top of the list of places to visit in Mustafapaşa. The valley takes its name from the Gomeda Ruins. It contains a great many seemingly endless tunnels — and the insides of these tunnels are pitch dark. One of these caves was used in old times as a place for collecting rainwater; today it is used for irrigating 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 abundantly in the other valleys are rarely encountered in Gomeda.

There are around 600 dwellings here, along with 2 churches and 1 underground city. In its day, Greeks lived here.

According to legend, the Gomeda Valley was a haunt of fairies. It was also the battlefield of the wars between good and evil. As the story goes, evil lost the war and, descending into the depths of a cave in the valley, fell into a long sleep. It will awaken only when goodness has been completely wiped from the face of the earth.

The valley’s caves are quite eerie. So much so that in 2007 the Turkish director Tan Tolga Demirci shot a horror film in this valley and named it Gomeda.

Asmalı Konak

This is where the television series Asmalı Konak was filmed — indeed, the series takes its name from this mansion. Now serving as a museum, the mansion contains the rooms where the series was shot, its courtyard, and the costumes the actors wore during filming.

Although it goes by the name Asmalı Konak, this is actually a Greek house — the Old Greek House. The mansion in question was built in 1887.

While exploring all these places, you can choose the MDC Hotel for a restful stay.