Avanos: The Town of Pottery and Turkish Hand Made Carpets in Cappadocia

Avanos pottery workshop with cups

Avanos is as romantic as any other town divided by a river. Part of the town between historical stone bridge and romantic wooden bridge is the center. Along the river, center is full of cafes, restaurants, tourism agencies and souvenir shops. Although pottery and ceramics are most common in Avanos, the town is also famous for its hand-made carpets and wine.

History of Avanos

The town of Avanos is located 15 km from Nevşehir. It had Hittite, Phrygian, Assyrian, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman traces throughout the history. It was named as Zu-Winasa by Hittites, Nenansa by the Assyrians, and Venessa by Romans, which means the city on the river in Latin.

When the town was within the territory of Seljuk tribe they named it Evronos for the honor of their ruler. Later the name evolved into Avanos. 

The first people living in Avanos made ceramic objects, pitchers, plates, large jars and other household utensils by using old technique of forming the clay on kick-wheel.

The locals still carry out this ancient tradition and the town is famous for terracotta products. Today around 50 workshops keep this tradition alive in Avanos. If you’re planning visit Avanos you should join one of the pottery workshops to witness thousands of years tradition from the first hand. You may even test your skills and develop a new hobby. 

Underground Ceramic Museum (Guray Museum)

Guray Families is one of the oldest potters of Avanos. And they founded a unique Underground Ceramic Museum (Guray Museum). It’s a mysterious atmosphere, carved in rocks 20 meters under the ground. The museum consists of two main sections: ancient ceramic art works, the works of contemporary and modern ceramic artists.

Apart from these halls where events such as concerts and cocktails take place at different times, Guray Museum is valid in the form of an exhibition hall, library and cafe.

In addition, carpet weaving and other similar activities make this centre of tourism quite interesting.

Most common night activity in Avanos is Turkish night shows, where Turkish cuisine is served with local wine, beer and raki, accompanied by examples from Anatolian folkloric and belly dance. Not need to mention that these shows take place in carved rock restaurants.

Cavusin Town

Cavusin village is reached by taking the Nevsehir – Urgup road for 3 to 4 km and then the Uchisar road to the let for another 10 km. This village is famous for the Christian priests houses and churches, the later mainly built between the first and the 10th centuries.

Some of the churches are located in the vicinities of Gulludere (Rose Valley) and Kizilcukur (Red Valley). Many are used as dovecotes by the locals. One of the most important and interesting places is the “basilica” type church carved out on the steep cliff face. This church is dedicated to St John the Baptist. Although the facade of the church has collapsed due to erosion, the decorated column in the church can still be seen today.

Another church called the ”Pigeon House” is located on the way out of the village in the direction of Avanos. The narthex of this church has also collapsed and some of the frescoes have been buried. The main part of the church which is decorated with frescoes can be accessed through a new iron staircase. There are no supporting columns in the church and the ceiling is barrel-vaulted. There are 5 apsis; a large one in the middle and two smaller ones on the sides. Most of the scenes in the church are from the life of Jesus and word of the Gospels. The dominant colors are brown and green. Next to the church is a monastery with 4 graves.

Travellers also visit places like Sarihan, Zelve, Cavusin, Avcilar, Ozkonak Underground City.

Pasabaglari (Monks Valley)

It is located 1 km off the Zelve turn on the Goreme-Avanos road. The tallest fairy chimneys, some multi-coned, attract many Turkish and foreign tourists here.

Pasabaglari and the Love Valley are places where very different and tall fairy chimneys are.

At Paşabaglari, hollowed out into the triple-coned fairy chimney are two rooms, one of which was used as a seclusion room by the 8th century hermit St Simeon.

Once the area belonged to a person known as Pasha, so this place with vineyards is called Pasha’s vineyard.

Love Valley is 4 km long and located to the north of the town of Avcilar. Since the valley has many fairy chimneys as if sprung up out of the ground and the only sound here is of the chirping birds, it is called the Love valley.

Zelve and Zelve Open Air Museum

Turning right at the 3rd km of the Goreme – Avanos road, passing by Pasabaglari you’ll find some interesting fairy chimneys in another place of interest in the area, the old Zelve village.

Some of the most beautiful and exotic fairy chimneys of Cappadocia region are here, especially in the Pasabag area. The fairy chimneys here, 15 – 20 m in height, are in groups and some are triple-coned.

Churches and monasteries from the iconoclastic period can be found in Old Zelve. The monasteries here were hiding places for the Christians. Like some other villages and the old Zelve village bears evidence that the Christians and Muslims lived together. After the Christians left this village, the Turks lived here for a while. In 1950 Turks also abandoned the village due to serious erosion. And they were moved to a new Village a couple of kilometers from Zelve.

Later, the Old village of Zelve was opened to public as open air museum and has become a popular place among the Turkish and foreign tourists.

What to do in Avanos?

Best Activities

Where to Stay in Avanos

Best Hotels in Avanos

  • Mira Cappadocia Hotel
  • Avanos Suites
  • Alp Hotel
  • The Loop Cappadocia
  • DoubleTree by Hilton Avanos – Cappadocia
  • Suhan Cappadocia Hotel & Spa

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