The Pigeon Valley is one of the most beautiful valleys of Cappadocia. The valley is about 15-20 meters in depth. In ancient times, the inhabitants fed the pigeons and picked the manure to use, or the monks collected pigeons’ eggs to make frescoes. Until the 1950s, people were living here.
Today, The Pigeon Valley is a tourist attraction place for photos, and also, the hot-air balloons are flying above the valley.
Some of the most popular places to see in Cappadocia are churches cut into rocks, underground cities, fairy chimneys, the Natural Castle at Uchisar, and Pigeon Valley.
There is no more fascinating place on Earth than Üçhisar’s Natural Castle. Countless rooms are interconnected by tunnels and stairs in what is essentially a fortress carved into the mountain. Many rooms have been eroded and are now inaccessible. Many of the rooms are now used as pigeon houses by nearby farmers, which is one of the more peculiar features. Pigeon Valley in Cappadocia is a great example of the close bond that has developed between humans and birds.
The caves in Cappadocia known as “Pigeon Valley” got their name from the numerous pigeon houses carved into the surrounding mountains. There are that many of them, and you need to see them to believe them. In addition, many were painted white to entice as many pigeons as possible, which begs the question: why did the locals want so many?
It has been theorized that explosives were fabricated using their excrement, but this is widely discredited. The common use of pigeons as messengers is a fact. It is, however, difficult to accept that so many birds were needed for this one function alone.
One more likely explanation is that the local farmers used pigeons as a source of high-quality natural fertilizer for their orchids and vineyards.