Devrent Valley is a small place on the outskirts of Goreme, the transport and tourism hub of Cappadocia. Unlike other valleys in the region, it doesn’t boast of the normal cave churches and I had no plans to visit there since public transport doesn’t go that way, but my private tour guide suggested we stop by while driving through.
“I hope your imagination is alive today” he said. Since I don’t like surprises, I groaned quietly to myself but we parked the car and rushed across a busy road, where the first thing I saw was a camel. No, not a real one but this one deserves equal amounts of respect. You see, Devrent valley is also named Imagination Valley because all you have to do is let your mind run wild and a variety of stone sculptures can be seen but perhaps the coolest aspect is that all are natural and made by the one and only herself, Mother Nature.
Sadly, on that day, I was suffering from travel fatigue and my mind had gone into a deep slumber, refusing to be awakened. As my guide pointed out rocks that symbolized Napoleon’s hat, a kissing couple and also some seals, I squinted my eyes, struggling to see what he could. The only thing that stood out for me was the domineering and rather tall camel. Locals had to put up fencing because tourists kept trying to ride it. I can understand why. That is possibly one of the coolest stone sculptures of a camel that I have ever seen!
