“With a Hamam”
The tiny southern Cappadocian hamlet of Hamamlı more or less in the suburbs of Niğde near the Devlet Hastanesi (State Hospital) doesn’t even merit a signpost – to find it look out instead for signs to Kumluca – it’s less than 500m further down the road.
The reason to come here is to see the huge 19th-century church here with its elaborate facade and imposing wraparound portico. It’s one of a group of very similar churches to be seen in this area (others are at Aktaş, Fertek, Konaklı and in Niğde itself) but is certainly a cut above, for example, the church just down the road in Kumluca which has since been converted into a mosque.
Transport info
There is a local bus to Kumluca and Hamamlı from Nigde although I was unable to track down where it started from or how frequent a service it is. Sorry!
I walked to Hamamlı and back from the hospital in the space of an hour, pausing to appreciate the strange, high drystone walls dividing the fields and some of the ruined stone houses along the way. In the Kumluca graveyard stands a twin-domed building. Could it be the hamam that gave its name to Hamamlı?
