Excursion to Altinbesik Cave and Ormana Village

We had an amazing time and the tour guide Qadir is a great guy I loved the stories he told us and the very interesting information

On this tour you’ll ride a boat through a water-filled cave, see a 700-year old mosque, visit a restored ancient village and see a piece of Seljuk empire vintage Silk Road. No stops at ‘factories’, ‘craft centers’ and other time-wasting activities. Booking through TripAdvisor is a charm: no hassle, pay with a credit card, get a message from the guide a day before departure. Special kudos to driver Sheitan: comfortable driving on challenging narrow and sometimes unpaved roads. Clean bus with A/C in perfect order. Lunch at a brand new restaurant serving a 4-course meal: salad, soup, main course (choice of fish, chicken and meatballs)and dessert. Food itself was great, and serving artful. Beyond any expectations of a village restaurant in Turkey. Just don’t order drinks - you may not get them. Folks are clearly learning how to run a restaurant, maybe with more experience they’ll get better.

We had specifically made sure that the excursion would take place in small groups. In the end, there were 7 more people on the bus than stated by the tour operator. The tour guide reported a lot about Turkey... not everything was up to date (for example, "the prisons in Turkey are empty," but Google says they are overcrowded), but it was very entertaining. We enjoyed it and had our fun. The cave was small and finished within 15 minutes, including the walk. The drive there was very spectacular. Actually, the best part of this excursion was driving through the mountains. The view is amazing 😁 the village was rather unspectacular. Here we were guided through a very old house and subsequently invited for tea. While we were drinking our tea, various items were offered to us for purchase. The peanuts were the best part. 😁 All in all, it was a very nice and also long day.

The guide gave great explanations and was always available for a joke. With children it is not so easy, because you already spend a lot of time on the bus and the boat trip in the cave is unfortunately only very short. But the view was great and worth a trip.

The lake is very beautiful, but so are the villages with the button houses and the small restaurants. On the way we were shown many wild plants that grow in the mountains