I am gonna start a bit sarcastic on this one. My versions off the beaten path are sometimes quite literally off any path. As I am expert in getting lost and found again, let me share this story with you.
Few days into my trip in Cappadocia I decided to venture out of my base in Göreme and quite an obvious target was the castle in Uçhisar, which is to be seen from far, far away. It actually looks like after a nuclear war, but that is actually an overall vibe out here in Cappa anyways.
Local guides and tourist center are promoting some kind of organised tours you can join if you're not like me and you don't necessarily want to get lost somewhere between sandy formations. But let me assure you it is worth it, there are so many leftover cave-houses and structures around that you don't really need to go with the official tour to discover nice places.
First of, I had to leave Göreme and that on itself is a hard task. Splendid streets seemingly leading to nowhere will work on you for a bit before they will let you get out of the labyrinth and get to the savana like area between the two villages.
As it is my custom, I was walking alone and without any knowledge of the terrain or ide if I even succeed in reaching my destination, the castle of Uçhisar.
After I've crossed something that resembled a grand canyon in Arizona, the next obstacle was the stairs of Uçhisar. It is quite a walk before you reach the top and than there are the stairs inside the castle itself. Not that it is such a big deal but I was stressed about the sunset and wanted to catch some kind of golden hour, so I was in a rush. The whole village looked like Santa's town as Christmas was on its way.
The top of the cliff, or otherwise "roof" of the castle had awesome views and it was really worthy the swet. It was also quite windy and I didn't spend too much time up there. After all I had to make it back to Göreme and I didn't wanted to take a cab. So I've walked back on the main road, taking the "safe" path, not to get lost again somewhere at night...
All the best,
Global Local