Mustafapaşa (Ancient Sinasos) Village

Nestled in a quiet valley six kilometers south of Ürgüp, Mustafapaşa—known throughout history as Sinasos ("City of the Sun")—is an architectural jewel recognized by the UN World Tourism Organization as one of the Best Tourism Villages in the world. Until the 1924 Greek-Turkish population exchange, Sinasos was home to prosperous Cappadocian Greek merchants and Istanbul seafood traders who invested their wealth into building magnificent neoclassical stone mansions adorned with hand-carved floral friezes, angels, peacocks, and frescoed ceilings.

Because Mustafapaşa sits just outside the main northern tourist triangle, walking its peaceful cobbled square feels like stepping into a 19th-century Anatolian film set where Ottoman madrasas and Greek Orthodox churches stand side by side.

Carved from warm honey-golden volcanic freestone that cuts easily when quarried and hardens upon exposure to air, Sinasos developed a legendary guild of master stonemasons in the 18th and 19th centuries.Surrounding the town are deep monastic gorges—including Gomeda Valley and St. Nicholas Monastery—where older Byzantine rock churches hide beneath walnut and apricot trees.