The Cappadocia is located in the Central Anatolia region, on a plateau in the middle of Turkey .
It is a wonderful area, almost fairytale, that everyone, at least once in a lifetime, should visit.
An almost unreal landscape, made up of towers, canyons , crevasses, pinnacles and rocky villages with extraordinary colors, ranging from red to gold, from green to gray.
It is the result of Mother Nature ‘s patient work and the work of two long- inactive volcanoes , the Erciyes and Hasan. In the so-called ” fairy chimneys ” , very strange conical lava formations, hermit populations took refuge who dug their dwellings in the tuff (a dust composed of lava, ash and mud). The holes seen in the rocks are nothing but troglodyte dwellings .
The most populated was the Goreme Valley (now a national park), where there are over 300 churches, some of which are beautifully frescoed. There were also underground cities , such as Derinkuyu, where there are nine floors below ground level.
The valleys of Zelve and Soganli also hide the underground dwellings of ancient peoples forced to flee looting. If you do not suffer from claustrophobia, it is worth visiting Kaymakli, Mazi, Derinkuyu and Ozkonak.
The nearest cities are Nevsehir, Avanos and Urgup. Nevsehir , the provincial capital, is considered the gateway to Cappadocia .
There are “fairy chimneys” also beside the road that leads from Cavusin to Zelve. On the way from Nevsehir to Urgup one passes by force of the marvelous Ortahisar rock fortress. North of Urgup is the beautiful Devrent Valley , where time has eroded the rock forming peaks, cones and obelisks. In the Çatalkaya Valley , the chimneys even take the form of a mushroom.
Lunar landscapes, almost fictitious, that leave you speechless. A journey to do absolutely. When to go? Cappadocia is located at 1,100 meters above sea level, on a plateau. The climate is cold in January, with temperatures just above zero and with frequent snowfalls, which make the landscape even more fairytale. In July and August the average temperature is around 22 ° C with a maximum of 29 ° C.
