The magical land of Cappadocia

Hello! Here you will find a number of images that I have taken during the last 48 hours. I am staying in the town of Goreme but took a day long tour yesterday to a number of fascinating nearby sites. You wouldn't believe how difficult it can be to transfer, edit, and compress photographs while using the typical internet cafe computer. I've sacrificed time for photos instead of writing more text, so I hope you can get a sense of where I am thru image rather than words. As I can I will fill this post in with descriptions and a bit of history. I hope you enjoy...

Goreme from a plateau. Famous for its numerous "fairy chimneys", Goreme is a special place where a booming but low-key tourist industry seems to live side by side with a very traditional local village culture. The unique landscape is due to great amounts of ash from nearby volcanoes that was later covered with a harder layer of rock. \The harder rocks provided protection from erosion for the softer ashen rock underneath, thus creating these amazing "fairy chimneys".

Beginning around 2 bc, the Hittites began to carve dwellings in the soft ash, both for storage and protection. Later, Christians would create churches, dwellings, and more in the soft rock. They also used these unique structures for protection from first the Romans and later from armies of the Muslim conquests in the 9th and 10th centuries. Today people live in some, and many are reserved for local flocks of pigeons, the guano of which is collected and used for fertilizer. Beautiful, yes?

The town of Uchusar, just up from Goreme. The "castle" supposedly holds an empty roman tomb on top... I hope to go there tomorrow via motorscooter. We hiked down the canyon back to Goreme- what a view!

Good luck, hung on a tree!


These caves are in a nearby town... they go 8 floors down! Used by Hittites and later Christians as both storage areas... and for protection from raids. I will write more later on this...

Below is the Monastery at Selim. It dates to the 2nd century and used to be a stop for travelling caravans (camels).

Near Selime... Some say the opening scenes of Star Wars were filmed here... somebody watch it and tell me what you think!


Ilhana Gorge, carved by eruptions of a nearby volcano.

1,000 year old frescos in the Christian churces carved into the stone hillsides near Goreme

Looking up at Uchusar from near Goreme. The sun sets behind the castle... truly amazing.

Hope everyone is well... Ill do my best to keep you up to date. There's so much I want to say but I hope for now the pictures can give you an idea of what the magical place is like. Blessings!