Cappadocia @ Travel Turkey

Balloons fly with Japanese and Turkish flags in Cappadocia
Hot air balloons featuring Japanese and Turkish flags flew in the skies over Cappadocia on Sunday in a show of support for Japan and its people in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami ... March 27, 2011
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=0327125233189-2011-03-27...

A cave for the night?
Well, in Cappadocia,Turkey, you can actually do that. Long before civilization was born, Homo sapiens, humans, lived in caves. Soon after, and as evolution progressed, hunter-gatherers ditched their former dwellings and started building structures used ... March 2, 2011 http://arabnews.com/lifestyle...

Turkey to promote Cappadocia at German tourism fair
Turkey will promote its Cappadocia region during the ITB International Tourism Bourse in Berlin in March, a local tourism association said Sunday. February 20, 2011 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n...

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It is impossible to define Cappadocia's limits with any real accuracy. In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians are supposed to have occupied the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea). Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of Mount Taurus, to the east by the Euphrates, to the north by Pontus, and to the west vaguely by the Great Salt Lake, Lake Tuz, in Central Anatolia. But Strabo, the only ancient author who gives any circumstantial account of the country, greatly exaggerated its dimensions. It is now believed that 400 km (250 mi) east-west by 200 km (120 mi) north-south is a more realistic appraisal of Cappadocia's extension.

Modern tourism

The area is a famous and popular tourist destination, as it has many areas with unique geological, historic and cultural features.

The region is southwest of the major city Kayseri, which has airline and railroad service to Ankara and İstanbul.

The Cappadocia region is largely underlain by sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams, and ignimbrite deposits erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately 9 to 3 million years ago (late Miocene to Pliocene epochs). The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. The volcanic deposits are soft rocks that the people of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out to form houses, churches, and monasteries.

Göreme became a monastic center between 300-1200 AD. First period settlement in Göreme reaches to the Roman period from Christianity. Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in Göreme, houses and churches carved into rocks till to Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valley carries the mystical side of history today. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the monastic communities in Cappadocia and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. It is a complex comprising more than 30 rock-carved churches and chapels containing some superb frescoes, dating from the 9th to the 11th centuries.

The most recently excavated underground city open to the public is Gaziemir, 40 kilometers from Aksaray and 18 kilometers from Güzelyurt. Opened in June 2007, very few tourists have discovered this non-claustrophobic hidden city. Dating back to the Byzantine period, it is thought to be larger than the cities near Aksaray. Most underground cities were carved out just large enough for a person to walk through, but Gaziemir's ceilings were built high enough so that camels could pass through. For those who are nervous about being underground in small spaces, this is the ideal site to learn about life underground, but not feel closed in. So far excavations have uncovered baths, churches, pens for animals, depots for food, cooking areas, wineries and living spaces.

Even though the number of visitors to the underground cities is smaller than those visiting the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, slowly the word is getting out about the hidden treasures waiting there. And, as the recent excavations in Gaziemir have shown, not all subterranean living was cramped. It is definitely worth a trip off the beaten track to explore some of the lesser-known treasures of Cappadocia.

Cappadocia Article on Wikipedia

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