Cappadocia TURKEY

Get ready now to take a brief journey into the Cappadocian region, where Mother Nature painstakinly worked miracles that defy the imagination and where the living elements of history, culture, art, and society are inextricably linked.

Cappadocia is unique in the world and is a miraculous nature wonder is the common name of the field covered by the provinces of Aksaray, Nevsehir, Nigde, Kayseri and Kirsehir in the Central Anatoliaregion. In the upper Myosen period in the Cappadocia region as a result of the vulcanic eruptions occurred in Erciyes, Hasandag and Gulludag, in the region was formed a large tableland from the vulcanic tufas and together with the erosion of the Kizilirmak river and wind over ten thausands of years there appeared the chimney rocks which are a wonder of the nature. In the old Bronze Age the Cappadocia which was the population zone of the Assyrian civilization later has hosted the Hittite, Frig, Pers, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman civilizations. Göreme Göreme which have the old names of Korama, Matiana and Maccan is 10 km far away from the center of Nevsehir province.

Underground Cities

One of the characteristics of Cappadocia is having plenty of underground cities. It’s known that there are more than a hundred of underground settlements in the region and many of them are not open for visits. The underground cities, which are guessed to be used since the Bronze Age, used to be a settlement mostly in Byzantine period, doubtless. In this period, increasing invasions forced local residents to build underground cities for protection and religious purposes.

Until now even that have been determined about 40 underground cities just six of these have been opened for visit. Nobody can know how many underground cities exist in Cappadocia area, maybe 100s. Some say that there is one for every village and settlement in the region but certainly not all of the sites can be described as cities. The Deepest one, Derinkuyu is situated on Nevsehir-Nigde roadway at 30 km in south region of Nevsehir. The history of the district of Derinkuyu named as Melagobia (Malakopi) which was meaning in the period of Eti the hard living is very old. In the district there are many underground cities and churches. As all of the underground cities from region of Cappadoccia it was the first place where the Christians have hidden. It has been used as hiding and refuge place at the time of wars occurred in the zone in the different periods of the history. The Derinkuyu Underground City with seven floors and depth of 85 mt has the dimensions of a city able to shelter thousands of persons. Inside there are found food stores, kitchens, stalls, churches, wine production places, ventilation chimneys, water wells and a missionary school.

Tatlarin Underground City
Derinkuyu Underground City
Ozkonak Underground City
Mazi Village Underground City
Kaymakli Underground City
Gaziemir Underground City
Derinkuyu Underground City

The first inhabitants of Cappadocia area have opened deep cavities within the volcanic rocks due to escape from the attacks of the wild animals and hard winter conditions and then they have enlarged these cavities according to their daily needs, they opened new cavities and created the underground cities connecting these cavities with tunnel and labyrinths.

Later the underground cities were the place of the hiding of the first Christians who escaped from the persecution of the Roman soldiers and were enlarged to able when were necessary an entire city to live and every kind of fixture necessary for the living of the people has been attached.

When there wasn’t any danger the people living on the ground in case of the danger have hidden in the underground cities. For this reason all the homes at that time were connected to the underground cities with a tunnel. Tatlarin Underground City In all of the underground cities there are ventilation chimneys reaching place by place to a depth of 80 and until the underground waters. These chimneys were opened due to meet the need of both the ventilation and water. Within the cities that are tepid in winters and cool in summers there are kitchens, cribs, wine houses, depots for cereals, meeting saloons, toilets shortly every kind of living space necessary for living. Within all the cities there are locking stones which can be opened and closed only from inside against to the threats which may come from outside.

The oldest written source about underground cities is the Anabasis named book of Xenophon (Written around B.C. 4). In the book is mentioned that the people living in Anatolia have caved their houses underground and that the houses are connected to each other with holes: “The houses were built underground; the entrances were like wells but they broadened out lower down. There were tunnels dug in the ground for the animals wkile the men went down by ladder. Inside the houses there were goats, sheep, cows and poultry with their youth..." .

The first Christians fleed from the persecution of the Romans by the 2nd century B.C. and came to the Cappadocia over Antakya and Kayseri and they have settled there. The first Christians finding the underground cities in Cappadocia have been hidden in these underground cities which gates were made in such way in which they couldn’t be easily observed and they have escaped from the persecution of the Roman soldiers.

Due that they had to live in the underground cities for long duration without being able to go out they have developed these underground cities by making provisions rooms, ventilation chimneys, wine production places, churches, abbeys, water wells, toilets and meeting rooms. In the prehistoric periods the first human settlements have begun and the humans have constructed the underground cities in the volcanic rocks in form of tufa due to protect themselves from the wild animals and they lived for long times in these underground cities. There are so many underground cities on the Cappadocia area of Turkey but the biggest is Derinkuyu Underground City.

In these cities made in form of rooms connected to each others some of the rooms were connected to each other only with the tunnels tight and permitting passing of just a person. At the access gates of these tunnels there were huge stone rollers used for closing the tunnels for security reasons.

Cappadocia History

The Cappadocian region has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The evidence of this is plentiful, but the best examples of it have been unearthed at Kosk Hoyuk in Nigde and Asikli Hoyuk in Aksaray as well as in the Civeler cave in Nevsehir.

During the Early Bronze Age, Cappadocia came under the influance af Assyrian civilization thanks to extensive trade, and it was during this period that writing was introduced.

Researchers have turned up hoards of so – called “Cappadocian Tablets” –clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing whose texts speak of tax regulations interest rates, marriage contracts, trade disputes, and much else besides.

According to these documents in that period in Anatolia were founded small local kingdoms non-depending from a central authority. These had in generally in their hands a little area and were living in peace. The region creating the core of the Hittite Empire later has go under the domination of Phrigia and Pers. The Pers civilization has called this region Katpatuka and its center was Mazaka. When Datames the Satrab (Starab: little district administrator at Pers) of Cappadocia has bear arms against the biggest king of Pers, the other Anatolian Satrabs have been supported him but the revolt has been raided. In 33 b.c. the Big Alexander has captured a big part of Cappadocia. In 188 B.C.

The Cappadocia which entered under the Roman domination has been captured in 100 B.C. by the Mithridatesd the king of Pontus but in 63 B.C. Pompeius has defeated Mithridates and took again the Cappadocia under the domination of Rome. In the period of Tiberius the Cappadocia gainded the status of Roman district.

The Hattis followed by the Hitites, Phrygians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks and Ottoman

In 647 A.C. together with occupation of Kayseri by Muaviye Cappadocia has met with the Arabian invasions. Cappadocia which went under the domination of the Seljuks in 1072 has been added to the lands of Ottoman Empire in 1399 by the Ottoman Sultan Yildirim Beyazit.

We are all enchanted by the allure of Cappadocia and left the imprint of their own presence here. Because of its location, Cappadocia was an extremely critical and strategic region. Important trade routes – including the illustrious Silk Road – traversed it both east and west and north and south. As a result of this heavy traffic, the region was a complex web of historical and cultural influences.

Cappadocia‘s trade and resources were tempting prizes and the region was frequently ivaded, raided and looted.

To protect themselves from such depredations and invasions, the local inhabitants took to living in the region’s caverns and grottos whose entrances could be concealed so as not to be noticed by trouble making outsiders.

Since it might be necessary to live underground for extented periods of time, these troglodytic dwellings eventually became subterranean cities that included sources of water, places to store food, wineries and temples. Some of them date back to before the Christian era.

Cappadocia and Christianity

In the early years of the first millennium, groups of Christians fleeing from Roman persecution began moving into the inaccessible wilds of Cappadocia seeking refuge. One group, which arrived here from Jerusalem via Antioch and Caesarea in the second century, settled down in the area now called Derinkuyu. Finding the soft volcanic tuff easy to carve, they began expanding the natural caves, linking them together and in addition to dwellings, creating chapels, churches and whole monastereies as they shaped with their hearts, minds and hands the peace and security that they so desperately sought. There are said to be more than a thousand churches and chapels in Cappadocia. The variety and artistry of their architecture, layout and decoration are fascinating and amazing. The whole panoply of religious architecture – basilicas with single, double or triple naves, cruciform plans, vestibules, asisles, apses, domes, columns, pillars, and more – can be found in these churches and all of it has been hollowed out of the stone. Many of the churches are decorated with painstakingly executed frescoes. The monumental task of restoring, repairing and maintaining these churches and underground cities goes on continuously even while they receive thousands of visitors a year.

Saint Basileious from Kaisera and Saint Gregorios from Nyssa had settled in Cappadocia.

Cappadocia was one of the most important places in the spreading periods of the Christian religion. The first christians trying to escape from the Roman soldiers who wanted to avoid the spreading of the Christian religion have settled in the region of Cappadocia which was so suitable for hiding and so they were able to continue their natures and to spread their religions.

Cappadocia has been an important religious place together with the intensive emigration of the first Christians escaping from the pressure of the Roman soldiers. The population escaped from the pressures has made many abbeys, churches and houses in the volcanic rocks from the valley where they were able to hidden easily. Goreme Open Air Museum Cappadocia which is in our days one of the most important tourism centers of Turkey is visited every year by hundred thousands of tourists coming from every part of the world. In our days in Goreme are found Elmali Church, Saint Barbara Church, Carikli Church, Tokali Church and Hidden Church and all of these are Goreme Open Air Museum. In the churches there are scenes from the life of Jesus, descriptions of the saints who written the Bible and pictures of Saint Barbara and Saint Georgius.

Fairy Chimneys » Rock Formations

“Fairy Chimneys” that seem haunted, and cities and houses of workship that extend many meters deep into the earth are all enveloped in an atmosphere that is ethereal and unworldly.Millions of years ago three of the mountains in Cappadocia – Erciyes, Hasandag and Gulludag – were active volcanoes;

Indeed, this activity persisted intermittently at least into the Neolitic Period if one considers the evidence of prehistoric paintings found on the walls of caves. The eruptions appear to have begun in the Upper Miocene, less than 70 million years ago, in which lava began to flow from volcanoes submerged in Neogene lakes. The plateau of tuff formed from the materials discharged by the main volcanoes was continuously altered by the eruptions of smaller and less violent volcanoes. From the Upper Pliocene onwards, these layers of tuff were exposed to eresion by rain and the waters of lakes and rivers, paticularly the Kizilirmak, resulting in what we see today. Foodwater pouring down the sides of valleys combined with strong winds tore away the softer volcanic rock exposing the harder variaties and resulting in the formations known an “fairy chimneys” of which there are several types in Cappadocia - conical pointed, columnar, mushroom-shaped and even a type that looks as if it’s wearing a hat.

The volcanic eruption of Hasandagi led to tectonic movements that left the surface of the region covered with a layer of volcanic rock. The same volcanic activity led to pressure and heat being put upon the limestone causing it to crack and create naturally spouting springs of hot water, these can be seen at the Ziga Thermal Springs between Ihlara and Yaprakhisar.

The structural characteristics of the region due to volcanic eruption produced tufa outcrops which were moulded by wind, erosion and other natural phenomena and created the strange and colorful "Fairy Chimneys". The tectonic movoments produced tufa rock that in some places is soft and in others is coloured grey, green and brown. Huge areas of crumbling rock completely covered the area in its debris.

Ihlara Valley

Volcanic eruption produced tufa outcrops which were moulded by wind, erosion and other natural phenomena alongside of the Melendiz River is a result of this disintegration that created a canyon with a deep base. The fast flowing river is in places between 100 and 200 m deep and it divides the valley into two; it continues towards Aksaray with the name Ulunmak until reaches Tuz Golu (Salt Lake).

Ihlara valley has been formed at an approximate depth of 150 due that the erosion made by Melendiz river coming from the mountains of Melendiz to the volcanic rocks.

Aksaray Province of Cappadocia region was an important religious centre in Christianity‘s very earliest days. Founders of orders like Basil of Kayseri and Greegory of Nazianos lived here in the 4th century.

A different set of monastic rules than the system used in Egypt ad Syria was determined here.

Although the monks in Egypt and Syria cut themselves off from relationships with the wordly things the monks under Basil and Gregory did not. The birthplace for this concept was Belisirma, in Ihlara Valley.

Gregory, offering a new explanation for the Holy Trinity, brought about a debate concering the divinity of Christ. His ideas prevailed at the Council of Iznik. Thus an innovator became a saint for the the rock region of Belisirma, Ihlara and Gelveri where Gregory lived.

The Ihlara Valley has protected these rock-cut dwellings ad churhes with frescoes and they come down to us a unique historical treasury. These frescoed churches and dwellings easily carved into rock from the early years of Christianity are scattered all along the way from Ihlara to Selime through the Ihlara valley.

Due that the richness of the watering possibility and its hidden form and easily to hide structure it was the first settlement place of the first Christians escaping from the Roman soldiers In the Ihlara Valley there are hundreds of antic churches caved in the volcanic rocks. With the defensive castles of Mount Hasan providing defence against Arab invasions the churches were able to continue in peaceful worship.

Agacalti Church with cross plan,
Sümbüllü Church,
Pürenliseki Church,
Kokar Church,
Yilanli Church,
Karagedik Church,
Kirkdamatli Church,
Direkli Church,
Ala Church,
Kemerli Church,
Egritas Church

Useful Travel Tips in Cappadocia

If you plan to travel Cappadocia Goreme Turkey these usefull links will help you to make your travel plan in Cappadocia Goreme, Cappadocia Hotels, Valleys, Tours, Balloon Companies, Hiking Routes , Maps , Weather informations, all travel tips about Cappadocia in this page.

Cappadocia Turkey is located in central Anatolia and you can go there by bus or plane, nearest airport to cappadocia informations is Nevsehir airport but you also can use Kayseri airport which is only 80 km far, but we organise airport transfers if you are interested in.

Turkey Cappadocia has many valleys to discover for example rose valley and love valley are having spectacular views.

Cappadocia Turkey is also very famous with its Cave-Hotels, these cave hotels are so special and keeps the tempature cool in summer and warm in winter times, indeed cappadocian people had used their cave houses until late of 90s but later they started to make their cave houses to hotels and guest houses in cappadocia turkey, however we still can see some people still lives in these traditional cave houses in cappadocia turkey.

Cappadocia turkey also have Goreme Open Air Museum which has been honored by UNESCO as world heritage listed, and in this museum you can see cave churches dates back 7th Century B.C decorated with wonderful frescoes, especially dark church in Goreme Open Air Museum Goreme open air museum is a must to visit and see.

Weather in Cappadocia Turkey is in summer very dry and a little hot around 35-40 celcius degree and in winter time generally snowing and can be very cold around -15 celcius degree, and in springs mostly rainy so it is a good idea to have a rain coat if you plan to come Cappadocia Turkey in spring time.

You better get a cappadocia map if you are planing to travel cappadocia turkey by yourself because valleys can make you get lost easily.

Travel plan from Istanbul to Cappadocia is very simple you can either use airplane or bus, it takes only 1hour and 15minutes by plane and by nightover bus around 9 hours, ,cappadocia turkey also very famous with its underground cities, cappadocia used to be a hiding place for comunities from ages,our web-site is working like wikipedia, so you can call us as -cappadocia wiki-, every related links about Cappadocia is below, enjoy.