03Cities and regions

Central Anatolia

Cappadocia

Cappadocia lies on a plateau more than 1,000 metres high in central Anatolia, overlooked by volcanic peaks, the tallest being Mount Erciyes at 3,916 metres. Long ago, eruptions of Erciyes, Hasan and Göllüdağ buried the land under thick volcanic deposits, and millions of years of wind and water then shaped them into the cones and pillars known as fairy chimneys. At the centre is the small town of Göreme, surrounded by a historical national park of nearly 100 square kilometres that has been on the World Heritage List since 1985. The Göreme Open Air Museum gathers churches and dwellings hollowed out of the rock in the Middle Ages. Uçhisar's rock towers over the villages around it, made of harder volcanic stone that resisted erosion. Beneath the surface lie whole multi-level cities, among them Derinkuyu, which descends about 85 metres and could shelter some 20,000 people with their animals and food, complete with presses, stables and storerooms. Stay at least two nights, ideally in a hotel made from old cave houses, and wake before dawn to watch the balloons rise over the valleys.

1985

World Heritage since

0 m

Mount Erciyes

About 85 m

Depth of Derinkuyu