THE LOCATION OF CAPPADOCIA

Strabon, a writer of antiuety, descripes the borders of the Cappadocian Region, in his 17 volume book '' Geographika'' ( Geopraphy-Anatolia XII.XIII, XIV ) written during the reign of Roman Emperor Agustus.Cappadocia was discribed as a very large area surrounded by Taurus Mountains in the south, by Aksaray in the west,Malatya in the east and all the way uo to the Black Sea coast in the north.Trough, present day Cappadocia is the area covered by the city provinces of Nevsehir, Aksaray, Nigde, Kayseri and Kirsehir.The smaller rocky region of Cappadocia is the area around Uçhisar, Göreme, Avanos, Ürgüp, Derinkuyu, Kaymakli and Ihlara.

VOLKANIC ERUPTIONS AND GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS

Rock Structures

Mount Erciyes Hasandag and Göllüdag were active volcanoes in the gelogical perionds. Alongside with many other valcanoes, eruptions of these volcanoes started in the Early Miocene (10 million years ago) and have continued until the present day. The lava produced by these volcanoes, under the Neogen lakes, formed a layer of tufa on the plateaus which waried in hardness and was between 100 and 150m thick. Other substances in the layer are ignimbrite, soft tufa, tufa, lahar, asy, clay, sandstone, marn, Basalt and other agglomerates.Plateaus, having been essentially shaped with the lava from the bigger volcanoes, were continuously altered with the eruptions of smaller volcanoes.Starting in the Early Pliocene Period, the rivers in the area, especially Kizilirmak (the Red River) ,and local lakes contibuted to the erosion of this layer of tufa stone,eventually giving the areaist present day shape.

Formation of fairy Chimneys

The interesting rock formations, known as '' fairy chimneys'',have been formed as the result of the erosion of this tufa layer, sculpted by wind and flood water, runnig down on the slopes of the valleys. Water has found its way through the valleys creating craks and ruptures in the hard rock. The softer, easily erodable material underneath has been gradually swept away reseding the slopes and in this way, cönical formations protected with basalt caps have been created. The fairy chimneys with caps, mainly found in the vicinity of Ürgüp, have a conical shaped body and aboulder on top of it. The cone is constructed from tufa and volcanic ash, while the cap is of hard, more resistant rock such as lahar or ignimbrite.Various types of fairy chimneys, are found in Cappadocia. Among these are those with caps, cones, mushroom like forms, columns and pointed rocks.Fairy chimneys are generally found in the valleys of the Uçhisar-Ürgüp-Avanos triangle, between Ürgüp and Sahinefendi, around the town of çat in Nevsehir, ,n theSoganli valley in Kayseri, and in the village of Selime in Aksaray. Another characteristic feature of the area are the sweeping curves and patterns on the sides of the valleys, formed by rainwater. These lines of sedimentation exposed by erosion display a range of hues. The array of color seen on some of the valleys is due to the diffrence in heat of the lava layers .Such patterns can be seen in Uçhisar, Çavusin / Güllüdere,Göreme/ Meskendir, Ortahisar/ kizilçukur and Pancarlik valleys

In Cappadocia there are so many things to be seen that you may consider to stay longer as you planned!

• Pasabagı and Zelve open-air museum have the most interesting landscape and fairy chimneys of the region
• Goreme open-air museum has many churches of the first christians with beautiful frescoes to be visited.
• Underground cities in Derinkuyu, Kaymakli, Ozkonak, Mazi...
• Uchisar castle - one of the highest peaks in Cappadocia has a marvellous 360 degree panoramic view over all Cappadocia
• Ortahisar castle - small quiet town, famous for its natural cave depots containing lemons and its antiquity shops
• Sarihan old caravansaray on the silk road
• Sultansazlığı bird paradise south of Erciyes mountain
• Soganli valley with its steep valley and interesting churches

Ballooning over Cappadocia

That is something very special! It'll cost some money but in the 1 or 2 hours flight one may have the deepest insight into the landscape - something one will not forget in lifetime!

          Horse-riding

This is another possible to discover Cappadocia - you can feel like a conqueror in old times riding through the valleys.

          Swimming

• Many hotels open their swimming pools for the public
• Hot springs in Bayramhacili (40 km)
• Turkish bath: the hamams
• Damsa dam near Sinasos/Mustafapasha (10 km) - good for a nice picknick too

Skiing

In winter Mount Erciyes offers skiing possibilities - you can rent clothes and skies there too.

          Trekking and mountaineering

There are some agencies which offer trekking and mountaineering tours to Mount Hasan, Mount Erciyes and the near Taurus and Aladaglar.

Rafting

The same companies offer rafting tours in the Zamanti river.