Cappadocia is one of the most exciting destinations in central Turkey, 200 km SE of Ankara. This is the region where the famous "fairy chimneys" are located . The Cappadocia valley was first filed with volcanic ashes 10 miilion years ago from a nearby Erciyes volcanic mountain. Most of the pictures you will see are covered with white rocks, like snow. Those are white ashes called tuffs in geology and those rocks were eroded by rain, wind and rivers in 10 million year and also some erosion was done by people where they dug houses and churces. It was a hiding place for early Christianty during 100 AD. In the area, there are about 2000 churces dug underground. The churces are very small, less than for 20 people.

Ürgüp- Göreme-Uçhisar have the best accommodation for exploring the area. The most spectacular sights are located within the triangle (Goreme). Urgüp and Goreme is the true heart of Cappadocia and if you want to see more than just the standard tour you should go there. You probably need at least 4-5 days to see the whole area. Recently there are several hot air ballons in the area surves for the tourist in the summer time and you should go up to air and enjoy the view, hovering or the valley and take lots of pictures.

Just south of the above mentioned towns the underground cities of Derinkuyu and Kaymakli are extremely fascinating. Also make sure you visit Ihlara Valley while in the area. Ihlara Valley was first filled with Basalt lava flow from a nearby HasanDag volcanic Mountain and later erosion took place by the river and the whole valley is about 100 m deep due to erosion. The rocks in and around the valley was made by fractured basalts and those were easy to be eroded due to water and wind.

The area is also famous of its wine and Turkish carpets.

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