Your Essential Travel

The ancient region of Cappadocia lies in Central Anatolia, between the cities of Nevsehir, Kayseri and Nigde. Here, the traveler finds one of the most fantastic landscapes in the world. Three million years ago, violent eruptions of the volcanoes Mt. Erciyes (3891 m) and Mt. Hasan (3250 m) covered the surrounding plateau with tuff. Wind and weather have eroded the soft volcanic rock with hundreds of strangely shaped pillars, cones and "fairy chimneys", often very tall, and in every shade from pink through yellow to russet browns.

Since the most ancient of times, men have hollowed out dwellings in this soft rock, and here, at the dawn of Christianity, the early Christians made countless cave churches, chapels and monasteries.

Goreme, in Cappadocia, is an important area for shopping, with its wonderful carpets and kilims, onyx souvenirs, and very fine local wines. It is also a wonderful region for trekking and for photo-safaris.