Cappadocia

We travelled to the Turkish region of Cappadocia on the recommendation of our travel agent and after speaking to friends who had been here.  We are staying in Göreme, a town between two ancient volcanoes which erupted many millions of years ago, leaving sedimentary rock forms in the shape of hundreds of spectacular pillars and mushroom-like forms known as "fairy chimneys". People of the villages in the Cappadocia region carved out houses, churches and monasteries from the soft rocks of volcanic deposits. 

This area was only properly "re-discovered" as recently as the 1960s and has been developed into a thriving tourist destination since then, with many of the caves still being used as homes here until the 1970s and much of the land around is even now still being farmed by small landholders who live locally.  Grape vines are in evidence here, as well as wheat fields, apricot trees and potatoes are grown, also - the volcanic ash in the soil, combined with fertiliser made from pigeon poop from hundreds of thousands of the birds kept here for the purpose, make ideal growing conditions for these crops.

Enough facts as background! Here, now, are some of the photos we have taken during our time in this fascinating region, where we are staying in a cave hotel.  We tried to take some shots of the inside of our rooms here, but it's really hard to get a good angle.  The website is your best bet, so here is the link.

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