Homage to Cappadocia

A tear-drop forest of twisted rock-forms rears up, stretching into the distance.  Each fantastic shape has been hollowed out over the millennia by unknown hands to form dwellings, monasteries or, between the 4^th and 11^th century, painted churches.

Welcome to Cappadocia.

We all know that Turkey teems with outstanding historic and tourist sites.  Yet Cappadocia, an hour’s flight from Istanbul in the heart of Anatolia, astonishes with its wealth of history and landscapes.

In one all-too brief week-end I see the rock formations, stone dwellings and underground churches of Goreme, including the sumptuous Karanlik Kilise (dark church); the troglodytic underground city of Derinkuyu; and the countless cave-churches and spectacular landscapes of the Ihlara Valley.

This stuff is ancient.  By the time Herodotus (who came from Halicarnassus, today’s Bodrum) wrote about Cappadocia in the 5th century BC, the region had been the heartland of the Hittite Empire for over a thousand years.

No-one seems too sure who built the underground cities of Cappadocia, but it may have been the Phrygians, with subsequent home improvements by the Byzantines and the Persians.  Inspired by this, many local hotels – ranging from the basic to the utterly luxurious – also have underground rooms you can stay in, whose smoothly-sculpted contours have a strange fascination.

The only downside of many of these sites – including the Karanlik Kilise – is that because they’re underground, they are poorly suited for mass tourism.  So go early; out of season; in bad weather; or (like me) all three.  Then you won’t have to queue to see some of the most astonishing sights Turkey – or anywhere – has to offer.