Cappadocia - not of this world

Cappadocia was formed when a nearby volcano erupted depositing ash and lava on the surrounding countryside.
In the millennia since then, the softer ash and lava had been eroded leaving the harder rock, and forming chimneys and other weird formations. Across the centuries, taking advantage of the soft rock, and the valleys which offered shelter on the high Anatolian plateau, people have carved houses and churches into the rock chimneys. Our guest house was carved into the cliff and the rooms were great (apart from the loudest muezzin yet on the trip).

They also built underground cities which it is estimated could hold up to 10,000 people. The children loved the underground city at Derinkuyu, as they could run like rabbits through the rock tunnels.

For Elspeth and me, in fact especially for me, squeezing through these tiny spaces with minimum headroom was more of a challenge.

Just up the road from Capaddocia is the Ilharra valley where we had a very pleasant afternoon walk up a beautiful gorge, visiting more churches carved into the rock faces.