Cappadocia- Land of Fairy Chimneys and Beautiful Wild Horses

We took the overnight bus to Cappadocia and it is the most amazing place I have ever seen! The name is a derivative from the old Persian name Katpatuka, meaning land of beautiful wild horses. It is a surreal almost alien landscape made up a these things called 'fairy chimneys' created by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. Over time due to erosion the unique cave structures we see now were created. The town we are staying in dates from Biblical times (and is mentioned in the Biblical Book of Acts). We explored many churches hewn into caves that date from the 7th to the 11th century as well as an underground city that served as a refuge for prosecuted Christians that were located in the area.

Cappadocia is famous for pottery, rugs and red wine!
A typical Fresco in the churches which have been preserved through the centuries. This one in particular is probably the most well preserved that we saw. It is disappointing though because many of the faces or eyes have been scratched off over time before these churches were included in the UNESCO world heritage sites in 1985. The most likely explaination is that many muslim farmers resided in the area in later times and many inhabited these caves. Conflict of beliefs (and also creepy eyes staring at you while you sleep) prompted this defacement.

A typical cave house exhibited in the area, people still live in these although in Goreme many have been converted into Pensions, hotels or bars.

Our amazing Cave hotel, complete with pool, Yahoo! It is quite nice staying in a cave as it is well insulated, meaning it is cool in the summer and warmer during the winter monthes. Cappadocia experiences strange weather patterns, it is either really hot or really cold. It gets snow as well, amazingly enough.

The very happy camel we saw on our walk to the Goreme Open air museum. I just had to include him!

I will post some more pictures of some of the sights we saw on our tour yesterday! For everyone I promised a postcard they are on their way!!! I pinky swear!

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P.S I cannot believe Micheal Jackson died...Insanity! My cousin is obsessed with anything MJ and she declared to me via Facebook that her summer is RUINED. I send my condolences out to her. RIP MJ. My Mother is also astounded that Farrah Fowcett died as well. RIP Farrah.