Tour Guide, Cappadocia, Turkey
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Cappadocia is the ancient and modern name of a remarkable region in Central Anatolia. It is a geological wonderland which is a smaller triangular area from Urgup to Avanos and to Uchisar. The settlements in Cappadocia had come into existence, mostly in the valleys of Goreme, Ihlara and Soganli. The most intensive settlement was in the vicinity of the township of Goreme. It is possible to see many churches together today in the locality made into an open air museum. It is estimated that there are more than 600 rock-cut churches in Cappadocia. During the early times of the spread of Christianity, the people who needed to hide themselves from the Roman soldiers and later on from Arab raids, carved out these tough rocks thus constructing churches and built underground cities to defend themselves against the raids. The tough rocks, formed by the lava spurted by 3 volcanoes during geological times, had kept on taking constantly changing shapes with kind effects during the course of time, and the wonders of the world of today were created. This juxtaposition of different materials has produced capped columns, pyramids and conical formations with dark-colored caps known as fairy-chimneys.