From Day 1 to Day 6, mountains, oceans, deserts, glaciers and waterfalls were created.
On Day 7, Mother Nature went batshit insane, replicated the hardcore landscape of Mars and named them “fairy chimneys” for the lulz. That’s the only logical hypothesis I can think of, because NO other place on Earth looks remotely like Cappadocia!!!
What’s more impressive is that one of Adam and Eve’s offspring (possibly the one named Björk) decided that it’s possible to start a civilization in this place. So someone started carving homes and churches into these fairy chimneys just because.
The one above, for instance, is called Uchisar Castle. Yes, it’s a castle—with like stairs, tunnels, rooms and passages. And no, I’m not joking.
Here’s a quiz: what animals do you see in these next two pictures?
Taken from Devrent Valley (Imagination Valley). I’m sure I don’t have to explain why.
Next are the Three Beauties.
Legend has it that back in the kingdom period, a princess fell in love with a shepherd. Her father disapproved, so she escaped and secretly married him. A few years later, she gave birth to a baby and returned to the palace to ask for forgiveness, but instead, the father ordered his soldiers to kill them. In order to protect her family, the princess prayed to God to turn them into stones. God accepted the prayer and converted the princess, her husband and her child into fairy chimneys.
Uhm what… you’re not into fairy tales and furry animals and stuff? Don’t worry, there’s a little something for everyone. What about something more X-rated from Pasabag?
You’re welcome, ladies.
Cappadocia never falls short of mind-boggling vistas. If you’re on the adventurous side, there are lots of gorgeous valleys to hike. If you’re on the lazy side, don’t worry… Cappadocia is known to be one of the best places on Earth to do hot air ballooning.
The first one is called Pigeon Valley, because they carved a lot of pigeon houses into the rock formations in this valley. The second one is called Honey Valley—although I think Whipped Cream Valley is a more apt name.
And if you think whatever you’ve seen on the above pictures are impressive, wait until I tell you that there are plenty more underneath them. There are as much as 36(!) underground cave cities built in Cappadocia, although unfortunately I couldn’t afford the time to visit any of them.
Cappadocia is a place of unreal beauty. It’s the product of complex erosion that lasted for 60 million years, involving volcanic eruptions, lava, wind, rain, snow, rivers, climate, rock fissures, mechanical weathering, and finally, human intervention.
If I have to pinpoint the exact point in my life when I began to embrace traveling as a personal life goal, it’s this one. Cappadocia stretched my mind and exposed it to the endless possibilities of our beautiful planet. It showed me that whatever I’ve known is minuscule and there are many things remain to be seen with my own eyes.
And for that, Cappadocia will always have a special place in my heart.
Which of the places you visited that have left the strongest impression on your travelling experience?
Scarlet Scribbles 
Wow! What a place that exists today because of erosion and the elements. It is hard to believe there is a castle carved into the rocks (I had to look closely but there it is) and I laughed about the x-rated pillar like structures.
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Yes!! Actually, it’s beyond the castle. The population there carved everything into rocks – including the hotel that I stayed in during the visit. =)
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