|
Destination:
CAPPADOCIA, Turkey
|
|
Cappadocia
like no place on earth
 'FAIRY
CHIMNEYS' rise up near the town of Avanos, in the Cappadocia
region of Turkey. They're rock formations from heavily eroded
volcanic stone known as tuff. |
GOREME, Turkey -- The word most often used to describe Cappadocia
is "otherworldly."
The harsh dry land of undulating hills
and valleys is reminiscent of South Dakota's Badlands, with its
pastel tones of tan, pink and grey. But erosion here has left eerie
mushroom-shaped formations in the soft volcanic stone in which
inhabitants centuries ago literally carved out their homes.
The result is a surreal landscape unlike any place on
earth, an otherworldliness which impressed George Lucas, who filmed
scenes here for the original Star Wars (the homes of the Sand People
on Tattoine).
Located in central Anatolia about 180
miles southeast of the Turkish capital of Ankara, Kapadokya,
anglicized as Cappadocia and Hittite for the "land of beautiful
horses," makes an intriguing trip.
There is a rich
diversity of sites here from various historic periods, from the time
of the Hittites (rivals to the ancient Egyptians) to the early
Christians to the 13th-century Great Silk Road. But most of what is
unique about Cappadocia -- the homes and churches carved from stone
and the vast underground cities -- stems from its geological
history.
The region was once home to several active
volcanoes. Eruptions as many as 10 million years ago covered the
area in ashes, which hardened into a soft, porous rock called tuff.
Over time, high wind and water eroded the tuff into free standing
cones, domes and other geological oddities.
The most
astonishing of these formations are known as "fairy chimneys" -- a
boulder of basalt balancing precariously atop a thin, attenuated
shaft of tuff. The hard basalt protects the soft platform underneath
from erosion.
Or, as Cappadocians explain it, fairies or angels carried
the rocks to the top.
www.summer
holiday.info
www.winter holiday.us 
