Cappadocia and Uchisar- Turkey

Card # 211. Uchisar Koyu- Uchisar Village
2. Gorkun Dere Vadisi- Gorkun Dere Valley
3. Kaya Formasyonlari- Rock Formation

Uchisar Kaya Yerlesmeleri- Uchisar Rock-cut settlements

These postcard was sent to me by my friend Cuneyt Ozarikan

Cappadocia, the name was traditionally used in Christian sources throughout history and is still widely used as an international tourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by fairy chimneys (image below) and a unique historical and cultural heritage. The term, as used in tourism, roughly corresponds to present-day Nevşehir Province of Turkey.

Cappadocia's limits are debated. In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians are supposed to have occupied the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea). Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of Mount Taurus, to the east by the Euphrates, to the north by Pontus, and to the west by Lake Tuz, in Central Anatolia. But Strabo, the only ancient author to provide a major account of the area, greatly exaggerated its dimensions. It is now believed that 400 km (250 mi) east-west by 200 km (120 mi) north-south is a more realistic appraisal of Cappadocia's area.

The earliest record of the name of Cappadocia dates from the late 6th century BC, when it appears in the trilingual inscriptions of two early Achaemenid kings, Darius I and Xerxes, as one of the countries which are part of the Persian Empire. Read more

Uchisar is situated at the highest point in the region, on the Nevsehir-Goreme road, just 7 km from Nevsehir. It is not known when Uchisar was first inhabited , however, in style, it resembles Ortahisar and the Selime Kalesi (castle) in the Ihlara Region. The top of the citadel provides a magnificent panorama of the surrounding area. Many rooms hollowed out into the rock are connected to each other with stairs, tunnels and passages. At the entrances of the rooms, there are millstone doors, just like the ones in the underground settlements, used to control access to these places. Due to the erosion in places of this multi-leveled castle, it is unfortunately not possible to reach all the rooms. The fairy chimneys to the west, east and north of Uchisar were hollowed out and used as graves during the Roman period. Inside these rock cut tombs, the entrances of which generally face west, are klines or stone slabs on which the bodies were laid. Many rock cut churches have been discovered not only on the skirts of the castle but also inside it. The reason for this may be the fact that Goreme, having numoreus churches and monasteries, is very close to Uchisar. The simple Byzantine graves on top of the castle are not very interesting due to the fact that they have been eroded and ransacked. It is said that in towns with citadels, e.g. Uchisar, Ortahisar and Ürgüp (Bashisar), long defense tunnels reached far into the surrounding areas. However, since the tunnels have collapsed in places, this theory cannot be confirmed, but is a popular myth as to the great distances they cover. Read more

Information obtained from Cappadocia online and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia