Lonely Planet Turkey: Cappadocia

Includes FREE planning and background information. Between Kayseri and Nevþehir, Central Anatolia’s mountain-fringed plains give way to a land of fairy chimneys and underground cities. The fairy chimneys – rock columns, pyramids, mushrooms and a few camels – and the valleys of cascading cliffs were formed when Erciyes Daðý erupted. The intervening millennia added to the remarkable Cappadocian canvas, with Byzantines carving cave churches and subterranean complexes to house thousands of people. You could spend days touring the rock-cut churches and admiring their frescoes (technically seccos, actually). Alternatively, view the troglodyte architecture from far above on a dawn hot-air balloon ride or from a panoramic hotel terrace.