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On our way to Cappadocia, we fly to Nevşehir or Kayseri and drive to Üçhisar in the midst of the Cappadocian heartland, where we will be staying at one of Cappadocia’s unique boutique Cave Hotels. Cappadocia is a region unlike any other. Its extraordinary landscape is composed of soft volcanic stone that wind and rain have sculpted into fantastic clusters of multicolored spires and pinnacles. What is more, the softness of the stone encouraged the medieval Christian inhabitants of the region to carve out of the living rock literally hundreds of churches, monasteries, towns and villages. A trip to Cappadocia is a magical experience you will never forget. On our way to Üçhisar we will stop off at the magnificent 13th century Selçuk caravanserai known as Ağzıkarahan, and at one of the region’s famous ‘underground cities’. These go down many storeys into the earth and are among the marvels of medieval engineering. Once in Üçhisar, we will visit the great rock-hewn citadel that looms over the town. On our second day we will visit the open-air museum of the Göreme Valley, which contains the region’s highest concentration of painted churches. The frescoes are among the masterpieces of Byzantine art. A short distance beyond Göreme lie the villages of Avcılar and Çavuşin, both of which have many cave-dwellings, and the dramatic Zelve Valley.
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