CAVE HOUSES OF CAPPADOCIA

Cappadocia is a large region with hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. It is in Central Turkey. Thousands of years ago, volcano ash covered the land there. After a long time, the ash turned into a kind of soft rock. Today, some of them are forty meters tall.

Much later, more than two thousand years ago, people started to live in Cappadocia and began to cut homes into the soft rock, both above and below the ground. Settlers didn’t only create homes there. They also made stables for animals, food storage rooms and places to sleep and eat. There are hundreds of these cave rooms. They make up towns, both high above the ground and deep below (some of them go eight floors under the earth). Many of the caves are now museums, but some people still continue to live there like past days.

Today, local people are trying to protect it from the rain because they want them to stay for many years. In 1985, it became a World Heritage site. It means that Cappadocia is one of the most special places in the world. Since 1983, film producers filmed several movies there. One of those films won an award at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. If you decide to visit this popular tourist area, the main nearby town is Göreme. You can find guided tours there, and even ride hot air balloons and fly quietly over the land and enjoy the amazing view.