Here on this page we will give you brief information about Cappadocia and possible activities you might enjoy during your stay in the area. Detailed information about all sorts of activity possibilities and guiding services in Cappadocia and all over Turkey will be provided upon demand.  We do also provide private tour services in all of Turkey. For more information about our private tours please visit our web site www.privatetourturkey.com

Cappadocia is like a fairy tale land mesmerizing people with it's interesting rock formations, rock carved churches and valleys ranging side by side one next to the other. Several walking tracks allow trampers discover caves and mushroom looking rocks, called fairy chimneys. The inside of these rocks have often been carved out to be used as houses, churches, stables etc. Some cabaret style entertainment establishments have shows of Turkish folk dances or whirling dervish performances in huge rock formations where shows can be watched while you are wining and dining. Turkish folk dancers might invite you for a dance during their performances and you will have opportunities for dancing. A hot air balloon flight can be experienced in the area. Flying up above this fascinating land gives a person a different perspective of the area. Visiting underground cities, rock carved churches, monasteries, walking in the valleys, discovering villages carved in the rocks, meeting local people might be among other interesting activities.

In Cappadocia peasants wake up early in the mornings to make their ways through narrow paths on their donkeys or mule chariots to their orchards or vegetable gardens. In villages you may see peasants cutting wood or baking bread for the community. Young women can be seen weaving rugs on their looms. Some of them might be used as a dowry for their marriages. In autumn you may see them smashing grapes to make grape molasses "Pekmez". This is a dark purple color sweet nutrient in liquid form and a good source of iron. This is quite a popular drink consumed especially in cold winter days. Some peasants cultivate pumpkins. Pumpkin flesh is used to make a delicious desert mixed with walnuts. The seeds of the pumpkin will not be wasted. They will be baked in stone ovens for consumption. Baked pumpkin seeds are consumed widely in the evenings in the tea houses or during long winter nights.

Kilim Weaving

Wool Dying

Preparation Of Grape Molasses "Pekmez"

Lunar Landscape

Church Frescoe

Semazens (Whirling Dervishes) Performing Their Dance Sema,

Hot Air Ballooning

Uchisar In Automn 

 

Yazilikaya Open Air Temple 4 hours driving from Cappadocia

Yazilikaya Open Air Temple relief near Hattusa, depicting mother goddess Khepat or Hebat No. 43, with Teshub, the storm god next to her No. 42, Sarumma their son No. 44 is standing a smaller lion behind her.

Cappadocia is the old name of an ancient region in Asia Minor. This land is now roughly corresponding to present day Nevsehir province. In the 5th century BC the borders of the region were extending from the Black Sea at the north, to the Taurus mountain chain in the South, from Salt Lake in the West to the Euphrates river in the East. In spite of the fluctuations of it's frontiers throughout centuries it maintained constantly it's vital center in the southern zone of the plateau. I believe the name Cappadocia derives from a combination of the word Khepat and the suffix Uka. Khepat was one of the names of the Sun Goddess of Arinna of Hittites, adopted from Hurrians. As for the suffix Uka according to Ernst Herzfeld "Studies in geography and ethnography of the ancient near east" P. 101. it is a Median transformation of the Armenian word ukh used to create people or country names. In fact Persians conquered Cappadocia where large Armenian communities used to live, in 585 B. C. and started to call it their way as Katpatuka, originating from the meaning of "People of Hepat" which later was transformed to Kappadokia by the Greeks.

However the popular interpretation suggests that the name derives from Katpatukia which is thought to be an old Persian word meaning "the land of beautiful horses." This interpretation must have based itself to the former existence of so called "Yilki" horses which lived free in the nature.