By Caitlin Fitzsimmons

The fresco in the ancient church puzzled us: what was the patron saint of England doing in Turkey?

It was definitely St George. The painting showed a knight on horseback fighting an evil dragon, his shield with the distinctive red-on-white cross clearly visible.

Of course, it turns out that St George was a local; just the first of many surprises in store for us in Cappadocia, a land of fairy chimneys and underground cities on the Anatolian plateau in Turkey. The alien landscape, shaped first by volcanic eruptions and then erosion, is honeycombed with caves and tunnels.

The region was an early centre of Christian learning and the birthplace of St George of Cappadocia, a fourth-century martyr believed to have been burned alive by the Romans. St George spent part of his life in Palestine but certainly never made it as far as England, at least not while he was alive. He was adopted by the English in the Middle Ages after he reportedly appeared in visions to Crusaders, and popularised by Shakespeare in Henry with the immortal line “Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!”.

Cappadocia is plateau country rift with steep gorges and dotted with strange rock formations, from the characteristic clusters of ‘fairy chimneys’ with their little protective caps to a large outcrop in the shape of a large camel. A long time ago the volcanoes of Mount Erciyes and Mount Hasan covered the region in ash, which set into rock and then eroded with wind and rain. Over the centuries, the inhabitants have dug into the soft rock, building everything from pigeon houses to secret churches and vast underground cities. The views as you drive or hike through the area are spectacular, but earthbound. To appreciate the scale and grandeur of Cappadocia, you must go high in the air; to discover its secrets, you must go underground.

The fragile landscape means Cappadocia is a no-fly zone for aeroplanes but there are a number of companies offering hot-air ballooning. We went with Kapadokya Balloons in Goreme, run by an Englishwoman Kaili and her Swedish husband Lars. The couple live in Cappadocia for nine months of the year, drawn there by what they describe as the best ballooning in Europe. We booked our flight for our first morning in Cappadocia, a precautionary measure in case the weather conditions were unfavourable and our flight cancelled.

The wake-up call came around 4am and by dawn we were standing in a field some miles away, our excitement mounting as the men spread the balloons on the ground and the delicate fabric began to billow with hot air. We stood 12 deep in the basket with our pilot, Kaili. I could see the roar of flames that signified take-off and hear the whoosh of air filling the balloon, yet I scarcely felt us move. I was surprised to look down and see how the ground had shrank and expanded into a vista. Because we travelled with the air currents, we floated gently without feeling the breeze or sensing our speed. Lars was pilot for a second group and the two balloons spent the morning in a balletic courtship, almost touching several times as they traversed the sky.

Balloon rides usually go up and along and then down but Kaili and Lars took us for a thrill ride, guiding the ballons down into the gorges and past rocky outcrops with just metres to spare. It felt almost as if we could reach out and grab the rocks. Secretly, I feared we would hit the ground, until it was made clear that the balloon and its shadow were nowhere near touching. At one point, Kaili pointed to a mound of rocks, riddled with holes for pigeon nests, and told us it was a church; I thought she was joking but we later found out it was true.

The volcanic rock, or tuff, is soft when first mined and hardens with exposure to the air, making it perfect for digging caves. The locals have exploited this in every conceivable way, most famously with the underground cities of the early Christian era. Today, every village home backs on to a cave and the soil, which appears to be barren, is actually quite rich because the villagers dig small caves for pigeons in the hills and collect the guano to fertilise the fields. It is possible to get around by mini-bus but we opted for the luxury of our own hire car. The local maps are not very detailed, although the roads are mostly decent and well sign-posted. We decided to take a guide for the first day of touring and visit the nearby places on our own the following day.

Our tour guide, Izmit, was a local with good English who leads mountain expeditions in the summer. He has climbed Mount Ararat numerous times, helping an archaeological team hunt for evidence of Noah’s Ark. Izmit explained that Cappadocia, which is now predominantly Muslim, had quite a large Christian population until 1923 when hundreds of thousands of Christians emigrated under the Population Exchange Treaty with Greece. There were still a few Christian families in the area when Izmit was at school 30-40 years ago but most had moved to Istanbul since then. Izmit showed us Ayo Stefonos (St Stephen’s) and Ayo Nikalos (St Nicholas’s), two of the many crumbling churches hidden among the rocks. Ayo Nikalos, which we recognised as the rocky mound from the balloon, was abandoned in the early 20th century when a new church was built in town.

Christianity in the region dates to the time of St Paul, who settled in the area to hide from the Romans and established the first Christian colony. Vulnerable to marauding parties, the fledgling Christian communities built enormous underground cities where they could hide the entire population of the village and its livestock. There are dozens of such cities in Cappadocia but only a few are accessible to the public. One of the biggest is Derinkuyu, which is believed to be 18-20 storeys deep and have housed up to 20,000 people.

We explored the smaller site at Kaymakli, which has at least four levels and could house up to 4000-5000 people. There could be as many as seven or eight levels in total but cave-ins have stymied the full exploration of the city. These days there is electric lighting to guide the way through the curved stone corridors but it is still dimly lit and atmospheric. Despite being only a makeshift home in times of danger, the priorities of the city founders were clear: not only was there a church; there was a winery to make wine for the sacrament. There were also stables, a communal kitchen, a drinking well, multiple storage rooms and sleeping quarters. I was impressed by the quality of the engineering: there were clever ventilation systems to disperse the smoke from cooking without betraying the location of the city; and the discrete levels could be securely sealed by rolling a large rock between the entrance and a wall.

After Christianity became the official state religion, the area flourished and the town of Goreme became one of the great centres of Christian learning. From the outside, the remarkable Open Air Museum at Goreme looks like a couple of rocky hills dotted with motley cave dwellings, but within there is a World Heritage-listed collection of medieval churches and religious buildings. There was a large monastery and the religious community also supported a number of hermits who lived in the hills. The churches themselves are notable for their exquisite religious frescoes. Most depict biblical scenes, but on the wall of the Snake Church you will St George and the dragon. The best frescoes are in the Dark Church, which is worth the extra admission cost because the lack of natural light has preserved the vibrancy and colour of the art. Nearly all the frescoes bear the marks of religious vandals, namely the iconoclasts who considered representational art to be sacreligious. Fortunately, they concentrated on faces and those images that were easy to reach, leaving plenty to see, particularly on the ceilings.

The traditional lifestyle is alive and thriving in Cappadocia but basic services are good. Many people still live in villages, raising sheep and cattle and growing apples, crops and vegetables. We visited the village of Sagonli, in the Valley of the Dolls, where the women supplement their income by making and selling dolls through a cooperative. The village was built into a hillside and, while there was electricity and plumbing - and a number of television satellite dishes - most people lived in basic cave dwellings. We stopped for lunch at the village restaurant and ate on outdoor tables under the blossom trees. The menu offered classic Turkish fare, such as lentil soup and lamb kebabs, and the food was delicious, plentiful and cheap. This was the only occasion that we encountered Turkish bread in Turkey. It is known there as ‘village bread’ and the bread elsewhere, while very good, is much more western in style.

The villages of Uchisar, Urgup and Goreme all make good vantage points for exploring this region and each has its own charm. Urgup is home to most of the mass-market hotels, Uchisar is smaller with boutique luxury hotels, while Goreme appeals to the backpackers. There are direct buses from all main cities to Goreme and the nearest airport is in Kayseri, about one hour away. It is a 10 hour drive from Pamukkale, near the Aegean Coast, or four hours from Ankara.

Museum Hotel

Building hotels over old cave systems is all the rage in Cappadocia these days but I doubt you find a more tasteful and luxurious conversion than the Museum Hotel in Uchisar. The hotel is set high on a hillside with spectacular views from the rooms and balcony bar, particularly at sunset when the rocky landscape is infused with colour. Most of the rooms are caves, which are elegant and luxurious with arched doorways and windows and traditional Turkish furnishings. Woven carpets and registered historical artifacts are on display throughout the hotel, including the rooms. There is a lovely outdoor pool for the summer months, or you can enjoy a glass of wine while soaking in a long, hot bath – with spa jets if you are staying in a luxury room. The hotel is small and friendly, with about 17 guest rooms and obliging staff who go to great lengths to ensure your wellbeing. It is worth negotiating a room rate that includes at least some meals, as the hotel has an excellent restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining. Breakfast is a buffet with Turkish delicacies alongside continental options, plus hot omelettes and freshly squeezed orange juice. For dinner, you can order a la carte or enjoy a superb three-course meal from a set menu that varies daily. The rooms range from $US80 to about $US150-190 for the luxury rooms, including the lovely Honeymoon Suite. (Prices correct at the time of writing).

This article was first published in The Australian’s Travel & Indulgences section in August 2004. Copyright is held by Caitlin Fitzsimmons with all rights reserved.