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Paul Lucas, French traveler who visited Cappadocia in 18th C.
'Before descending from the plateau which dominates this territory, I paused for a while , amazed at the spectacle before me. I know of no other corner of the world where there exists so striking and remarkable a phenomenon.'
C . Texier , traveler of 19th C.
FOREWORD :
Our purpose here is not to make a complete and deep introduction into Cappadocia. We do not claim to be the most detailed website about this region. Our concern is first ; to help the reader understand the importance of its location almost in the center of Turkey, and second ; to inform people about wine and viticulture in Cappadocia. Therefore you will find some links on our website which you can visit in case you want to have a deep look into the region.
The architects who built Cappadocia are three : Fire , Water and Air. Therefore the region was formed as the result of a volcanic activity of the mountains around like Erciyes ( 3916m) , HasanDagi (3268m), Melendiz (2963m) together with some other less known ancient volcanoes like Kalece tepe , Koru Dagi, Susam Sivrisi , the crater lake of Narligol which have never been transformed into very high mountains but were very important with their eruptions. The work of fire ended and then the other two architects came. Water as rain, snow, flood and air as daily differences of temperature and wind collaborated to carve the soft volcanic tuff and formed the amazing landscapes of Cappadocia through millions of years. Today Cappadocia is considered as a narrow region limited by three main cities , Nevsehir, Avanos and Urgup as shown to the tourists who come to the region most of the time for quite a short period of stay. However when we look at the big picture we can see that Greater Cappadocia extends until Hattusas -the capital of Hittite Kingdom in ancient times at the North, to Euphrates River and Mesopotamia at the East, Taurus Mountains at the South and Konya the city of 'Whirling Dervishes 'and the remains of ' Catalhoyuk ' which is known as the oldest human settlement in the world- at the west. Cuneiform writing was first introduced to Ancient Turkey in Cappadocia by Assyrian traders 4000 years ago. Cappadocia can be considered today as the eastern end of the Christian Civilization.
The region is located right in the geographical center of Turkey on the axe connecting East to West, North to South . Cappadocia is also situated on the axe between Europe and the Middle East. During centuries Cappadocia was located on the most important commercial road of the ancient times , called Silk Road. For the Pilgrims from Europe and Constantinople to Jerusalem Cappadocia was located on the pilgrimage route. The region can be reached from Ankara- the Capital of Turkey only in 3 hours by car. The Capital of old Hittite Empire -Hattusas can be reached in 3 hours (about 200 km ) The Oldest City of the world Catalhoyuk and the city of whirling Dervishes Konya are located at a short distance ( about 200-250 km ) The Mediterranean Sea can be reached only in 3 hours from Cappadocia Mesopotamia and the river of Euphrates and Nemrud Mountain with gigantic statues of heads can be reached in about 5 hours. Cappadocia can easily be reached by plane . The nearest airport to Cappadocia , actually the one which can be called the airport of Cappadocia is located at Kayseri which is the Capital city of the Kingdom of Cappadocia and which is also the biggest city in the region.
CLIMATE OF CAPPADOCIA
In order to understand the climatic conditions of Cappadocia we have to know that the region is located at an average altitude of 1200m and in the middle of Anatolian Plateau with trees and water being relatively scarce. Therefore the climate of Cappadocia is typically continental. According to this, winter is cold and long lasting. The change from winter to summer and vice versa is sudden. In other words the intermediate seasons like winter and autumn are relatively short. For example until the half of October we can benefit from the summer but the first snowfall in the region is recorded already at the end of October. On the way from winter to summer as well it is not such a big surprise to see the snow fall in the region at the beginning of May. I personally witnessed snow fall in Cappadocia on 15th of May. It is also recorded that in 1980 on 6th of June snow fell in Uchisar in Cappadocia.
We can say the same thing for the day and night temperature differences. One more result of high altitude and continental climate is sharp difference of temperature between the daytime and the night. As days become shorter the nights become even colder. Due to the geomorphologic structure of Cappadocia however , a lot of microclimates can be found in the region. The volcanic activity and the erosion which followed it created narrow and well protected valleys. We can observe this in the zone where the rivers like Kizilirmak , Damsa , Melendiz run. This is one of the main factors to help the villagers to obtain abundant crops in these narrow zones.