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Uçhisar

UchisarUçhisar is situated at the highest point in the region, on the Nevþehir-Göreme road, just 7 km from Nevþehir. It is not known when Uçhisar was first inhabited, however, in style it resembles Ortahisar and the Selime Kalesi (castle) in the Ihlara Region.

The top of the citadel provides a magnificent panorama of the surrounding area. Many rooms hollowed out into the rock are connected to each other with stairs, tunnels and passages. At the entrances of the rooms, there are millstone doors, just like the ones in the underground settlements, used to control access to these places of this multileveled castle; it is unfortunately not possible to reach all the rooms. The fairy chimneys to the west, east and north of Uçhisar were hollowed out and used as graves during the Roman period. Inside these rock cut tombs, the entrances of which generally face west, are stone slabs on which the bodies were laid. Many rock cut churches have been discovered not only on the skirts of the Uçhisarcastle but also inside it. The reason for this may be the fact that Göreme, having numerous churches and monasteries, is very close to Uçhisar. The simple Byzantine graves on top of the castle are not very interesting due to the fact that they have been eroded and ransacked. It is said that in towns with citadels, e.g. Uçhisar, Ortahisar and Ürgüp (Baþhisar), long defence tunnels reached far into the surrounding areas. However, since the tunnels have collapsed in places, this theory cannot be confirmed, but is a popular myth as to the great distances they cover.

Beside tombs, many dovecotes were hollowed out into the castle, fairy chimneys around it and on the cliff faces. The local farmers, although they did not have much land, were in need of good crops. Knowing that dove excrement could help them with this problem and increase the amount of crop they would get, farmers hollowed out dovecotes into the sides of fairy chimneys. Later the fertilizer was gathered and used in the fields.