Uchisar is the name of a town and the fortress in the town. It is sometimes refered to as pidgeons valley. The name of the town probably derives from the name of the fortress. Uc is "tip", hisar is "fortress" and Uchisar is the "fortress at the tip (of the vicinity)" in Turkish.

This 60-meter-high (200 ft) fortress was not built but carved out of a natural hill dominating the area with a breathtaking view of all the surrounding Cappadocian formations. In the village directly below the fortress are dozens of tufa cones inside of which are hollowed out rooms. Many of these are still in use.

fortress	Laurie & Lou Ann
pidgeon valley	with Amanda & Carmelita

Derinkuyu Yeralti Kenti (Underground City of Derinkuyu)

The underground city of Derinkuyu which means "deep well", is one of the largest underground city. It is 70-85m/230-300ft deep with 53 airshafts. The original ventilation system still functions remarkably well. Visiting this place is not recommended if you have problems of claustrophobia (just ask Lou Ann - chicken!). The first two floors under the surface housed a missionary school with two long rock-cut tables, baptismal place, kitchens, storehouses, living quarters, wine cellars and stables. Third and fourth floors were for the tunnels, places to hide and armories. In times of danger they provided security by rolling big round hard stones across strategic tunnels. The last floors had water wells, hidden passageways, a church, graves and a confession place.

In the 7 and 8C AD when the Arabs began to raid Anatolia, monastic communities had to hide themselves and, where it was geographically easy, dug their underground shelters. In time these shelters developed into large underground cities. The ground consists of the same volcanic tufa. Cappadocians created vast cities which cannot be noticed from the ground level. So far 36 underground cities have been discovered some of them being very recent.

Today even from some of the modern houses there are man-made holes leading to underground passages most of which are used as cellars according to Selim.

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