Photos

Goreme panorama with Erciyes mountain in background.

__*Goreme*__
Goreme, situated 10 km from Nevsehir, is found in the area surrounded with valleys, within the Nevsehir-Urgup-Avanos triangle. The old names for Goreme are Korama, Matiana, Maccan and Avcilar. Since Goreme was referred as Korama in the earliest written document known from the 6th century, it is thought that that is the oldest name given to the place. In that document, it is said that St. Hieron was born in Korama at the end of the 3rd century, was martyred in Melitene (modern Malatya) with his 30 friends and his hand was cut off and sent to his mother in Korama. A very big depiction of St. Hieron of Korama is found in the Tokali (Buckle) Church in Goreme Open Air Museum.

It is believed that Goreme and its surroundings were used as a necropolis by the people of Vanessa (Avanos) in the Roman Periods. Both the monumental twin pillared Roman tomb hollowed out into a fairy chimney in the centre of Goreme and the presence of numerous tombs in the vicinity support that idea.


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Mount Erciyes (3917 meters) is one of the most fascinating volcanic mountains of the world. It is located in Central Anatolia and ranks as the fifth highest summit in Turkey. At the base of the mountain is the Tekir Highland (2100 meters) used by nomadic shepherds in the summer for grazing goats.The man-made cavern found just under the summit of Mount Erciyes is evidence that this mountain was ascended in early times. According to old records, the first official climb was undertaken by an English man, W.J.Hamilton in 1837. This mountaineer was a member of the British Geological Association. As for the first winter climb, two natives of Turkey accomplished this in 1947.