The fortress city of Uchisar in Cappadocia is located a short distance from Goreme. The distance between the cities is only 4 kilometers. The surroundings of Uchhisar are full of abandoned houses and pigeon houses. Famous for its pigeon lofts, the Valley of Pigeons, for example, stretches between Uchhisar and Göreme. A pile of rocks capped by a precipitous peak can be seen from afar. Many windows are cut into the walls.
The citadel rises several tens of meters above the village. From the western side, it appears in the form of a huge cylindrical tower. A hundred-meter long tunnel, laid in the tuff of the mountain since ancient times, stretches under the houses. In the event of a siege, it was supposed to serve to connect the fortress with the outside world and ensure water supply. Here, as well as in Ortahisar, the modern part of the city is connected mainly with tourist services. The entire village opens up from here and you can clearly see the whimsical, rounded pillars, as if carved by hand over thousands of years.
This fortress is the highest watchtower of historical Cappadocia. The fortress and its surroundings were densely populated places, but when the population increased and there was a risk of rock collapse, people built new houses on the plain. The top of the fortress provides a wonderful Cappadocia panorama. Here on the top you can see several Byzantine tombs carved into the rock.
