The Cappadocia region is a place where nature and history blend together in one of the world's most beautiful ways. While geological processes formed the "Fairy Chimneys," humans—throughout history—carved homes and churches into these formations and adorned them with frescoes, thereby carrying the traces of ancient civilizations into the present day.
Writing during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, the ancient author Strabo described the boundaries of the Cappadocia region in his 17-volume work *Geographika* (specifically the sections on Anatolia: Books XII, XIII, and XIV) as a vast area extending from the Taurus Mountains in the south to Aksaray in the west, Malatya in the east, and the shores of the Eastern Black Sea in the north.
The Cappadocia region as defined today encompasses the provinces of Nevşehir, Aksaray, Niğde, Kayseri, and Kırşehir. The "Rocky Cappadocia" region—a more compact area—consists of Uçhisar, Ürgüp, Avanos, Göreme, Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı, Ihlara, and their immediate surroundings.