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Close to the village of Gökçe several Byzantine farmsteads (about 10th - 13th century) survived the times. A vast quantity of material had been cut out of the soft tuffrocks, to create an inner courtyard. People entered it through an archway and from here they had access to stables, store rooms, housing spaces and representative rooms. Additionally each farmstead had its own small cave church or chapel, usually with a direct entrance from the farmstead. In 2015 many of the entrances were closed or completely filled with chaff.
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Cappadocia is a part of central Turkey. Eruptions of several volcanoes (e.g. Erciyes Dag, Hasan Dag) had covered the area with tuff. Erosion dug valleys and created an uncountable number of different shaped rocks. The tuff's ability to store water made the valleys much more fertile than the higher surroundings. After the arrival of the first people, they soon started to dig caves into the soft stone. By the time they developed the ability to dig cities into the underground with tunnels of several kilometers. A sophisticated pipe- and tunnel-system cared for fresh air and water, to enable the people to hide from enemies for a long time. In the 5th century hermits started to settle in the valleys and to paint their caves. In the next centuries more and more hermits and monks arrived and a rich cave-architecture with colourfull wallpaintings developed. The most famous are the churches of Goereme and the Peristrema Valley (=Ihlara Valley) between Ihlara and Selime. Today thousands of tourists from all over the world are visiting the area.
