#Goreme National Park is a triangular strip of land among the three cities of Nevsehir, Avanos and Urgup. The Cappadocia Stone Forest in the park is famous for its spectacular volcanic rock formations, ancient cave churches and cave houses. The villages, roads, and ancient building ruins in the park are also mostly distributed along the direction of the canyon.
Not only is it a natural wonder but also a representative historical landmark, Goreme's "Fairy Chimney" resembles a fantasy dwelling for exotic species, as well as an illustration from Dr. Seuss's book. These hills, formed by similar rock formations, are known by many names – ominous places, tent rocks, earth pyramids, and fairy chimneys. Such landscapes are often found in dry, hot areas. In Cappadocia, for example, in south-central Turkey, tuff, a soft, porous rock, has emerged that has solidified over millions of years from a thick layer of volcanic ash. The top of the tuff is covered with hard basalt, and the cracks in the basalt allow the wind and rain to gradually wash away the softer bottom layer, eventually leaving behind the tuff hills covered by the hard basalt. Such tuffs spread over the strata of the Anatolian plains, resulting in these perhaps puzzling, unusual, and generally always pleasing landscapes.
During the Hittite period from 1800 BC to 1200 BC, at least during this modern period, turks already lived here, and the actual time may have been longer than this. Historically, countless ancient empires waged wars in the region, with hittites, Assyrians, Neo-Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans all claiming sovereignty over Anatolia. To escape this dangerous world, locals learned to dig holes in the hillsides to protect themselves. Today, visitors can see huge, complex, interconnected caves. For thousands of years, human societies have flourished and been sheltered in these caves. Listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985, Goreme National Park has developed into a popular tourist destination.