GEOLOGICAL FORMATION 
The geological formation of Uchisar should be studied together with the formation of Cappadocia. We can even consider Uchisar castle as the observation point of this formation. To the east of our castle we can see Erciyes Mountain with its height of 3917 stands as an old
svolcano. Together with a number of other lower and therefore less famous volcanoes like Hasan Dað, Gollu Dað, Karacadað started to erupt 10 million years ago and poured lava, volcanic ash, volcanic stones like basalt. The eruptions which lasted until about 500.000 years ago created a thick layer of volcanic soil of 350 meters. Then sudden
climatic changes caused some thin deep holes in this soft volcanic soil. After volcanic activity ended rain water and flood flew into these holes and carved them bigger by draining the soft rock towards Kýzýlýrmak- the longest river of Turkey. To this phenomenon of erosion wind and melted snow were added to form beautiful valleys and fairy chimneys of Cappadocia.
HISTORY OF UCHISAR
It is not possible to differentiate the history of Uchisar from that of Cappadocia. In the archaeological researches conducted in Cappadocia in Aþýklý Hoyuk and Topaklý Hoyuk some findings of neolithic age, in Acemhoyuk and in Kultepe near Kayseri of Assyrian Trade Colonies period, Hittite and Late Hittite period have been discovered.
CAPPADOCIA IN HISTORY
What we call Capadocia today is actually the name of the kingdom founded in 3rd century, after the death of Alexander the Great. Its capital then was Mazaka which took the name of Kayseri later. The name Cappadocia is thought to derive from persian word of Katpatuka meaning ‘Land of Beautiful Horses’.
The history of Rocky Cappadocia however starts with the of underground cities carved by Hittites and Phrygians. Then in roman period the rocks in the valleys were carved by early christians during the persecutions to become rock churches, dwellings, refectories etc. Although in Uchisar too the churches were carved, the natural castle has rather been carved to use against raids of enemies in different periods of the history. Uchisar castle is like a natural skyscraper of Cappadocia. Like in a skyscraper in the castle of uchisar there are a number of rock dwellings, cellars, meeting places, all carved by men. People lived around the castle until 1960’s at the northern and eastern slopes of it towards the pigeon valley. Uchisar castle used both for protection and observation kept its importance in Seljuk and early Ottoman times, and during the political chaos of ottomans the possesion of it became very important to dominate the whole area. Hacý Bektas Veli who is the founder of Bektashi religious order based on tolerance and modernity stayed in Uchisar during his journey from Central Asia to Sulucakarahöyük which would be called with the name Hacýbektaþ afterwards.
Uchisar entered under ottoman rule during the reign of Yýldýrým Bayezid at the end of 14th century and with the rule of Mehmet 2nd in the second half of 15th century political stability was established in the region.
In 16th century Uchisar was a provincial center and even Nevþehir was a village which depended on Uchisar. In 18th century during the famous ottoman Prime Minister Damat Ibrahim Paþa invested a lot on Nevþehir which was then called Muskara and made it a bigger town. With the development of Gulþehir as well Uchisar started to lose its importance and when we came to 20th century with the new republic of Turkey, increasing stability and security in the region made it unnecessary the need for a castle for protection and Uchisar has become a sightseeing post.
Uchisar is one of the municipalities in the region. In 1960 since Uchisar Castle has been declared as a disaster zone, the new village has been founded at the southern and southeastern plain behind the castle.
VISITING UCHISAR (UÇHÝSAR’I GEZMEK )
Uchisar Castle: Masterpiece of Erciyes Mountain
As we have been explaining since the beginning, Uchisar is the summit of Cappadocia and it is the most beautiful and highest fairy chimney in the region.
The best way to visit Uchisar is to climb on the castle. From your hotel or your car parked at Kesek square you can walk to Uchisar castle. On your way you’ll admire the view of castle with hat, old uchisar houses and panorama of Cevizli area with its fairy chimneys. You take your ticket at the entrance of the castle and walking through 
the old barn and cuisine you start to climb to it. Already at the beginning of the steps the beautiful view of Erciyes Mountain and Pigeon Valley will take your breath away. As you arrive at the top of the castle you can have all Cappadocia under your feet. From Pigeon Valley to Avanos all valleys, Orta hisar Castle, Goreme Town, Goreme Open Air Museum, Kýlýçlar Valley, Kýzýlçukur, Gulludere and Cavuþin will lie in front of you with all their beauty.
At the top of the castle you will see a lot of jars carved in the ground and rock graves. As you look down to west and southwest from the top of the castle you will see Nevsehir, Mount Gemil, Mount Hasan which is another high volcano of Cappadocia. Our castle is the only place in Cappadocia where both Hasan and Erciyes Mountains can be seen. 
It is not possible to describe the scenery of the recital of colors from the top of the castle at the sunset time. You have to come and see this romantism, this mysticism of the landscape when the moon shines fully over Cappadocia reminding the mysterious nights when the fairies carved out the stones to create these unbelievable shapes.
For this reason a tour in Cappadocia without climbing on Uchisar Castle is not complete.
PIGEON VALLEY (GÜVERCÝNLÝK VADÝSÝ )
According the Greek Mythology the dove or the pigeon is considered as the symbol of the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite whom we also know as Venus. In the Old Testament we witness the mention about the pigeon as the bird which brought the leaves of Olive Tree to Noah when he was sailing with his Ark during the huge flood.
In the New Testament holy spirit in the shape of a dove rests above the head of Jesus Christ during the ‘Baptism’ as we can see on many frescoes in the rock churches of Cappadocia- one of the best examples being the ‘ Church with apple ‘ in Goreme Valley. According to another legend the life of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed was saved by a pigeon .
Pigeons were both sacred and economically important in Cappadocia in Muslim as well as Christian period of the region. Most of the dovecotes of Cappadocia were carved into the rocks for the purpose of collecting the droppings of the birds to use as manure in a region where volcanic soil was not fertile enough. Besides this, In Cappadocia there was no enough water and the weather conditions were not always favorable to obtain crop. Therefore they needed some support to increase the fertility and they chose the droppings of pigeons. We even owe the presence of vineyards to these fertilizers. In other words, these circular holes carved in the tuff of the region were nests for these birds and these nests were located most of the time near the water springs.
Pigeon valley is the longest visitable valley in Cappadocia. It extends in south-north direction from Uchisar to Goreme.From the en of the valley the same river bed continues until Kýzýlýrmak ( Red River ). On the western slope at the beginning of Pigeon valley is located rock-carved Kaya Hotel, further to the north the old houses of Uchisar restored and transformed into boutique hotels in these last years and Uchisar Castle are found.
On the eastern part of the same valley you can see the dovecotes carved in the rocks. This dovecotes have been carved by people of Uchisar to feed the pigeons in order to obtain their droppings for using as fertiliser in their field where they grow different kind of fruits or vegetables. In the last years local authorities of Cappadocia
make efforts to restore these dovecotes forgotten because of the modernization and mechanization of agriculture by bringing thousands of pigeons and by recreating the ideal habitat for their living. By a walking you will do at the fond of the valley you can get in some of these dovecotes and appreciate the decoration on their façades. The decoration of the outer façade of dovecotes is considered as a popular art in Cappadocia. During your walking in the valley you will be surprised of seeing water springs where women of Uchisar used to wash clothes in old times. By following the river bed you can walk until Goreme but if you turn left by passing Sarýuþak fairychimney and Karakale you can reach the fountain of Aþaðýmahalle. For years women of Uchisar carried water from this fountain and three others located further, to their homes. The water comes from Gemil mountain at the south of the village to these fountains. As we keep walking down Aþaðýmahalle, the second biggest castle of Uchisar comes to the sight, it is called Týgraz castle. Týgraz is an important rock mass which goes until the depth of Pigeon Valley. Týgraz Castle with the rock carved rooms, food storage places, tunnels, cisterns is a sort of underground city carved by men and needs some works to be opened to the visit. After Týgraz if we continue to walk, passing Hanonu we arrive at Tekelli Mahalle where we find the last fountain of Uchisar. In Hanonu there are the remains of a collapsed rock-caravanserai and a mill where cracked wheat was obtained in old times.
CEVÝZLÝ
After Tekelli Mahalle where we see the last fountain of Old Uçhisar another interesting valley of Capadocia called Karankemer Deresi. At the north of Uchisar Castle we also have a valley of fairy chimneys called Cevizli where there are especially two gigantic rocks called Þapkalý Kale and Kekligin Kale. All these fairychimneys are like multistorey buildings. They were first carved to be used as th place for taking refuge and then as pigeon houses. Today some of them are being used as restaurant, bar or pension.
CULINARY CULTURE IN UCHISAR
FESTIVAL DISHES AND COOKS
We know very well that in the region skilled women cooked the meals for the wedding ceremonies. These women who did not receive any professional educetion developed their skills by cooking permanently in the wedding feasts. Unfortunately in last years the fact that many of these skilled housewives got older and are not able to cook for that many people anymore.
Ýn old times there were two types of wedding dishes in Uchisar. The first was called ‘dua’ (prayer). To this meal everybody in the village was invited and after the bride was brought to her new home by the groom the caldrons were opened with prayer. In ‘dua’ the house was crowded however the varity of dishes were quite poor. Second type of meal was called ‘gelin azzýðý’. In this meal only important people were invited and the meal was very rich in terms of variety. To the question ‘ What kind of dishes were served in ‘gelin azzýðý ‘ ‘ ? An elder person answered :
First soup is served : It can be cracked wheat (bulgur) soup, tarhana soup,and then eggs with minced meat and onions. Then ocra dish was served, then ‘zelderi yahnisi’ was eaten. It was continuing with minced meat balls and at the end rice pudding (sutlac) or melon or watermelon if it was summer. Another wedding meal is the one offered by relatives or neighbors of groom to the relatives of bride.
TABLE RULES AND TRADITIONS
The behavior of eating together in our village is part of our history and long traditions which lasted centuries.
In old times when the food was eaten from a big tray called lenger, a sheet was laid on the carpets on the ground. Yufka breads were shared on the tray and there was a separate little plate with pickles put in the same large tray. The tray however was not put directly on the floor. First a large cylindrical piece wood was placed in the middle to raise the tray so that people who sit on the floor can put their feet underneath. To gather around the table and to sit on the chairs has developed in Turkey with the westernization of the country.
Ýn old times the oldest man in the family sat at the head and besides him sits his wife who is generally the oldest woman in the family. The grown up children-if there are- uesd to sit besides these two people who are most of the time their parents. The bride sat at the edge of the table in such a way that she was always ready to get up to serve people if they needed anything. The fact that the new married couple sat together and that he asked his wife to bring something loudly was considered out of rule and this attitude was not appreciated in old times. The young man who was also the second leader of the house after his father had to express this will to his wife with some gestures and mimics. According to the traditions people did not talk much at the table.
Dishes such as meat were enrolled by yufka bread, soup was eaten with spoon. In those times when wooden spoons were commonly used, one more spoon was put on the table for the guest. If the guest was expected, then the table cloth was chosen among the nice and clean ones. This table cloth was called ‘Kundelik’.
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DISHES OF OUR TOWN
SOUPS :Cracked Wheat soup, Dried Tarhana soup, Sugar beat soup, Soup with milk, Þire ( Grape juice) Soup, Apricot soup.
MEAT DISHES Liver Dish ( yahni), Meat with bone in the clay pot, Partridge, Papaz (Priest) dish.
DISHES PREPARED WITH VEGETABLES, DRIED BEANS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Cýlbýr ( yoghourt and egg dish ), Dried eggplant dish, Pumkin with mint, Meat with chick peas, Sugar beat dish, Meatballs with potatoes, Cooked onions, Tandýr pahlasý, Türlü ( mixed vegetables cooked in tomato sauce.
PILAVS ( pasta style, rice and cracked wheat dishes )
Wedding pilaf, Eriþte ( home made pasta ), Rice pilaf with apricot
DOLMAS ( Stuffed dishes)
Stuffed quince, Stuffed Pumkin, Stuffed Tomatoes, Stuffed Apple, Stuffed Zucchini Flower, Stuffed Mimbar ( sort of sheep intestins), Stuffed Onion, Stuffed Grape Leaves.
DESSERTS
Pear dessert, Aside ( made with wheat flour and grape molasses ), Bulamaç, Cracked wheat flour halva, Plumb dessert, Pumkin with milk, koftur.
FLOUR DISHES
Baklavas, Cheese pies, Sarý burma.
SOME RECIPES FROM UCHISAR CUISINE
Tandýr PahlasýIngredients : Dried or fresh beans, tomato sauce, onion, pepper, salt
Beans are boiled in water for 15 minutes and after they boil, they are taken from the fire and water is filtered. These boiled beans are then left in claypots. Then the meat cut in slices which is called ‘gom’ is mixed with the beans. Afterwards one onion and half spoon of tomato sauce are added. After the addition of water, the claypot is put at the side of tandir fire. Thus the beans are cooked in light fire for about two hours. After that it is removed from the fire, the claypot is opened and some more water is added because of the fact that the initial one disappeared as the result of evaporation. It is put on the fire again and cooked for two more hours. Finally it is taken from the fire half an hour before eating.
Generally on the table this meal is preceded by cracked wheat soup, accompanied by pepper or cucumber pickles and followed by aside as the dessert.
Tandýr pahlasý is a delicious specialty of Uchisar which decorates our tables more than once a week.
Aside ( dessert )
Ingredients : Butter, wheat flour, pekmez (grape molasse), walnut
One spoon of butter and some flour are toasted in a pan until their color become dark. After the flour is roasted it is removed from the pan and and grape molass is put on it again with some butter and they are fried. After this mixture is fried enough it is roasted a little more with already prepared flour. Then Aside is ready.
Grated walnut is put on aside before service.
