Other tales insist that humans, horrified by an interspecies romance, drove away the fey folk. Homeless and bereft, they transformed into birds. The contrite citizens then welcomed them back, by hollowing dovecotes into the soft rock.

In reality, farmers hoped to attract pigeons and gather their rich droppings for fertiliser (perhaps the secret of the region's sweet fruit and famed wine). This was Turkey's main export for centuries, until the chemical heyday. The old stories are not so easily dismissed, however. Cappadocians still refer to the strange pillars as "fairy chimneys".

Flights of fancy aside, people have lived there since the late Paleolithic era. A crucial crossroads between East and West, the area saw its share of invaders: Hittites, Thracians, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Scythians and Medes. The names smack of biblical grandeur - and Cappadocia even merits a mention in the New Testament.

As warriors raged across the plains, the meek inhabited the earth. They burrowed dozens of concealed cities, some descending eight stories. Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, south of Nevsehir, are the most impressive constructions. In times of trouble, people dwelled in the upper levels, making wine, grinding flour and praying in the danker areas below. Large boulders sealed the doors.

The impoverished region attracted early Christians, following in the footsteps of Saint Paul, in the second century AD. They fled Roman - and later Moslem - persecution. The twisted valleys, peaks, caves and tunnels provided ample hiding places.

Two hundred years later, monasticism began there. Saint Basil - bishop of the nearby town Kayseri - encouraged hermits to form communities. Clergy ate, prayed and laboured together. They abandoned private property and led chaste, reflective lives: poor in body, rich in spirit. Greek Orthodox monks and nuns still follow these guidelines today.

The saint helped build the area's first churches. These early houses of worship - scraped into tufa caves - were dabbed with geometric patterns and symbols, such as roosters and grapes. The frescoes avoided images of god, favoured by the western Greeks, but abhorrent to the Eastern tradition. (CONTINUED...)