Uçhisar

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Uçhisar is a town (belde) in the Nevşehir District, Nevşehir Province in Cappadocia, Turkey. In 2022, its population was 3,555. It is 7 km east of Nevşehir, 12 km west of Ürgüp, and 10 km south of Avanos. Situated on the edge of Göreme National Park, Uçhisar consists of an old village huddled around the base of a huge rock cone and a new one closer to the road that runs from Nevşehir town to Göreme. Like most of Cappadocia, Uçhisar once made a living from agriculture but now depends almost entirely on tourism, with many of its fine old stone houses turned into boutique hotels. French incomers and Turks returning from France have played a large part in the move to convert the houses into hotels. Uçhisar means "outer citadel" in Turkish and refers to the huge rock cone that is its central feature. In antiquity, the Güvercinlik Valley that overlooks Uçhisar was known as Vasil Potamus or Vasilius (Basilius, named after St. Basil).

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