Morning in Ortahisar: Stone and Light

Before the sun clears the castle, the streets speak in the quiet language of stone. Morning in Ortahisar begins slowly — and that slowness is a gift.

As a physician and artist, I have spent years touching these stones, trying to decipher their language. At the heart of Cappadocia, this landscape — formed millions of years ago when Mount Erciyes hurled its lava and ash into the world — takes on an entirely different identity in the first light of dawn.

The sun rising on the horizon first paints the soft tuff rocks of the valleys in crimson and rose, then illuminates the imposing silhouette of Ortahisar Castle.

When we restored Anitya Cave House, we did not merely build a hotel; we brought the memory of stone to light. Meaning "impermanence" in Sanskrit, Anityawhispers to us that everything in life flows and changes without cease.

Yet within that impermanence, the one constant is the ancient calm that stone imparts.

These volcanic rocks, which harden upon contact with air yet remain workable at their core, have sheltered countless civilisations from the Hittites to the Ottomans. The deep silence and sense of security you feel upon waking in your room is the same feeling experienced by those who once took refuge in these very caves centuries ago.

For tuff rock, with its natural insulation that keeps spaces cool in summer and warm in winter, envelops the human spirit like a mother's embrace.

Far from the crowds of Göreme or Ürgüp, Ortahisar — whose name means "Middle Fortress" — occupies the strategic heart of the region while remaining an unspoiled, unhurried town entirely its own.

When you set out for a morning walk here, along the trails descending to Balkan Stream or at the entrance of Kızılçukur Valley, you feel the singular texture of nature and history woven together.