The Hotel’s commanding location gives you the full view of the ancient village of Akköy as well as the surrounding valleys and mountains with three such village formations, fertile fields, and the unique landscape of Cappadocia. The Cave Boutique Hotel is owned and managed by Mehmet Güleç, born and raised in Akköy while the village was still fully inhabited back in 1960s. The hotel is marked by its serenity, comforting hospitality and welcome of its owner and its staff, the unique features of the village, and custom-designed tours and expeditions in order to satisfy your needs in the areas of historical site-seeing, nature tours, safari, and biotourism.
Cappadocia is the ancient name of a large region in the center of Anatolia, although when we speak of Cappadocia today we refer specifically to the valleys of Göreme and Urgup, with their natural pinnacles and rock churches. A long, long time ago a series of eruptions from the cones of Mt. Erciyes and Mt Hasan covered the area in a thick layer of volcanic ash which solidified to form the soft tufa that characterises the surface strata. Both these volcanic mountains are still extant and dominate the landscape. The signature of the region, the 'fairy chimney' is formed when a cap of resilient stone protects the column of softer material beneath it while the surrounding tufa is removed. The area is now a warren of caves, underground cities, rock churches and chambers and it's almost certain that there are more such sites waiting to be rediscovered.
Cappadocia makes its first entrance into history courtesy of Heroditus, writing in the 5th Century BC but it is with the advent of Christianity that it becomes of interest to the average contemporary tourist. Christianity came early to the region with St. Paul passing through on his way to Ancyra (Ankara) and 3 Saints originating here in the 4th Century. The remote and sometimes harsh nature of the landscape and climate here appealed to the early anchorites who favoured an ascetic existence in which hardship brought them closer to God. Gradually these individuals formed loose knit communities here to benefit from a social structure but nevertheless retained their individuality. These communities were formalised as a result of St. Basil's pronouncements on the rules of monastic life in the 4th Century and slowly grew over the next few hundred years. The arrival of Arab raiding parties in Anatolia in the 7th and 8th centuries drove the monks underground and they took local Christian communities with them forming the underground cities you can explore today, several of which are staggering in their scale. The Christian communities dwindled after the Turks arrived in Asia Minor and local inhabitants moved into the more convenient of the excavations that were left behind. Cappadocia effectively vanished from the point of view of the West until it was rediscovered by a French Jesuit priest in 1907.
Our Village House Hotel includes 5 cave rooms and 7 stone rooms as well as a carved restaurant with authentic fireplaces to keep the place warm in all seasons. The quality of the cave rooms make you feel cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Volcanic rock called "tuffa" is perfect insulation material. It keeps the temperature between 17 - 20 degrees Celsius throughout the year. All rooms are different from each other in their size, shape and qualities, but they each have the signature curves, texture, cupboards, fireplaces, arches and decorations characteristic of the region but also the village’s local civil architecture.
All rooms are traditionally decorated and the cotton covers, carpets, kilims, wooden furniture, etc. are locally produced. However, each room also includes private stone shower and w/c, some rooms even a jacuzzi, hot water, wooden floors, luxurious bedding and IDD telephone service.
The Village House kitchen provides meals that are prepared from fresh ingredients and daily every day by Mehmet's family and staff. All food is organically grown and local produce, with no chemicals, additive or preservatives. These include seasonal fruits and vegetables, home made yoghurt and local specialties, fresh from the mountains nearby the village, local honey and home-made baked bread. The village cousine also includes special meat dishes made by burial underground and cooked slowly, dumplings filled with meat and herbs, local deserts and salads. Breakfast is presented as open buffet style where you can find home made jams, from locally dried fruits, pure village productions, and dairy products straight from the village. Dinner is prepared on order.
