A long canyon extends between Ihlara and Selime, cut by the River Melendiz which winds its way through a bed of green vegetation. The clear, turbulent waters have sculpted elegant drapes in the rocks here, which change colour throughout the day. This superb, remote site offered a miraculous refuge to the Christians expelled from Syria and Palestine by the Arabs in 636. They built caves in the rocks, just like the hermits who lived here before them, creating these cave dwellings and rock churches, which were decorated with paintings showing Eastern and Coptic influences.