The area of ​​Cappadocia was on the Silk Road (the trade route from Europe to Asia Minor), and repeatedly subjected to robberies and raids, thereby, to greater safety, local people moved to the underground city, and the Christians who lived among the rocks, took refuge in the cave monastery, churches and cloisters. For this reason, here, a host of inns.

Caravanserai home or caravan - a large public building, located on important trade routes in the East, in the cities and on the roads in unpopulated areas, serving a haven, and overnight parking for travelers and trade caravans. Sometimes they are luxuriously built, but no utensils, so that the traveler should bring their own bedding and carpets, as well as vital supplies for themselves and their animals, there is only water, sometimes brought from a distance, at great cost. Often, a caravanserai - a quadrangular house with a well in the middle. When construction is often taken into consideration the possibility of an attack of robbers. Current caravanserais are now only in Persia, but they are there and gradually disappear as a result of better roads. In eastern Asia Minor left a lot of debris.

A striking example of this kind of architectural art of the local region is "Agzykarahan, built in 1231 on the road from Nevsehir to Aksaray in the vicinity of Kayseri, which is one of the world's richest bird refuge - Kichi Jannat (paradise for birds). It dates back to the Seljuk period and is now open to the public.

Six kilometers to the north and five south-east of Avanos, along the new road to Kayseri Valley Dams, is carefully restored a beautiful and one of the largest in Anatolia Saruhan caravanserai of the Seljuk period. Shed - means palace. It was built in 1249 under Sultan Izzettine Keykavuse II made of stone blocks of yellow, pink and tan.

For a small percentage of the local sultan from each transaction, numerous caravans free use of roadside hotels, smoked a hookah in a cool room, solve business issues soared in the bath. In practice, modern motel, with parking only for the camels. Today it is a cultural center, around which every morning (usually 9.00) held presentation ceremony of the sema (whirling dervishes dance).

Not far from the town Nizhde, the road Aksaray - Konya (42 km from Aksaray) is the largest caravanserai in Anatolia Sultan Khan, built in 1229 by Sultan Aladdin Keykubat I. In its traders could relax and replenish necessary for the further path . It is better than other caravans of this area preserved to this day. In 1278 its area was significantly expanded. Its luxurious entrance portal is decorated with patterns of geometric shapes.

Sultan Khan was located almost on the border of Cappadocia and was well protected from the incursions of the nomadic bandits. Merchants and travelers could wait out the bad weather or the murderous heat in the roadside yard. At the disposal of pilgrims were stable, a doctor and a sauna-hammam. In the courtyard can accommodate up to a thousand guests with baggage and camels.

In the middle of the courtyard is the mosque of small size, which you can climb on the big stages and explore the caravanserai top. Even today, the mosque is the tallest building in the city that grew around Sultan Khan is already up to several tens of thousands of residents.

Winter in the closed part of the caravanserai slept. Inside it looks like a great cathedral, although it has never carried a religious problem. On either side are the room where provisions were stored. During warmer months, we slept in the galleries.

We stayed at Sultan Khan not only to Muslim merchants and traders from France, Italy, Cyprus, and perhaps even Russia. Nobody really knows where slept Tver merchant, "who walked the three seas". If we talk about the different views on faith and how to achieve happiness, it is usually the talk at the local agreement, travelers were left outside the gates of a caravanserai. It tried not to mix politics and commerce at all times.

What is most striking in Sultan Khan, it's carpets in the streets. On them drive cars, motorcycles, walking horses and camels.