Abacı Peribacaları

About Abacı Peribacaları

Abacı Peribacaları (the Abacı fairy chimneys) are a cluster of eroded rock pillars at the entrance to the Abacı neighbourhood of Çeltikçi Başören, in the countryside of Kızılcahamam district north of Ankara. Kızılcahamam Municipality, which lists the site among its places to visit, puts it on the Çeltikçi–Başören road, about 3 km south-east of Mahkemeağacin and around 20 km from the district centre. The chimneys have formed in tuff and agglomerate on the eastern edge of the village. The municipality describes them as products of erosion, mainly by rain, that give the site the look of a stone forest, and notes that what makes them interesting is how closely they are grouped in a relatively small area, which it estimates at around 5,000 square metres. The volcanic tuff itself dates from the Middle Miocene, some 11 to 16 million years ago, while the chimneys are thought to have taken shape over roughly the last hundred thousand years, a sign of the widening of the Kirmir valley. According to the municipality, experts rank them as the most impressive fairy chimneys in Anatolia after those of Ürgüp; unlike the Cappadocian ones, they are too small to have been hollowed out into dwellings. A dry stream bed separates the formations from the road, and the municipality says they are very easy to reach. Recreation works carried out in 2016 and 2017 tidied up the area for visitors. Look closely and the pillars suggest all kinds of shapes, which makes this a good spot for photography. The municipality also lists two cultural geosites nearby, Alıcın and Mahkemeağacin.