The region of Cappadocia was on the Great Silk Road (the trade route from Europe to Asia Minor) and was repeatedly subjected to robberies and raids. For greater security, the local people moved to underground cities, and the Christians who lived near the cliffs took refuge in rock monasteries, churches and cells. For this reason, there were many inns.
Caravanserais or caravan houses are large public buildings, located on important trade routes in the East, in cities, on roads and in Uninhabited places, serving as shelter, lodging and parking for travellers and trade caravans. Sometimes they are luxuriously built, but without utensils, in consequence of which the traveller must bring in consequence of which the traveller must bring with him bedding and carpets, as well as supplies of life for himself and his animals, there is only water, sometimes brought from afar at great expense. Often the caravanserai is a quadrangular house with a well in the middle. It is often built with the possibility the possibility of an attack by robbers. Caravanserais now in operation are found only in Persia, but they are also disappearing little by little owing to the construction of better roads. In eastern Asia Minor, many of their ruins remain.
A striking example of this type of architectural art of the local region is the "Ağzıkarahan, built in 1231 on the road from Nevşehir to Aksaray in the vicinity of Kayseri, which is one of the richest bird sanctuaries in the world - Kici Jenneti (Bird Paradise). It dates back to the Seljuk period and is currently open to the public.
Six kilometres north and five south-east of Avanos, along the new Kayseri road in the Damsa Valley, there is a carefully restored beautiful and one of the largest caravanserais in Anatolia, the Seljuk-period Sarukhan caravanserai. Saray - means palace. It was built in 1249 under Sultan Izzettin Keikavus II of yellow, pink and yellow-brown coloured stone blocks.
For a small percentage to the local sultan from each transaction, numerous caravans made free use of these roadside inns, smoking in the cool rooms, smoking hookahs, taking care of business matters, steaming in the baths. Practically a modern motel, only with parking for camels. Today it is a cultural centre, near which every morning (usually at 9.00) there's a performance of the sema ceremony.
Not far from the town of Nizhde, on the Aksaray-Konya road (42 kilometers from Aksaray) is the largest caravanserai in Anatolia, Sultan Khan, built in 1229 by Sultan Aladdin Keykubat I. In it traders could have a good rest and replenish their supplies for the onward journey. It's the best preserved caravans in the area have survived to this day. In 1278, its area was substantially enlarged. Its magnificent entrance portal is decorated with patterns geometric shapes.
Sultan Khan was located almost on the border of Cappadocia and was well protected from nomadic bandits. Merchants and travellers could wait out killer heat or bad weather in this roadside courtyard. At the travellers' disposal at the travellers' disposal were stables, a doctor and a hamam bath. The courtyard could accommodate could accommodate up to a thousand guests with their loads and camels.
In the middle of the courtyard there is a small mosque, which you can climb up large steps and view the caravanserai from above. Even today, the mosque is the tallest building in the city, which has grown around Sultan Khan already to several tens of thousands of inhabitants.
In winter, the enclosed part of the caravanserai was used to sleep in. From the inside it resembled a huge cathedral, though it never had a religious purpose. At the sides are rooms where where provisions were stored. In the warmer seasons, one slept under the galleries.
Not only Muslim merchants stayed in Sultan Khan, but also traders from France, Italy, Cyprus, even possibly Russia. After all, no-one really knows knows where the Tver merchants who "travelled over three seas" spent the night. And if we're talking about different views of faith and ways of attaining bliss, these conversations are usually conversations, according to the treaty here, were left by travellers outside the gates of the of the caravanserai. Here it was endeavoured not to mix politics and commerce at all times.
What is most striking about Sultan Khan is the carpets on the streets. Cars, motorcycles, horses and camels walk along them.
