"Fairy chimneys" that look like 20-foot mushrooms, boulders you'd swear were camels, and a landscape of pointed hills honeycombed with caves that create the illusion of faces — it's hard to imagine a more surreal landscape in which to experience the awesome eeriness of a total solar eclipse than the Cappadocia region in central Turkey. Nature is being especially generous.

On March 29, weather permitting, when the moon lines up between the Earth and the sun, muted light from the corona surrounding the black dot of the sun in a luminescent teal sky will paint Cappadocia's white cliffs and hoodoos (fantastic rock forms) cyan. The shadow of the moon will cross almost all of the area, including the tourist towns of Goreme, Uchisar and Urgup.

This bizarre countryside formed thousands of years ago when hard basalt covered soft volcanic ash called tuff or tufa. Erosion later wore away much of the softer rock, leaving basalt "caps" on oddly shaped towers of tuff. Hundreds of years ago residents dug into the soft tuff of the larger hills to create cave-homes, churches, vast tunnels and at least 36 underground cities.

The oddball rocks, frescoed churches, and eight-level underground towns turned Cappadocia into one of Turkey's most popular tourist areas — and into a weird place to view an eclipse. I was enchanted when I visited the area a few years ago, and the idea of going again this spring for the eclipse could be too much to resist.

For visitors who love the sea, the moon's shadow will also cross much of the rugged Mediterranean coast of the Lycian Peninsula, the towns of Antalya and Alanya, and the plain and beaches that run between them.

Seeking a view of the coastline and the snowy Taurus Mountains near Antalya during a visit one March, my husband Michael and I went to the small bar perched on the outside of castle walls surrounding the city's restored Roman harbor. Later, I relished the serenity of walking through Kalei'i, the historic old town section with beautiful Ottoman houses, to Antalya's landmark 13th-century fluted Yivli Minaret.

People have lived in the area since paleolithic times, and after strolling the promenade along cliffs above a curving beach on the mile walk to the Antalya Museum, I can see why. Even without the views, the museum was a worthwhile stop. We savored four hours of examining artifacts from Ottoman, Seljuk, Byzantine, Roman, Greek, Bronze-Age and other periods. Michael adored the affection shown between Roman husbands and wives on their sarcophagi.

A guide in the museum said, "Turkey has more ancient Roman and Greek ruins than Italy and Greece combined," and, given all the antiquities we saw just on the Lycian Peninsula, that didn't surprise me.

If you'd like to watch the eclipse from an ancient Roman town, Perge near Aksu is one of Turkey's best preserved archaeological sites. Nearby Side (pronounced SEE-day), near Manavget, also has spectacular ruins, including a Roman theater that's still in use and a Byzantine basilica. Side is on the centerline, where the eclipse lasts longest, and totality will run about 3 minutes and 45 seconds — a long time for a total solar eclipse.

Farther west on the Lycian Peninsula, totality will last 1 to 3 minutes. The area is rugged with few roads — all narrow and twisting —so it will be difficult to change location if the weather is cloudy.

However, the peninsula offers many other treasures within the path of totality.

For history fans, thousands of Roman ruins and 4th-century Lycian tombs — both above ground and carved into the cliffs — dot the peninsula. Some of the finest adorn hillsides at Myra, where they look like a golden-rock apartment complex set in a gray cliff.

For kids, many of Myra's tourist buildings are decorated with drawings of Santa Claus. "The original St. Nicholas was bishop here during the 4th century," a guide told us, "and he secretly put small bags of gold outside the doors of homes where little girls lived so they would have dowries and be able to marry instead of being forced into lives of prostitution."

For kicking back, we found Kas (pronounced Kahsh), tucked between mountains and sea, to be a peaceful resort town.

Near the village of Olimpos, science buffs can check out the Yanartas or Chimera, nature's "eternal flame." I thought these strange blazes that burn spontaneously out of rocks looked like dozens of small campfires without wood. Yet, 2,000 years, ago the flames burned much larger, and sailors used their light as a navigational beacon. Night is the best time to see the Yanartas, which means "burning rock," but wear good boots and carry a flashlight for the 1-mile mountain trail to get there. If the fires get too hot, about 4 miles down the valley lies a pebble beach.

We've taken two month-long trips to Turkey and have found the people to be among the most helpful, friendly, and hospitable in the world. When I strained to decipher a Turkish airline official's pronunciation of names on the standby list for a flight to Istanbul, a man leaned over and said, "What name are you listening for? Perhaps I can hear it." When I left my sun hat on a city bus, the clerk in our inexpensive hotel worked hard to track it down — and she succeeded.

Of course, carpet dealers are friendly, too — and often obnoxious — but after firmly declining their offers of "special deal for you" and "apple tea" (a synthetic nontea brew), we ended up having insightful conversations with many of them. And surely one of the fun topics to discuss now would be the total solar eclipse.

IF YOU GO ...

GETTING THERE: Roundtrip airfare from Honolulu to Istanbul in March and April begins at $948. American, Delta, Northwest, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Czech Airlines offer connecting service.

GETTING AROUND: Turkish Airlines flies from Istanbul to these airports in or near the eclipse path: Antalya, Kayseri (Cappadocia), Konya, Samsun, and Bodrum and Dalaman (both near the Lycian Peninsula). Roundtrip between Istanbul and Kayseri runs around $190 and between Istanbul and Antalya is about $200. See www.turkishairlines.com or call (800) 874-8875 or (312) 943-7858.

For car rentals, check www .bookincarrental.com (or call them in Turkey at 011 90 212 514-65-10) and www.car rentalturkey.info (or call 011 90 533 467-0724). Order highway maps through www.turkey travelplanner.com/Maps.

BOOKS TO CONSULT: Our favorite book was Lonely Planet's "Turkey." Also, Insight Guides, more for background than for finding day-to-day accommodations.

WHERE TO EAT: Try small cafes for delicious grilled kebabs, roasted chicken, sauteed eggplant, yogurt with garlic and cucumber, and baklava made of flaky filo dough, honey, and walnuts. More expensive restaurants tried too hard and weren't nearly as good.

INFORMATION: Cappadocia information is available at www.cappadociaonline.com. Additional hotel and car-rental links are at www.cappadocia hotels.com.

Information about the area around Antalya is at www.turk ishembassy.org/traveltourism /regionsmediterranean.htm.

ANTALYA MUSEUM: Details are at www.antalya-ws.com.

ORGANIZED ECLIPSE-WATCHING TRIPS: