You want a fantastic real-world locale? It's hard to improve upon the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia in central Turkey. Here, tall spires of stone dot the landscape like some manner of bizarre growth. What's more, early Christians carved countless storerooms, stables and domiciles into the fairy towers from the 4th to the 11th century.
To understand the formation of these stone spires (also known as hoodoos), look at the accompanying photograph. The fairy chimneys you see here were once part of a massive slab of earth covered in a layer of hardened volcanic ash called tuff. Over time, the erosive forces of wind and water wore away much of the underlying soft material, leaving only slender towers with caps of tuff.
The early Christians went so far as to carve whole monasteries and underground cities out of the stone in Cappadocia. Today, many such chambers are still in use -- some as guesthouses for visiting tourists.
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