Underground City, Goreme and surrounds

27^th June 2001

The entrance to out hotel

We woke early to see the hot air balloons rising above the valley, one the key tourist attractions in Cappadocia. The weather was surprisingly cool and overcast (temperature 11 C), and without the bright blue sky, the impact of seeing the balloons rise against the background of the landscape was less impressive. Nevertheless, about 30 balloons went up. Macca and I went for an early morning walk and had a good look around Uchisar, which is quite a small village, riddled with dwellings carved into the volcanic outcrops that dominate the landscape.

The "Castle" at Uchisar riddled with dwellings carved into the rock

Balloons rising over the valley

Housing along the hillside in Uchisar

We organized to have breakfast at 8am, and then head off to see the key sights of the area.

The beakfast room in the hotel

First up was the underground city of Derinkuyu, the largest of the 37 underground cities discovered so far in this region. Derinkuyu covers an area of 4 square km, is 85 m deep, and was home to up to 10,000 people. It was connected to a sister city Kaymakli by a 10 km underground tunnel. The city had been occupied and developed first by the Hittites , then the Romans, and then Byzantines. We had a local guide take us through, and were amazed by the scale and complexity of the city. They had wineries built in, massive food storage areas in case they had to hide for extended periods of Arab invasions, water supplied from a spring that ran deep under the village and many ventilation shafts to keep them supplied with fresh air.

A diagram showing a cross section of the undergound city

Round millstones were used as "doors" to close off tunnels when invaded

It was a maze of rooms and tunnels

It was tough going at times going through the city as the tunnel heights were deliberately low to make it hard for invaders. At one point there was a descent of more than 100 steps. Nevertheless it was a fascinating place.

We then went on to Avanos, famous for the production of pottery. We had a look around a couple of places, Brian & Gail bought a few small pieces. It was then off to the Zelve Valley, which has the most spectacular display of volcanic outcrops ( they call fairy chimneys). Like everywhere else, many of these had been burrowed into  for dwellings, by Christians seeking refuge from Arab raiders.

Fairy Chimneys in the Zelve Valley

Many of the chimneys had been hollowed out for dwellings or other use

This area is also a major wine growing aea

We then headed into Goreme, the centre of this area, for lunch.

After lunch we decided to have a quick look at the the Goreme Outdoor museum, before heading back to the hotel for a rest. A short visit turned into over 1.5hrs, as we wandered through this fascinating area, which is the home of many elaborate Christian churches, all carved into the fairy chimneys and many ornately decorated with frescoes that are in amazingly good condition, due to the lack of natural light in the structures. They all located very close to each other. There are about 400 churches in the vicinity of Goreme which was a major centre for Christianity. Most of the ones in the outdoor museum were built around the 10^th and 11^th centuries.

Exterior of the Karanlik Church

Entrace to the Tokali Chiurch

Fresco in the Apple Church

It had been a big day, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest, had a pre dinner drink in our room, and went to a nearby restaurant for dinner, (Sira Hotel Restaurant). The food and atmosphere was very good.

The Maccas relaxing with a pre dinner drink in our room

Carole and Gail on the Terrace outside our room

Dinner at Sira Restaurant