Day 4 Cappadocia–The Underground City of Kaymaklı

 

First, just a note on traffic. Streets are full—all the time. Crossing them can be a challenge. A trick we have used, especially in China, is to set up next to the locals and react with them. Frequently that means you are in the middle of four lanes of traffic with cars and busses whizzing inches away from you, but, the locals know how to time it and you just stay with them. Except in Istanbul.

Actually we hooked up with just one local gal as she reconnoitered through the traffic. We quickly realized however that she was taking chances local usually don’t take. Her timing was off, cars were braking for her and weaving around her, or I should say us! This was not right! Our buddy from the tour, an international executive with IBM, who joined our tour after he was in Singapore and before he was leaving for Australia, was as dumbfounded as we were.

Well, we made it across, but…..she kept running up the street, and then we discovered why her timing was off. She was chasing a bus that was already going up the street! Our mama duck wasn’t concerned about her ducklings, she had a bus to catch!

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Another long day of bus travel culminating in Cappadocia.  An astounding 400 underground cities existed in this part of Turkey.  Although they have been developed and inhabited for thousands of years, (approx. 800 BC) the most recent ones discovered were refuges for Christians in the 4th century onward.  Up to 30,000 people inhabited these underground cities.  The one we visited, Ksymskli had eight underground floors reaching a depth of 180 feet.  They have restored five levels.

The “tufa” rock was soft and easy to carve and provided a consistent temperature year around.  The inhabitants of the underground cities built waterways on the mountain surface to direct rain water away from the hidden entrances so they were water-proof as well.

The camouflaged entrances were protected by stones that were rolled over the tunnels.  These were not placed at the hidden entrance, they were hidden deep in the mountain and unmovable from the outside.

This basalt grinding stone was rolled in from “the outside”. They found traces of spices, copper and gunpowder on it.

Each family had a “house” for sleeping and family activities.  Cooking was done in communal kitchens so that smoke could be directed in special vents and dispersed on the surface so that it was undetectable from the outside.

This underground city had all the usual amenities found in other underground complexes across Cappadocia, such as wine and oil presses, stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, and chapels.  Each city had a series of ventilation shafts to keep the air circulating and water wells for fresh water.  Truly fascinating and to think that people have been carving these cities in these mountains for almost 3,000 years!