25 June, Göreme
Blue Moon Motel 80TL (breakfast included) (negotiated down from 110TL)
Cappadocia was first settled by the
Hittites in 1800BC; then came the Persians, followed by the Romans. During the
Byzantine period, early Christians took refuge here, carving homes and churches
and underground cities into the soft rock. According to Lonely Planet: “During the 6th and 7th centuries, when Persian and Arabic
armies set off to vanquish the Christians, beacons were lit and the warning
could travel from Jerusalem to Constantinople in hours. When the message
reached Cappadocia, the Byzantine Christians would escape into secret tunnels
leading to vast underground cities.” Two local buses took us to Derinkuyu, one
of the deepest of the 100-plus underground cities in Cappadocia. Here we walked
narrow passages, hunched to avoid bumping our heads, and climbed first down
then up shallow stairs leading to accommodation and stabling, a school and a
church and a gravesite 85-100m below ground. Several thousand people might
spend months in this dark space, wells providing water and air shafts fresh
air. Impossible to imagine...
Derinkuyu underground city
Derinkuyu underground city
Derinkuyu underground city
Derinkuyu
Derinkuyu