Underground Cities of Cappadocia

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Underground cities in Cappadocia, Turkey? Surely they're joking, I thought to myself when I first heard of them.

No joke!

I had no idea these subterranean towns extended seven and eight levels into the earth, carved from the soft volcanic stone. When I finally explored them, I felt as though I was wandering through a gigantic sponge.

You can make a day-trip excursion from Ürgüp, Göreme, Avanos or Uçhisar, that includes an Underground City, the hill town of Güzelyurt, a hike to see the Byzantine cave chapels in the Ihlara Valley, and the medieval Agzikarahan Seljuk Turkish caravanserai. Here's how.

When visiting an Underground City, try to get to the cave entrance right when it opens (usually 9 am) so as to avoid the bus-tour crowds that appear by mid-morning.  

These troglodyte cave-cities were excavated as early as Hittite times, and expanded over the centuries as various marauding armies traversed Central Anatolia in search of captives and plunder.

Stout rolling-stone doors prevented invaders from entering. Deep wells provided water, and tall chimneys ventilation. Wine presses, oil storage, livestock pens, cooking-places and even elaborate churches were carved out of the rock so that the inhabitants could live for weeks or months underground until it was safe to emerge and return to their ground-level villages.

Cappadocia has dozens of underground cities, but the largest and most elaborate (and frequently visited) are at Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, 20 km (12 miles) and 30 km (19 miles) south of Nevsehir respectively (map).