Untold story of Capadocia/Katpatukya/Kapadocia

Form here the tour bus took us to the next location and that was Derinkuyu Underground City. There are near around 200 such underground cities found in this surrounding. This is the said to be the largest one in the area. As mentioned by our tour guide. This location is also listed in one of the UNESCO world heritage sites.

These sites of underground cities are mostly attracted by archaeologists. The city is so well developed that around 20,000 people are said to be living at a time in the setup. It also had wine press, oil press and stables. The cities are carved in such a way that they are well ventilated and fresh air keeps circulating in it. There are also structures which are in cross shaped which are said to be churches meant for religious schools and other studies. Water wells are also built inside for regular supply which is meant for domestic supply. There are few horizontal shafts carved in such a way that two cities in different localities (miles apart) are connected via these ducts. There are multiple levels in these cities. The city if mapped, will appear like a cross section of a shell.

The passages of entrances are very narrow and sometime needs to be careful about head.

These underground cities were also used as hiding spaces form getting persecuted. At the time of attack everyone used escape down into the cities and huge rocks of curved cylindrical shape rocks were rolled to close these narrow openings. These rocks are still found in the walls of the cities. They are supposed to be operated only from the inside. So that enemy attacking or trying to open it from outside cannot open it. These rocks are very heavy. It’s amazing to see how the architecture of the place is designed and constructed.

These all cities are carved into softer formations. It is said that claustrophobic people can avoid entering such places. It is really easy and comfortable to enter and walk through with or without guides. As there are many people in and around and there are guidance markings available on all the sites. Also, the place is well ventilated and illuminated. Kindly consider the season of my visit. Unless there is any medical issue or any doctor recommendations please do not miss to enter this place. Please note we had senior citizen couple in our group, who were from U.S. and were roaming with group with a ease. Especially geologists of nature explorer you will get to see some intrusive rock formations as seen in my photographs. You can see variety of tuff. There are coarse sizes of tuffaceous material.

I missed is exploring contacts between two formations. In the place where I lived, the rocks showing high porosity blocks are used. Then there were hard rocks used for flooring which showed ripple marks on it.

Our next location for the day in the tour was Ihlara valley. It is around 17 km Canyon formed in a river. The valley is located in stream Melendiz stream near Mount Hasan.

This was the most beautiful part of my visit to Cappadocia. There is the wooden ladder prepared for covering vertical distance. We walked down the edge of the stream which was around 100 meters deep. It was quite a beautiful view and experience. We walked for around an hour exploring beauty of the stream. The valley is cut into andesitic basaltic rock formation. The valley has been eroded along the joints of the basalt by flowing stream water and broken huge blocks that are toppled down.

The views were breath taking, enchanting and scenic These toppled blocks are huge boulder sized. The stream is very peaceful and the river is full of angular fragments which are ill sorted. The valley has rock cuttings like honey comb for hiding and settlements in it. It also has some of the ancient paintings/fresco which are stories from Christian beliefs. I have more photos of these fresco posted on my Facebook travel page.

Vari – The Divine Journey! FB page album

Fresco

Fresco

While travelling from Derinkuyu to this place you can see formation of Mesa or table land here.

As we walked around the stream it was quite remarkable to see that natural places were inhabited by human dwellings. In between there was this one beautiful café for snacks. It was truly beautiful as we sat around in the huts which were built over the flowing river channel and all were connected with wooden ramp. Ducks were roaming around us and so were we.

This was one place I was unwilling to go leave. Felt like I should stay for long. Here they had cloak room. For a while we kept walking and clicking pictures as we walked around the bank of the river.

View of 100 meter deep canyon, tall trees, beautiful flowing river water, best climate, it was just a perfect walk to remember. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant nicely built on the stream. The set up was really beautiful.

The place is amazingly beautiful. You can see more photos of this place on my Facebook Page – ‘Vari The divine Journey’.

The place was calm and quite only our group of people. and then beautiful valley trail with river and birds sound. I being born and brought up in envelop of nature, this place gave me a organic hit.

It enters in your mind and you feel really peaceful and happy inside. That very moment when you are just sitting and getting the beautiful feel of nature which plays inside you is worth visiting. The food was OK with few of the options and also some variety of fish from the river as well. I have tried to retain each and every detailed description that I have seen or experienced in this blog and also in pictures. After visiting such a beautiful places, one can just imagine how are the forces of nature that coordinate with each other and keep changing our surroundings. If we consider just to move a huge boulder and place it in different place, imagine the amount of energy that will be required. In geological past all these activities must be in full swing. What we experience and see is a very recent outcome of natural agents working behind it. Keeping your observation more on the surrounding you can make out that the activities are still in process but only we need to understand it and feel it.