DERINKUYU UNDERGROUND CITY

Derinkuyu is one of the biggest underground cities discovered up till now, is eleven levels deep, has multiple entrances, many miles of tunnels connecting it to other caves, and can accommodate thousands of people. It is truly an underground city, with areas for sleeping, stables for livestock, wells, water tanks, and pits for cooking, ventilation shafts, communal rooms, bathrooms, and tombs.

People didn’t live in these cities full-time. Underneath the cities was a vast network of tunnels, connecting each home in the area to the city. The subterranean complex shows only Spartan simplicity. Ignoring all aspects of beauty, its builders concentrated on the problem of security, created a fortress, honeycombed with a forbidding labyrinth of galleries and shafts, the order of which was known only to those who used them. When the area came under attack, families would flee to their basements, rush through the dark tunnels, and gather in these cities.

Unwary soldiers could be caught in the many traps laid throughout the labyrinthine corridors, such as stones which could be rolled to block doorways and holes in the ceiling through which spears could be dropped.

And Derinkuyu is not alone. More than forty completed cities and 200 structures have been discovered in Kapadokya, many of them connecting to each other via a tunnel.

Please note that this visit might take little longer than expected due to crowds in high season.