Best Underground Cities in Cappadocia Region
Cappadocia is the name of a region that lies in the heart of Turkey in Central Anatolia and famous for underground cities in Cappadocia. The name of Cappadocia means a region covering different cities in the area that have similar history and geology. Starting from early period of human history it had been home for millions of people from Ancient Cappadocian Greeks to Turkish people
of today. Against difficult conditions of nature these people developed multiple methods and here we will talk about the most well-known one; Cappadocia Underground Cities.
Today only 36 of these underground cities are discovered. But it’s known by the public that there are more than a hundred underground cities in the region. As every village needed to be protected against enemies and wild nature in the prehistoric era. Protection and defense was the preliminary reason for people to build underground cities. However it still maintains mystery as there are various folk stories regarding them.
List of Underground Cities in Cappadocia
Today unfortunately not all underground cities are well-preserved or restored in the region, so visiting all of them is not possible, only some basic and well known underground cities are available for visit in the Cappadocia region. In order to see them, the easiest way is joining a daily Cappadocia tour with a professional local tour guide. Visiting the area on your own is also possible however for some cave churches of Cappadocia are off the beaten path, so it will be better to opt for a day tour in Cappadocia.
Cappadocia is also told in the Bible because it was an important area to spread, teach and protect Christianity against non believers. Cave churches and underground cities protected first monks and allowed them to live in a safe atmosphere as that was a great underground network. Building underground cities by carving the rocks down on volcanic tuff land with a primitive technology probably took long years to create a web of underground cities in Cappadocia, but this protected the people against Roman and Persian attacks for centuries.
Here we have listed underground cities according to scale of dimension,
Derinkuyu Underground City
The deepest, largest and best underground city is Derinkuyu Underground City located in Derinkuyu district. Despite it’s known that there are more than 12 floors approximately at depth of 85 meters, only 8 of these layers are open for visit. And you can dive up to 50 meters in this underground city. This site can be visited in the Green Cappadocia Tour. And due to the long distance from the center of Cappadocia, you will need either tour or private vehicle for transportation.
Kaymakli Underground City
It has been among UNESCO World Cultural Heritage since 1984 but it’s almost half size of Derinkuyu Underground City. Still it served successfully to Phrygian people against Hittite and Arabic raids. Only 4 of 8 layers are open for visit today, due to security reasons going deeper is not allowed by the museum administration, however in ancient times people could live here for months with their families and animals during invasions of enemies or military campaigns via Asian Minor.
Ozkonak Underground City
Relatively smaller than others but this is the most interesting underground city in Cappadocia. Masters of masonry built capillary holes for communication here in the ancient period to communicate with their neighbours even during lockdown. They built sliding stones, like milestones not only for protection but also to attack their enemy from a safe castle. These clever people found this soft volcanic tuff village and created an underground castle for themselves.
Mazi Underground City
Mazi Underground City was founded by a shepherd in 1995 and opened to visitors. Unlike others you can visit 8 layers of the underground city. The area was known for rock tombs from the Roman and Byzantine periods. But with discovery of underground city it had been revealed that there were an advanced community in the region. People who made their living by animal husbandry who even built barns in the under ground city.
To sum up, there are many underground cities in Cappadocia much older than 3500 years. But these are only a few of them available for visit. Please do not hesitate contacting us to learn more and plan your trip to Cappadocia. Our team will be happy to help you plan your trip, either private or group tours in Cappadocia.
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