Cappadocia is a region in central Turkey. It has an interesting history that's closely linked to the land - specifically soft rock that's abundant both above and below ground.
In the second century, slaves and Christians made their way to Cappadocia when fleeing the Roman army. To hide from the Romans, they built underground cities by tunnelling through the soft rock. The cities were a labyrinth of rooms and tunnels and had everything you needed to live underground for long periods. The cities were difficult for the Romans to find and difficult to invade if discovered.
We visited the underground city in Kaymakli. It is one of the largest of hundreds of underground settlements in Cappadocia. It is several stories deep with the first four open to the public.
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| One of the underground rooms |
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| Tunnels going in many different directions |
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| Small tunnels made it hard for invaders to move around |
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| Large stones were used to block off areas from invaders |
In Cappadocia, there's also extensive tunnelling above ground to form churches, monasteries and homes. Goreme is an area where there are a large number of monasteries and churches carved into the rock.
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| Monasteries and churches are inside this rock |
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| Exposed part of a monastery where rock has eroded away |
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| Eating area - stone table on the left |
The most impressive church at Goreme is the Dark Church. It has very well preserved frescoes (paintings) that were done in the 11th century. You're not allowed to take photos or videos inside the church so we can't show you what we saw but here's a link to a video taken inside. Here's hoping that whoever took the video (Canadians we believe) did so with permission!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br87jJNGNSI
People living in the rock isn't something that stopped long ago. We visited Zelve which was an occupied area until the 1950s. We also visited the town of Uchisar where rock structures are in use today.
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| Zelve - settlement and monastery |
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| Inside a church at Zelve |
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| Uchisar village with Uchisar Castle on the left |
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| View from Uchisar Castle - highest point in Cappadocia |
Some of the rock in Cappadocia has been shaped by nature rather than human hands. There are places where the soft rock has eroded away and left behind harder stone in unique shapes. Here's a few.
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| "Fairy chimneys" |
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| A real big stone being held up by ... not much |
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| Head of an "angry rabbit" |
In addition to rock structures, Cappadocia also has an ancient Roman city called Sobesos. It's a fairly recent discovery and the site is still under excavation.
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| Bath with heating coils on the bottom |
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| Area that was originally a temple and then made into a church |
We still have more to share from Cappadocia. Stay tuned for part 2.
Vanessa and Blake
