The view of Goreme from the cliffs above the city/village. The hills are alive with cave dwellings.
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Monthly Archives: August 2012
The courtyard at our hotel, Cappadoccia Cave Suites. Our room/suite/cave is off camera to the left.
The view from the front door of our hotel: “Cappadocia Cave Suites” in Goreme.
Goreme at night from the deck outside our deluxe room in a cave.
Derinkuyu—the first underground city that we visited in Cappadoccia. Amazing, whatever its story is. And there are a number of theories about these vast and numerous underground cities that pre-date Christianity—although they were used by early Christians to hide from persecution and invaders for centuries. It is generally thought that they were dug for whole villages to hide for brief periods of time while invading armies passed through their village or neighborhood. Short stays of days or a couple of weeks, no longer. No one knows for sure (because of cave-ins and safety concerns) but they extend 12-16 floors underground. There are also theories about how some of them are interconnected—going from one village to another but this has not been proven—no connecting tunnels have thus far been found. They were equipped with churches, dining areas, sleeping areas, areas for livestock, wineries, food stores, etc. Workshops included areas for blacksmiths, potteries, etc. Of course this is all speculation but that is what the students of the cities have come up with. Derinkuyu is perhaps the largest of them and is thought to be large enough to have accommodated 10,000 people for a few days until the invaders would have passed. After Christianity became legal as the official religion of Rome in about 300 A.D., the cities gradually were abandoned and forgotten about—until a local resident discovered Derinkuyu in the 1960s when he was digging a basement for the home that he was enlarging.
Here is the former well of the former occupants. Notice the hand-cut hand-holds along the sides of the well. Notice also that contemporary passers-through could not resist throwing their contemporary plastic bottles and aluminum cans into the well.
Bunny on the stairs going down in Derinkuyu. Notice the green stuff growing on the walls. This otherwise void-of-any-visible lifesigns cave network is growing the most primitive life forms prompted by the photosynthesis from the electric lights!
Another shot of Bunny in one of the tiny passageways.
This multi-ton rolling stone could be rolled into place to block a passageway. It is in a groove on both sides so that, once in place, it could not be pushed over. It could however, be broken down. But, from the vantage point of an invader, why bother? Just leave it there and eventually the occupants will starve and the rolling stone will be their grave stone.
Imagine invading soldiers struggling down this passageway single file with weapons ready and shield prepared. NAH, they would have just waited outside….
thebunguycord 