How hard can it be to find an underground city?

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Hello!

Wonderful anniversary dinner last night! A lovely couple with whom we had talked in the morning on the balloon ride, invited us to join them for dinner last night. Great fun, although we didn’t get to bed until after midnight! Whew! WAY too late for us oldies! The lobby/lounge of the Sultan Cave Suites is not only a great place to convene, but is also where internet access is best. So, after posting the blog yesterday (and my apologies if you received multiple announcements about a new posting) for some reason several of the photos came out garbled, which had never happened to me before. So, I had to go back in, take them out and reload them from the computer. Hopefully all will go better today!

Sameer, our new friend, pointed to a lookout area on the other side of town that we could see from the hotel. Mustafa the manager offered to drive us all over there, but I said I could drive there, provided I had some direction. So, the end result was that one of the guys who works here led the way on his scooter, and I followed – but I just LOVE driving through places with signage indicating things like: Do Not Enter. Whatever! Made it down the hill, through town and up again the other side. Unfortunately, it was very overcast from the rainy afternoon and we didn’t get much of a sunset – but the view was great, and we enjoyed seeing the other side of town.

Back to the hotel, and dinner at 8 p.m. We were at a second table in the last room, like the night before. Sveta ordered chicken with spinach, which looked wonderful (and I may have that tonight); Sameer ordered the lamb shish. As we had eaten such a big lunch late, I wasn’t too hungry, so only had the eggplant salad from the night before, and R ordered the mezze plate. That was wonderful! It was a combination of about 8 or 9 different appetizers on the menu, including stuffed grape leaves, hummus, eggplant, a spicy red pepper dip – all managed to disappear! Then, as Sameer’s lamb came out to him less than hot, the waiter treated us all to a mélange of desserts – ice creams, figs, baklava, fruit – which we all very much enjoyed! Sveta and Sameer are a younger couple from Columbus, Ohio, who are avid travelers like us! In fact, at one point Sameer said that we sounded like an older version of he and his wife! Now that may have been the wine talking, but they were a terrific couple and it was great fun to spend the evening with them! We did finally get chased out of the restaurant, as they wanted to close – fortunately, the lobby never closes, as that was where we finished our evening! A really terrific anniversary day!

Up about 6:30 a.m. and the balloons were starting to inflate. We could see at least a dozen from our balcony, and the sun was bright and shining. Fun to watch the balloons float over the valley; makes for a terrific sight, and we’re happy that we’ve decided to go back to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October!
Robert had some work to do, but we were out of the hotel around 7:30 and heading to Derinkuyu, the largest of the underground cities…and wow, what trouble it took to find! There were a few signs pointing the way, but then we’d lose all direction, as the signage changed greatly. Sometimes it said “Derinkuyu Underground City” and sometimes it just said “Underground City” – and as there are others in the area, we got really confused! I kept thinking about those Italian sign painters who meticulously put up sign after sign – until you’re within a mile or so of the place at which point all signage disappears! Finally saw a small mini-van and just parked the car – and voila, we were there! We had hoped to arrive about 8:15 a.m. but managed to drive around until almost 8:45!! I had hoped that the earliest of our visit would help us avoid the tour groups, and even though we were so late, it worked out that way! Which is just as well, as there is only one passage down, and different groups are going in different directions – and the stairways and ramps are so narrow that only one person at a time can go by, all bent over to avoid hitting heads! So, fortunately, we had the place to ourselves on the way down! Apparently most of the visitors come in groups (hence the lack of signage, I’m thinking…) and there are several authorized guides available for hire – which we did. Shaheen was a very good guide, and took the time to explain things to us and answer all of our questions – of which we had quite a few!

It seems that this particular underground city was initially excavated for two levels by the Hittites (about 2000 BC), who actually lived inside. Later, this same city was taken over by the Romans, and subsequently the Byzantines (up until about 1300 AD). The Romans excavated three more levels down, and the Byzantines 11 or 12. Both of these groups used the city in times of danger, particularly by the Byzantines to hide from the Persians. By the time the Byzantines were finished, there was an assembly hall, a church, a baptismal font and a necropolis. In times of trouble, they would take their livestock and themselves into the caves. Each family had a room for themselves, and there were communal cooking facilities on another level. The livestock were at the highest level, people down below. The planning that went into these defensive fortifications is amazing. First of all, the tunnels were low and narrow – so if an enemy was coming, they would have to go single file. Then, there we points when huge thick flat boulders were put into place that could be literally rolled across the passages and completely stop the enemy. Then, for added measure, there was a small spear hole in the boulder through which a spear could be strategically applied to the income enemy.
What made this city work, though, was the fact that there were artesian wells to provide a constant supply of water, and the clever folks had worked out ventilation systems and underground crossing passages to provide an excellent intake of circulating air and communication to all levels. Even when we were in the 7th level (which was as far as I wanted to go; you can go to 8 levels) the air was very fresh, was about the only thing that kept me from freaking out about being so far below ground! For some reason, I kept thinking about 1) earthquakes, and 2) the Chilean miners! So…difficult to keep everything together, but we really wanted to see what there was to see. My only comments are: Now that I’ve seen it once, I do NOT need to see it again, and I am having my doubts that I will ever see the inside of the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, AZ!

Recovered ourselves outside with tea for Robert and Coke for me. Very nice area, and of course lots of vendors. I do need to admit that we haven’t bought a thing yet…

Discussed if we wanted to do the Goreme Open Air Museum, which Sveta and Sameer saw yesterday and very much enjoyed (even though it was more than a bit damp) or take a drive to the far south of Cappadocia and see the little-visited by still lovely Ihlara Valley and Selime. As always, when comparing walking to driving, we chose driving; and a really beautiful drive it was! Hopefully the pictures will show you!
By then it was nearing lunchtime, so we decided to come back to Goreme for a late lunch. Parked downtown and went to the Cappodocia Pide Restaurant for the Turkish equivalent of pizza. We both had the cheese and mushroom, and they were delicious! No tomato sauce though, so it was more like a really good yellow cheese and mushroom sandwich on excellent flatbread; we watched them into the oven; just like in Italy!

By this time, I was falling asleep on my feet (not used to these long days!) so back to our cave for a nap for me, and some Caltech business for R. Up now, and enjoying a lovely afternoon in the sun!

More later!
m
xxx