Troglodytic week Thursday Part II: Underground city

Thursday Part II: Underground city
Cappadocia is made from volcanic ash called “Tuff.” It is relatively soft, as stone goes, so it is easy to, say, carve a church out of the rock, or carve homes into the caves. It is also, apparently, relatively easy to carve deep into the ground. Around 4000 years ago, Hittite peoples in the region dug entire underground cities. After ballooning, we went to Kaymakli. This underground carving was used by successive civilizations after the Hittites as a place of retreat when under military threat. It is 5 stories deep, it has living rooms, light wells, wineries. It is a complex place. It is also, to someone with a slight bit of Claustrophobia, totally terrifying. It took two mini buses to get there, but we arrived at Kaymakli still high from our balloon flight. We were beginning to crash a bit, and giggled that we probably wouldn’t stay respectably long. We are often a little embarrassed at how quickly we go through museums and historical sites. We guessed we would stay just under an hour. Andrew checked the time. Then we used the bathroom, bought tickets, talked with someone who wanted to be our tour guide (no thanks) and walked the distance to the entrance. As we walked down into the entrance I thought, “hey this is pretty cool.” Then we went in deeper. Once I got a few rooms into the complex I realized I was stuck, underground, in a dark ancient place with only one exit, and didn’t know where that exit was. To be fair there is a “path” marked with red arrows.
If you follow the red arrows you will see a lot of the city and eventually end up outside again, the question was how long would that take? To move between rooms you have to bend over as you walk (I have started singing, “walk like a troglodyte” to the tune of Walk Like an Egyptian, it enhances the experience around here) I got into a largish room, took a deep breath, and found a Spanish family with two little kids. The kids were really excited to be playing in caves. They didn’t seem freaked at all. (Granted, they didn’t have to bend over to walk either)

I told myself that if the kids were having fun, I was having fun. Plus, I didn’t want to start panicking in front of them; that would be bad. Andrew and I followed the family through the rest of the rooms, climbing into side rooms and noticing how elaborate this “city” really was. The little boy in the family thought it was really cool that there could be ghosts down in the caves and tried to make ghost noises. Well, if there is one thing that Andrew is truly excellent at, it is making booming deep ghost noises. The little boy loved it.

We took a video to give you an idea of the scope and feel of the place. Andrew kept hitting his head on the tunnel tops, it really was hard to navigate.

Kaymakli underground "city" from Kate Bedford on Vimeo.

Finally, I started to sense a literal “light at the end of the tunnel” I tried to stay calm, no point in panicking after I made it this far. We finally exited and took a deep breath. The kids were still excited posing for pictures with their dad on the rocks. We walked to an open area nearby to try to calm our nerves. We tried to make it look like we were just checking out the outside of the complex rather then breathing though panic. We looked at our watch. It had been 35 minutes from when we checked it last. My best guess is that we lasted just under 25 minutes underground. That was plenty long enough.



Now we are staying in a cave, but the experience is very different from being in Kaymakli. I thought I would do a side by side comparison.


Our Cave ………….Their Cave
High ceilings ………low ceilings (Andrew’s head may never be the same)
Windows to the outside ………….5 story ventilation shafts
Designed for fun and tourist romance …….. Designed as retreat when under attack
Modern bathroom facilities……… You don’t want to know
Carpark just outside……….underground stables
Lots of people waiting to help you with whatever you need……….lots of people outside trying to kill you