Underground Cities In Cappadocia

"The great underground dwellings of Cappadocia... We know of them because of that chicken that ran away and its owner who followed it through the never ending tunnels of the underground city..." as some of the locals would tell you.

City or Shelter?

Of course the underground cities probably have been in existence for as long as people needed protection from invading armies. Underground cities of Cappadocia surely will remind you of bomb shelters, it's just that they were built thousands of years ago...

It's a rather recent discovery that the people in the past have used the underground cities to hide from invading armies while the soldiers fought their battles in Cappadocia. We're used to the fact that when armies invaded a region in the past, they went for the castle that housed the soldiers and the lord of that area. Well, good luck finding them in Cappadocia in this maze of valleys and tunnels as they've used a different tactic. The people of Cappadocia didn't have sturdy building materials so they used the soft rock formations in their favour; they carved out places to hide for their families while the men could stand and fight outside. Numerous underground cities with maze like tunnel systems with guards and traps and big stone doors ensured the safety of the civilians as the soldiers used the knowledge of the topography to their advantage by possibly surprising the enemy by coming out of the valleys to skirmish them.

The Famous Underground Cities

The important underground cities of the region are found in the towns Kaymakli, Derinkuyu and Ozkonak with Kaymakli being the largest and Derinkuyu being the deepest of them all.

The underground cities are a must see when and if you visit Cappadocia so make sure you have enough time.