Derinkuyu and Kaymakli Underground Citie

I know I’ve used the words mind-blowing and mysterious a lot in my recent journals of Cappadocia.. But these two underground cities take the prize for the most mind-blowing and unbelievable. Mainly because there is such limited known history about them. And seemingly no interest from mainstream historians in researching it.

In modern times, a farmer discovered a hidden tunnel in 1963 while renovating his basement. It turned out to be a vast city with 8 levels and a depth of 85m and could hold up to 20,000 people. Located directly under a modern town that had been built in the area completely oblivious to it being below them. And if that isn’t enough, it’s now believed that there are up to 200 of these “underground cities” across Turkey!

The various versions of who and why they were used range from the Pyrigians in the Bronze Age to escape the extremes of weather, to Christians during the Roman and Ottoman empires to escape persecution. However, who originally built them and how they did so has me in awe!

I’ve been so keen to see these cities for myself after watching Graeme Hancock’s Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse. On our last day before we departed on the overnight bus we hired a car and headed down to Derinkuyu. The first thing that struck me was that this was barely even a tourist attraction. It had a ticket office and a turnstile but there were no frills at all to this. We descended into the tunnels that wound us down the 8 levels. Various rooms and interconnecting staircases seamlessly crisscrossed across levels and living areas. I just couldn’t fathom how this had been designed and built all below the surface with stone-age tools. A system of air vents provided fresh air to all levels. There is even a system of large stone disks that have been cut out at certain points that can be rolled across the tunnel to block sections of tunnel, like airlocks or security barriers.

After spending about an hour exploring the tunnels, and ignoring claustrophobia and my increasing lower back pain, we drove about 10 minutes to Kaymakli. Surprisingly a much more established tourist site. There was an official entrance building and information posted around about the site. We were greeted by a short informative film that explained how the different areas were used as communal kitchens and smaller living areas for families. Animals were known to be stored in the upper levels and the large storage rooms were used as pantries. But still no mention of who and how they were dug originally. We explored Kaymakli for about another hour before my back and brain couldn’t take any more. What a truly unbelievable place!Read more