Derinkuyu underground city and Soganli

At Derinkuyu in the Cappadocia region is a network of underground caves which have not been fully excavated but which stretch for miles and are at least 8 stories deep and housed up to 20,000 people. In fact under several villages in the region these underground bunkers are found. They are thought to have been inhabited by early Christians in the region escaping persecution, but they actually predate them.
After exploring the caves we drove to the Soganli Valley. The craggy, pointy landscape was littered with cave dwellings and numerous cave churches. Contemporary inhabitants were living and farming from ugly concrete houses often now using the old cave dwellings as sheds or barns. The valley was silent and we parked for the night at an empty but beautiful restaurant on the river amongst this ancient cave city. We trekked around the ruins in the morning, almost falling through a hole into 'the hidden church'.
This is a gorgeous day out where you can trek around the cave churches and relax in one of the family run restaurants, sitting in the orchard with hobbit houses lying at the bottom of the garden and massive, ancient olive trees lining the banks of the river which flows through the green valley.Read more