There is one very interesting place in Turkey, completely unrelated to beach tourism, filled with amazing man-made and natural attractions. This is the historical region of Cappadocia, located almost in the center of the Asia Minor peninsula. The administrative capital of the ancient region is Nevsehir, but its true tourist center is the small town of Goreme.
The territory of Goreme National Park is up to 300 km². This area is literally dotted with bizarre rocks, reminiscent of the outlines of magic chambers or mushrooms. The highlight of Cappadocia is that the local mountain formations from the inside are filled with cave settlements, churches, underground cities.
It is believed that the Apostle Paul himself called these lands an ideal place for a righteous life.
The reason for the appearance of the outlandish landscape is the soft volcanic tuff, of which the foundations of the local rocks are composed. As a result of volcanic activity about 65 million years ago, this area was covered with erodible rocks.
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For thousands of years, the mountain ranges of Cappadocia were blown by the winds and washed by fast rivers, gradually turning by our time into fabulous mushroom rocks. In some places, massive caps of "mushrooms" made of solid andesite or basalt are barely held on to thin tall tuff legs.
Already in antiquity, people noticed how easy the local tuff was hand-processed, and they began to slowly gouge passages and caves in the rocks of Cappadocia (during the Hittites in the Bronze Age).
Endless political crises, terrible wars and religious persecution contributed to the influx of new refugees who were looking for a secluded corner to create their own cells. Due to the rather difficult terrain, most of the aggressors bypassed the outlandish rocky massif, the cave population multiplied, and real underground cities appeared on the site of lonely hermitages.
Of the six explored cities of Cappadocia, Derinkuyu is considered the most famous and accessible. The mountain village with an area of about 2.5 km² with a population of up to 15,000 inhabitants was located on eight levels, the lower of which was cut down at a depth of 60 m. Researchers note good ventilation and lighting in the tunnels, and numerous convenient passages are laid between the levels.
The temperature in the "anthill" is stable at 13 ° -15 °. There was a 20x9 m church in the city, stables, warehouses, a winery, a religious school, and a spacious hall for general gatherings. Derinkuyu, although it stood apart, had a 9 km tunnel for communication with the neighboring settlement of Kaymakly.