Day 16 26th April Derinkuyu

 Woken again this morning to the dulcet tones of the gas burners in the Hot air balloons just outside the window and then i had to take another dozen photos.




Another lovely day and not too chilly.

Today’s adventure will take us out to the Derinkuyu underground city about 30 mins outside Göreme.

Yesterday we made an arrangement with one of our Taksi drivers to take us out there and i think somewhere in the translation, he will wait for us and bring us home.

Good Sunday for him i think.


Again super crowded, although they mostly appear to be locals.

Paid our €13 for the pleasure and made our way into the abyss.


There said to be hundreds of these underground “citys” in this area, 40+ having more than 3 levels. This one at Derinkuyu has 8-10 levels up to 85m down. It is said to have connections to nearby 7-8km) Kamakli, the second biggest. Writings of them date back to 370bc, and are thought to predate this. Deserted at the 1920’s purge and forgotten for decades. 


Derinkuyu is said to have held up to 20000 persons for months. There is a complex system of stables, storage, wells and ventilation. 

We were able to make it down as far as the church, which is on the 5th level. Note the stone circular door that could be closed against raiders. 
















Made our way back to town with our very happy Taksi driver. We stopped for a few photos of pigeon valley and Uçhisar. 

Rather than going straight back to Hotel, we had a little wander and a coffee.





We really dont have any plans for this afternoon and we are back to town a lot earlier than anticipated.


We took advantage of that and had a pretty quiet afternoon.


Up onto our favourite terrace about 5 pm for Apple tea and a bit of writing.


Dinner in the Hotel again tonight, it is very nice and so convenient.

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