Travel-World Photography
People in Cappadocia have carved their hoses into the rock for ages. This is made possible by the loose sedimentary rock that formed Cappadocia 60 million years ago. A whole "mountain" is perforated with carved out houses, sometimes so high up you may wonder how to reach their places. Some dwellings are still in use.
Houses have also been carved out in pillars of rock, a unique characteristics of the area. We visited one of those pillar houses.
But the most unique dwellings are found in the underground cities. We visited the Derinkuyu city , which is the largest underground in Turkey. The city extends to a depth of approximately 85 metres. It is large enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores. The city could be closed from the inside with large rolling stone doors. Each floor could be closed off separately. It had amenities such as wine and oil presses, stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, and chapels.
A large 55-metre ventilation shaft appears to have been used as a well. The shaft provided water to both the villagers above and, if the outside world was not accessible, to those in hiding.
