Green Tour

There are quite a few tour companies in Cappadocia. Realizing the large number of tourists and the major destinations that everyone wants to visit, the tour companies have devised several tours that all companies offer so as to keep people from having to miss or duplicate locations. The two most popular are designated the Red Tour and the Green Tour. No matter which tour company you take, these tours all include the same activates and destinations. Our first day here we took the Red Tour, the next one we took was the Green Tour.

Our Green Tour guide was a young, petite and feisty woman named Tuba. She was very good with her English and her history. Our fellow tour members included Jeff who was a guy traveling alone from Mauritius, a newly engaged couple from DC, an older couple from Canada, a young couple from Singapore, a couple women from Hong Kong, a guy from Spain, and a couple Turkish girls. As usual, we were the first to be picked up. The rest of the group was all picked up at the same time in the cave town of Göreme. 

This tour first landed us at Derinkuyu, which was the deepest excavated underground city in Cappadocia. Derinkuyu is only one of many extensive subterranean dwellings containing many secret tunnel passages that various peoples utilized for shelter over the centuries. There are hundreds of these homes in the region, but Derinkuyu is the most famous. At a depth of more than 250 feet, with a capacity of up to 20,000 people, this multi-leveled city contained everything an entire population would need to survive through a history riddled with invasions. 

Cut-away rendering of the Derinkuyu underground city

The discovery of the subterranean dwellings occurred in 1963 during the renovation of a surface home. When a wall caved in, an underground room that led to a subterranean passageway opened up. Upon exploration of the passageway, the workers realized that it led even further into a deep labyrinth. It was an astonishing find. Within the enormous eighteen levels of the city (only eight are accessible), researchers found kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, food storage rooms, oil and wine presses, wells, weapons storage areas, churches, schools, tombs, and domestic animal stables. 

Underground city air shaft

There were rooms of varying sizes for different needs. Small spaces turned out to be rock-cut tombs, while large spaces provided the ideal rooms for community meetings and schools. It is evident that the people planned to be completely self-sufficient. More than fifty ventilation shafts brought in air from above, while thousands of smaller ducts distributed air throughout the entire city.

Although Tuba led our group through the city, we were relatively free to explore a bit ourselves. The rooms were all connected with an elaborate system of passageways that seemed to never end. Entering what looked to be a small bedroom may have a

narrow opening at the back which led to a whole new area or perhaps another level. Sometimes the passageways between levels were large enough to stand up in, others we had to squat and wobble though like a duck, but they all eventually opened back up into normal height rooms. I can best describe the place as a child's greatest dream come true. What a playground! At least it would have been for me. It was a nearly endless fort full of secret passageways.

 The only drawback to the whole adventure is that the researchers never found any kind of bathroom, indicating that all the waste for hundreds of people had to be hand carried to the surface in buckets. Makes me wonder who got stuck with that job. 

Our second stop for the day was the Ihlara Valley, which was another remarkable surprise considering we were in the middle of a desert. Ihlara Valley is possibly one of Turkey’s most stunning natural landscapes. The 8½ mile long gorge reaches over 300 feet deep in most places.  Historians have uncovered human dwellings and cave churches that led them to believe the valley was home to a large community of people for many centuries.

The Melindiz River winds through the canyon floor, and it was along its banks that we hiked. It was beautiful. Lush with vegetation, this place stood out against the desert landscape just above the canyon walls. We explored the remains of a cave church that still had an impressive amount of fresco paintings covering the ceiling and walls. Other caves could be seen scattered through the unique rock formations and groves of poplar trees.

Half way down the hike we stopped at a rest area with little cabanas built over the water. Each one was decorated with carpets and pillows and a table making a very relaxing place to rest after a strenuous hike through the canyon. Vendors sold drinks and food for a refreshing snack.

After a short break, we continued the hike through the gorge oasis. We crossed man made bridges and listened to birds as they flew between the gurgling waters and the many carved cave openings in the canyon walls.

At the end of our trek, a restaurant was built alongside the river, this was our destination for lunch. We had a nice meal under a large covered area just as a light rain came down around us. After lunch we were back on the bus and on our way to the Selime Monastery.

The monastery at Selime is an astonishing rock-cut structure incorporating a vast kitchen with a soaring chimney, three churches, stables with rock-carved feed troughs, and other evidence of the troglodyte lifestyle.

Selime Monastery is one of the largest religious buildings in

Cappadocia, with a cathedral-size church. Inside the cathedral there are two rows of rock columns, which divide the cathedral into three sections. The size of the church is astonishing. The columns and arches of the church are cut directly from the stone within the Selime monastery, and still bear the tell-tale markings of various generations that once occupied it. Rudimentary icons from the early days can be seen more clearly, but the detailed frescoes which were painted later are barely visible after many years and many layers of soot from when the Turks used the room for cooking. It also contains monks’ quarters, a large kitchen, and even a stable for mules. The walls of the chambers were at one time adorned with frescoes, but little of these remain intact. From the road, there is a short but challenging climb up a steep and slippery hill to the monastery.

On the way up to the monastery, one must pass through a tunnel-like corridor, which was part of the caravan path on which camels walked. The camel caravans came for a stopover as there was a large bazaar there, and for protection, the camels were led to the central part of the monastery.

The top section has a fortress-like structure, the walls and trenches of

which are still visible today. It also includes some secret passageways and a series of twisting, ever-steeper rock stairway-ladders. The monastery also has a courtyard, which was the section where important religious and military meetings were held.

We climbed in and up and around and through the many passages and rooms and only covered a small part of the carved compound before our time ran out. 

The tour led us to a couple more views of different canyons and valleys, and ended up at the Onyx Jewelry Factory for a short tour and sales pitch.

It was a long and tiring day, yet one filled with excitement and wonder. It was truly amazing to see what such ancient societies were able to accomplish with no modern technology of any kind.