The underground city

--as usual, click all photos to enlarge--

In one of the cave kitchens, four floors beneath the earth

We went on a long tour today, hitting at least five interesting geological, historical, and religious sites. The first stop was the underground city, an enormous cave of interconnecting rooms, four stories of which are open to the public for exploration and to give us all a serious case of the willies. It was fascinating. And spooky. The underground city reaches down nine stories into the earth...a puzzling labyrinth with hundreds of tunnels connecting rooms on each level. Each floor contained dwellings and various public rooms, churches, wineries, cooking caves, and stairways leading up or down to the next level.

A room three stories down -click to enlarge

A ventilator shaft that goes down nine stories

The entire time I was in the cave, I was a little nervous about earthquakes, the possibility of an entire busload of tourists panicking and heading for the exits (the tunnels and staircases are rarely wider than two and a half feet). And then, what if the lights went out?! Without a torch, could you ever possibly escape? Well, as you see, I was a nervous nellie, because we made it out after an hour...

a staircase leading down to the next floor

More tomorrow-- my travelling partners, aka family, promise to pull up their slack and write about some of the other sites we saw and adventures we had today (like an amazing cave church in a remote mountain; a hike along the gorge, and a visit to a caravansary. Tomorrow morning, we travel via bus to Ankara (the capitol) for one night, and then fly off to I forget where for the next leg of the trip. In closing let me say that one thing I've learned on this trip is the enormous difference between a vacation and travelling...I have yet to put my feet up and read the weighty Melville tome I brought along. That will happen later in the trip. I hope!

Jack with a bouquet of wildflowers and poppies he picked for Keelin at a crater lake

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