In addition to the rocks of whimsical shapes, the region of Capadocia has another spectacular tourist attraction, the underground cities.

leaving Göreme; destination Kaymakli.

Kaymakli

Kaymakli is one of the most famous and wonderful underground cities of ** Capadocia ** and is also the largest. It is located at a distance of about 20 km from both Nevsehir and Göreme, two of the main "tourist basecamp" to visit the Cappadocia. Which turns out to be a half an hour journey by car or about 4 hours in the unlikely event that you decide to go on foot.

Road to Kaymakli Underground City.

A small town between Göreme and Kaymakli.

Our advice is to ignore the pessimistic advice of travel agencies, getting to Kaymakli with your own vehicle is relatively easy.

In addition If you have your own vehicle you can get to Kaymakli early and in this way avoid the organized tours. In fact, when we visited the Kaymakli Underground city we were practically alone so we could make a lot of photos and this silly video.

meeting again in Kaymakli.

The structure that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site is very well preserved, considering that its origins go back more than 5000 years, specifically to the Hittite and Phrygian periods, in B.C 3000.

There are several theories on why there are so many underground cities in the Capadocia region . Apparently, the inhabitants of this area of ​​Anatolia, taking advantage of the soft volcanic rock, built this splendid underground city around their homes for security reasons. This way, each time an attack occurred, they could temporarily use these private tunnels in order to protect themselves.

In addition, it was used by the first Christians who lived in the region. So today, we see that there is a church, a cemetery, stables, living spaces and communal kitchens within this impressive structure. It is also believed that approximately 3,500 people once lived here.

The city was opened to visitors in 1964, but only 4 of the 8 levels are usable.

Although it is highly recommended to hire a guide to better understand what we are visiting, it is perfectly feasible to visit the underground city on our own. You will notice red and blue arrows throughout the caves; red arrows means going down with and blue arrows is going up.

Useful information:

• Entry fee: 25TL (on July 16, 2018)
• Time: comfortably watch it in one hour, 90 minutes maximum. (Plus the 30 minute journey in each direction).
• Warnings: You will cross narrow tunnels

Kaymakli Underground City's narrow tunnels.

See you on the next post!

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All pictures by @jduarte

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diseño de @carloscabeza