| Cappadocia, Unique Land of Caves |
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| Cappadocia is Turkey's land of pure amazement, an extremely popular region for tourism. Volcanic rock led to all these wonders, because it could easily be carved into caves and underground cities. This is the Kale, a rock castle in Uchisar, full of tunnels and caves that were once used for housing. It's now unoccupied and open to tourists. I was perfectly satisfied with this wide shot of the Kale, including actual houses lying beneath it. Kale is an unusual neighbor. |
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| Nearby is the Goreme Open-Air Museum, full of caves that were used by early Christian communities. They needed protection from invading armies, and found it by carving into the rock. |
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| This is the opening to a Christian cave church. You can see the crosses which are prominently displayed. |
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| Inside one of the cave churches, it is still possible to make out a 1,000 year old Christian fresco. |
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| When truly threatened the Christians retreated into underground cities which they had carved. This is Derinkuyu, which means "deep well". It went down eight levels. On the left is a barrier rock which rolled right to block the entrance. It worked and entire communities survivied by literally going underground. |
| If you have a high speed internet connection, watch the Intrepid Berkeley Explorer's free streaming video of this trip, "What the Sultan Saw", by clicking on AdventurePics.com . |
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