Southern Green

Today you will begin with a visit to the remarkable Underground city of Kaymakli, we will take a 40-minute drive to see a primitive engineering achievement features a maze of tunnels and rooms carved eight levels deep into the earth. Feels like wandering through a gigantic sponge. An estimated 60,000 people lived for periods of up to three months and there are over 200 underground cities in Cappadocia, most of them are connected through underground pathways. Each rock settlement had access to the safe sanctuary of these underground dwellings by way of a secret underground passageway that would provide swift and unseen escape in times of emergency. In fact, an access tunnel can still be found on just about every villager’s property. Every crucial entry point into the city was either camouflaged or blocked by a keystone, a large stone wheel that, once fixed in place, was immovable. Stout rolling-stone doors prevented invaders from entering, deep wells provided water and tall chimney ventilations to allow steam to rise.

The tour will then visit natural landmark of Ortahisar Castle and Cavusin Old Village Ruins, an old Christian village, where you will see a triple apse church and the Monastery of St. John the Baptist. The day’s touring includes lunch and an easy grade, three kilometer hike through the Red Valley, inaccessible by automobile and providing absolutely breathtaking scenery. Sandstone landscape can be everything from a light pinkish grey to peachy orange depending on how the light hits it. It’s undoubtedly one of the best hikes in Turkey – if not the best. If you only have time to do one hike, then this should be it.