Underground cities and Mushroom Houses

Trip Start Jun 07, 2008
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Trip End Jun 28, 2009


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Thursday, September 25, 2008

This morning after the balloon ride, Levent took us to another town to see a huge underground city. It was built by the Hittites in the 4th century and had 8 floors below the ground. They used it to hide from the Arabs from Saudi Arabia because they were farmers and not fighters and did not want to get killed. But even in the underground cities, some people died from disease because they did not have a place for their toilets and dead bodies and things. We went down to the 4th floor - that was as far as we could go - and it was creepy. We had to crawl through tiny tunnels. I am very glad I live in these times instead of back then.

We also went to see the house of Hassen, who is a friend of Leven'ts. Hassen and his wife and two kids live in the summer in the cave house where Hassen was born, then live in an apartment in the town during the winter. Their cave house was very nice, full of carpets and had a small kitchen, a living room where the mother weaves carpets and things, and a bedroom that everyone shares On top of Mushroom City!
On top of Mushroom City!
 . There were lots of photos on the walls of Ataturk, who is the first president of Turkey, Levent says that almost everyone in Turkey has a photo of him in their house, even Levent!

I also rode a Turkish camel, which is still a dromedary, but is much bigger and more muscular than the camels in Morocco. Dad, Lu, and I rode it together - it was cool. He had a ladder for us to get on and off. This camel had a lot of spit - and looked very proud and tough. Levent told us that they have camel wrestling in Turkey, but it is not the season now. I would like to see that!

This afternoon after lunch, we went to see some more rock formations that look giant mushrooms. Dad and I climbed up inside one of the mushrooms. First we climbed up a ladder, then some stone stairs. Once we got inside, we had to climb up a narrow square shaft, like a chimney. There were foot holds carved into the stone and we had to shimmy our way up. At the top there was another room with a little window. When we looked out the window, we could see that we were very high up, about 50 feet! It was a straight drop down. It was hard going back down, too, because the shaft was dark. It used to be a house for someone a long time ago. I got some scratches but was glad I did it. Cappadochia is an awesome place - I wish we were not leaving tomorrow!
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