The study tour around Cappadocia began with a trip to the Goreme Open Air Museum. Goreme was once a city which was carved into the Tufa stone that covers this area. There were actually people living in this town until the Turkish government had them move a little bit away from the site, so that the site would not be damaged anymore by daily living. This is the area of Turkey where monasteries first came into use in the Christian world. The Christian priests believed that if one were to separate themselves from the daily life as experienced by others, then there would be less chance for them to sin. This was a measure taken to protect their innocence and untainted souls. Goreme was carved out around the Byzantine Period, and shows signs of the art from this period in the churches that are abundant at this site.  We went into several churches, and we were able to see the difference between the frescos done by professionals and nonprofessionals. In most of the churches at this site, there was a Cappadocian cross. There was also the repeated image of the stylized version of Jesus on the cross with the two thieves beside him. This site did amaze me, however, due to the fact that all of these places were carved into the rock. There was thought about how the space was going to be used, and what had to be left so that more details could be put to use later. Goreme is also a UNESCO world heritage site. As we walked through this site, I felt like it would be difficult to live in this village. Everyone would have to live close together, and as you walked through an area, it wore down and became slicker, and harder to walk over. I could see myself falling from one of the buildings and doing some damage to myself.

After we went to Goreme, we went to the underground city, Derinkuya. This is a city that was formed by slowly scooping away at the Tufa stone which makes up most of this region. The city is well protected with mill stones, which would be used to close off passage ways, as well as having a good communication system within the city. Not only did the city have defenses, but the layout of these cities are not exactly easy to follow, and if you did not know where you were going, one could get very lost in the winding passageways. Derinkuyu was not just storage and housing, but it also had a church in the bottom level in the shape of an Assyrian Cross (slightly bent at the top, because they say that as Jesus died, his head leaned to one side). In the cross shaped church, a gallery was set up, which contained photos of the landscape in various parts of Turkey. As we walked around in the site, there were times when it was less walk and more crawl and bend. The tunnels at the site can get pretty narrow, and the ceiling seems to get closer and closer to the ground as the tunnel continues. Sometimes I wonder how people were able to get through these passages on a daily basis.

The second underground city, Kaymakli, was more interesting than the first city (or so I thought).  It was much easier to imagine people living in the second city. There were more rooms for living and storing. Also, the rooms seem to break off in random directions, which gave a more comb like feel instead of the straight through tunnels like the first. Because we were able explore the secondary rooms and tunnels, I felt like there was much to see. I loved climbing through the tunnels, even if we didn’t know where they went. I also felt like it would have been so easy to get lost in these rooms in the past. I wonder how people were able to climb through without the use of electric lights and flashlights. There were parts of the tunnel that were really small and narrow, which would make it very difficult to walk though holding a torch or something similar. I wonder if people would walk around in the dark, relying on the information they knew about where they lived. I don’t know if I would ever feel completely comfortable living at a place like this. I would have to bend down a lot to keep myself from hitting my head, and I would be a bit too wide for some of the tunnels we went through.

Location: Kilim Otel Dumlupinar Cad. No: 50, Urgup-Neveshir, Turkey