“Some 1,500 buildings were destructed located in and around the Nevşehir fortress, and the underground city was discovered when the earthmoving to construct new buildings had started,” according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Cappadocia is a region in Anatolia, located largely in the Nevşehir Province in central Turkey. Centuries of volcanic action coated the landscape with layers of lava and volcanic ash; nearby Erciyas volcano still experiences minor eruptions. Over time, strong wind and rainfall sculpted the rock into deep valleys and soaring towers (called “chimneys”) into which people – as far back as the 4th century CE – carved homes, chapels, tombs, temples and entire subterranean cities to safeguard from hostile invaders. Together with Göreme National Park, these fantastically formed sites comprise one of Turkey’s eleven World Heritage Sites.

Nevşehir province is already famous for the incredible underground city at Derinkuyu; the image above suggests what Derinkuyu underground may have looked like, with areas bespoke for sleeping and cooking, livestock stables and communal rooms, wells, water tanks, ventilation shafts, communal rooms, and tombs. (image from Wikimedia Commons).

This complex human ant-farm carved below the surface was once home to about 20,000 residents. It is eleven levels deep with 600 identified entrances. Miles of tunnels connected it to other underground cities. Now archaeologists are saying that the newly discovered city will be the largest of all the Nevşehir underground cities and may be the largest in the world.

“Hasan Ünver, mayor of Nevşehir, said other underground cities in Nevşehir’s various districts do not even amount to the “kitchen” of this new underground city,” reports Hurriyet Daily News.

TOKİ has said it will now move their development project to the outskirts of the city so that the ancient site can be investigated and preserved. TOKİ Head Mehmet Ergün Turan told Hurriyet Daily News that they do not view this as a loss considering the importance of the discovery ($38 million had been invested to date).

Lead image of Derinkuyu underground city and image of the cave houses of Cappadocia from BigStockPhoto 

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The safety of the balloon industry is again questioned in the wake of a hot air balloon crash near Cappadocia, Turkey today that killed two, officials announced. Some 23 other tourists from Brazil, Spain and Argentina have been injured as the hot air balloon hit another’s basket mid-air while drifting over volcanic rock formations.

This is the second fatal incident for Turkey’s hot air balloon industry in the region – active for about 10 years. When I travelled to Cappadocia 14 years ago, there were no balloons for hire, at least none that I could see in sight.

Another major hot air balloon crash took place in Egypt this year when a hot air balloon caught fire, killing 19 tourists as it hit the ground.

Green Prophet’s Laurie was recently on a hot air balloon ride in Turkey, where she took some stunning photos.

Hot air ballooning is a gentle way to see our world’s beauty from above, but better safety standards might better be put into place to avoid more accidents as this mode of transport becomes more popular.

But let’s put the crash into proportion. Every day we hear of a bus crash, car accident or biking incident that kills tourists. 

In the recent Turkish accident most of the surviving victims suffered bone breaks. One witness E. Wayne Ross riding in another hot air balloon told CTV news that the crash happened early in the morning, as some 100 hot air balloons took off to the skies.

“We could hear the radio chatter and we knew something was happening. There was a frantic urgent transmission: ‘Release your parachute! Release your parachute!” said Ross, whose balloon was some 200 metres (yards) away from the vessel that crashed.

“It was probably some 300 metres in the air and it descended increasingly rapidly to the ground,” he said in a telephone interview. “There was a large tear in the fabric, probably some 10 to 15 metres long.”

After the crash he reported one person on the ground with others inside the basket as ambulances arrived to the scene. Before the crash his wife had told him that she thought the balloons were travelling too close to each other.

The owner of the hot air balloon company Anatolian Balloons said one of the victims died from a heart attack, and the second while being treated at hospital.

Above is illustration image of hot air ballooning over Cappadocia.

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Gripped by a longstanding love affair with the region, visual artist Aili Schmeltz spent last summer in the Ibrahimpasa village documenting the homes of more than a dozen cave dwellers. She collected hours of audio footage and thousands of images, four of which she has shared with us. Within the next year, she hopes to arrange her work in a book that will help save this priceless heritage.

“My fascination with Cappadocia began as a freshman in college when I stumbled upon a book about vernacular architecture entitled Prodigious Buildersby Bernard Rudofsky,” Schmeltz told us in an email interview. “The book introduced me to the cave dwellings of Cappadocia that have captivated and mesmerized me ever since,” she adds.

Despite its harsh environment, the Cappadocia cave dwellers have been eking out a modest living for millennia.

“The area is most famous for its occupation of Christian settlers who fled to the area to escape persecution from the Romans,” according to Schmeizt. The occupants were entirely self-sufficient and developed an intricate network of living and storage spaces with protective, sealed entrances.

After raising funds through the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform, Schmeltz eventually managed to visit 13 personal dwellings, 20 historical cave sites (including a vast underground city) and a series of recently-modernized spaces that have never been inhabited.

“The project would not have been possible without the help of Mehmet Bozlak, a native of the area who runs Bozlak Travel in Göreme,” says Schmeltz.” He served as translator, friend, tour guide, historian and bridge into a culture and people inaccessible to a Western woman such as myself.”

While the project essentially went as planned and the LA-based artist was able to collect more footage than she needed for the next phase of the Lives in Cappadocia project, she says that she came away with so much more than she could have hoped – largely thanks to the spirit of the local people.

“The interiors of the homes were very colorful, many covered in layers of beautiful rugs and tapestries, not at all what I imagined a cave dwelling to look like inside.T he stories that were told about the histories of the homes too were very interesting, many of family histories and local legends, the history of the area was and continues to be complex.. if only those rocks could talk!”

In addition to satiating her own curiosity, Schmeltz hopes that her upcoming book, prints, drawings, writings and digital collages will contribute to a greater preservation initiative she says is needed to preserve a fading cultural and social heritage.

“I feel strongly that this project has lasting importance and contribution to not only the field of art, but also to wide stretching studies of culture, history, and sociology. The cave dwellers of Cappadocia are rapidly disappearing, while the tourism industry is expanding at a rapid pace, displacing families that have lived in these caves for hundreds of years,” she writes.

The World Heritage Site website claims that “although the area has been extensively used and modified by man for centuries the resulting landscape is one of harmony and consideration of the intrinsic values of the natural landforms.” But development has challenged this tradition – a theme that is at the very crux of her creative exploration during Schmeltz’s enlightened sojourn.

“This project is unique to these people and place, this hasn’t been done before,” writes the artist. “It will resonate as both an art piece and a document of a time that is quickly passing.”

all images via Aili Schmeltz

More on Caves and Cappadocia:
The Epitome of Sustainable Architecture: 700 Year Old Iranian Cave Homes
Selçuklu Evi Ecoish Boutique Hotel in Turkey 
Stay Cool in Turkey’s 5 Star Underground Yunak Evleri Hotel

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We were quite taken with these long-standing caves in Iran, and with this eco-boutique hotel in Turkey, but neither match the style of the restored Yunak Evleri hotel in Cappadocia. With fixings such as marble in the reception area, it isn’t the most modest tourism facility we have featured, but we do love to see history, nature, and travel merge in creative harmony. Once a sextet of cave houses carved out of soft limestone, a little cleanup and modern conveniences were added to this 5th-6th century marvel to produce a 21st century luxury hotel.

In 2000, the Yunak Evleri’s owners reclaimed the 5th and 6th century cave dwellings with the aim of creating a 30-roomed luxury hotel. The dining and reception area are set apart from the caves in a reclaimed 19th century Greek mansion complete with marble tiles.

“The name of the neighbourhood “YUNAK” comes from the old days when women used to do all their washing and of course, socialising by the fountain located at the village square. Being by the fountain and at the Yunak was the center of daily life,” according to the hotel’s website.

By adding plumbing, lighting, Wi-Fi, and modern entertainment such as a home theater, guests can enjoy a taste of history without completely leaving their comfort zone. Each of the rooms is accentuated with Ottoman antiques and includes a personal spa and patio, from where visitors can view the surrounding mesa.

Located in the center of Ürgüp, nearby a motley of cave houses and churches – some restored, others not – visitors have ample opportunity to go “cave-hopping.” And then in the evenings, exhausted from their underground pursuits, guests are invited to enjoy mellow sunsets in Yunak Evleri’s lush, candlelit common area beside a gentle outdoor fire.

Sounds irresistible, no?

:: Inhabitat

More eco-tourism in Turkey:

Daridere Resort and Camping Area a New Turkish Eco Tourist Spot

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