Foto-Friday: Derinkuyu Underground City, Cappadocia, Turkey

Yeah... and there's 36 of them. They're believed to have originally been built by the Hittites which would put them at 5-6000 years old. Imagine an Egyptian or Persian army invading...and no one is there. Suddenly a few thousand guys pop up out of holes in the ground, over an area of several square miles. Brilliant.

Later the early Christians used them to hide from the Roman armies. Just roll the wheels to block off the passages, crack open the wine...

It's estimated that this one city alone has 600 entrances, hidden in courtyards, under houses, etc.

And there are 36 underground cities.

They're really not that bad. In the steeper passages they've installed stairs for safety, and most of it is lit. When we got to the dark parts out came the lighters, cell phones... next time I take a damn flashlight.

Hey, it is nice and cool down there...

That's pretty much what it is. There's only so much you can do when you're in a tunnel cut through rock with very little light. You're seeing what I saw.

There were a bunch of those stones. They could essentially seal off the whole city. We tried to move one - the damn thing wouldn't budge.

I'm thinking the early Christians added the winery, though there is ample evidence of wine and beer making in Hittite culture.

What, the wine? Nah, that predates Christianity by thousands of years.

Turkey is most likely the cradle of civilization.

Yeah, pretty much everybody has been here.

The cost isn't that bad. The plane ticket is the only real expense. Once you get there, everything is cheap.

Absolutely. The place is like one big outdoor museum, and the people are fantastic.

I've been here for six years, and seen a lot, but really, I haven't even scratched the surface.

Yeah, and there are 35 others that may all be connected. They've found connections between some, but there's still a lot that hasn't been explored.

Hey, fresh spring water, fresh air, safety...and wine.

(The wine is for the claustrophobia).

I look at it from the point of view of the early Christians.

Down here we've got air, water, food, and wine. Up there we've got Roman Centurions who want to kill us.

Pass the bottle.

Not a bad place to not get killed by a Centurion, huh?

You'd love it here, man. More of Greece was in Anatolia than in Greece itself.

Only the tunnels are tiny. Most of the rooms are pretty big.

Yeah, it's really weird when you're in there. You go down a bit, there's a room. You go down some more, there's a room. At some point, you realize that you've spent a lot of time walking downhill, and that's when you start to realize just how massive the place is - and wonder how much rock is over your head.