Monday, April 29, 2013

Y---Yeralti Sehri



Yeralti Sehri is an amazing underground city in Derinkuyu province ,Cappadocia ,Turkey. The inhabitants of the region took shelter in this city from the raids of Arab armies. In Byzantine times it contained a full complex of food stores,kitchen,stables,schools,churches ,wells, wine and oil presses and much more. The underground city had a total of 13 level subdivisions spread over eight main levels. The total depth is 85meters under the ground with many shafts opening at the ground level.It had the capacity of accommodating around 20,000 people at a time.
The city aptly translated as 'dark well' ,is the largest known example of troglodyte living in Cappadocia. Eight of the levels are open to public ,with the lowest level at the depth of 54m ( 177ft).

                                    Planning of the underground city...
                     
                       
Vents doubled up as entrances as well as ventilators for the city. There are numerous vents that open up to the ground above .
                                       This is how the vents look like ...
                                             
                               

                       Various tunnels open up into numerous interconnected chambers.


We were told that this was the school in the olden times ,where scholars  conducted their classes .


The young tour guide played a prank on us.. He dared us to enter the small narrow tunnel (in pic below),and warned us that it was extremely dark and claustrophobic inside.Unable to resist the dare, I entered through one of the openings and within seconds came out of the other  :D



 This tunnel felt like it would never end. Thankfully, it was one of those few which had lights to guide us. One constant thought that stayed with me was that if I were a few more inches than my present frame,I would probably have stayed on top and not have ventured below. It was thrilling to go deeper and deeper down,exploring the underground levels but by the time we reached about 54m it was scary .It was amazing that we did not experience lack of oxygen even at the lowest permissible floor.Various vents maintained ventilation at the levels. I have to admit that the climb while on our way back ,required will power..a lot of it !

   
                   The underground city - Yeraltı şehri  Ağırnas/Kayseri ***

Those rare moments when I am glad that I am vertically challenged !! The tunnels were much less than five feet in height and even I had to bend ! This gentleman had to double up..
                                             
 There was light at the end of this tunnel ....


Saddened to see that miscreants and love birds did not think twice before damaging this heritage !
                                             
                                       

A to Z Challenge [2013]

19 comments:

  1. Amazing... Now that's a place to go if u want to lie low for a while ! :D

    PhenoMenon

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  2. I would feel claustrophobic here...but, thanks for bringing the world to us.

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  3. Wow - fascinating. But just reading about it made me claustrophobic! :(

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  4. Wow, an underground city! That would be one place I would definitely want to visit.
    Bhavya
    Just Another Blog

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  5. Wow, never knew of this one. Dunno if I am up for it though....I like water bodies more.

    Dropping in from A2Z
    BlogwatiG

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  6. Wow...how unusual? and unbelievable!

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  7. Amazing and so very fascinating! Thanks for sharing it!

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  8. Thanks, for the information, it was very interesting to read, never heard about this before, thanks for sharing !

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  9. Wow Sharmila!! Thats a learning from today's post. Had never heard of such place before. You did a fab job by taking us on a virtual tour!

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  10. I am really claustrophobic. I wonder if I would have been able to do that. But it was such an interesting read :)

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  11. I would have been dead scared !!
    Micreants and love birds every where . SIGH !
    This is truly one heck of a place. Thanks for letting us know

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  12. Wow a whole city underground, that must be something to see. Thanks for sharing.

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  13. Wow.. I didnt hear of this place earlier... sounds quite interesting !

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  14. I quickly feel frightened in closed spaces. I admire your courage. Your posts take us to so many corners of the world that we didn't know of.

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  15. wow- never knew of it before; thank you so much for sharing with us sharmila. and yes it is indeed a pity that miscreants mar the beauty of the treasured heritage- same story all over the world. sigh !

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  16. Fascinating! That 'light at the end of the tunnel line made me smile'. :)

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  17. Loved reading about this! I just love historical structures! You were brave to go through one of the dark tunnels!

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