Cappadocia, Days 2 & 3 - Derinkuyu Underground Museum, Uchisar, Goreme Open Air Museum

Driving to Derinkuyu

Hello readers, apologies for the prolonged delay for my unfinished Turkey budget trip. Got busy in various engagements. I just want to dive in straight to our Day 2 itinerary in Cappadocia where had planned to to drive to Derinkuyu town where there is an ancient multi-storeyed underground city in the Nevsehir province. We had a typical Turkish breakfast (with most of the items missing) and left Goreme. It took about 45 minutes by car to reach Derinkuyu from Goreme. This underground city is said to have housed a population as large as 20,00 along with food & livestock & is almost 85 m deep. It has chapels, storage rooms.

These subterranean settlements commonly referred to as "underground cities" because the region had been subjected to frequent raids, are some of the cultural highlights of Cappadocia region. These cities provided temporary shelters to the people during perilous times. These underground cities are connected to many other houses through hidden tunnels to provide greater protection. New rooms were hollowed out under the floors of existing rooms with strategic traps & entryways laid out in hard-to-reach locations.

Well shaft for air flow

Tunnels & pathways

Warm in both summers & winters, not all of the underground cities have been excavated due to the sheer size of the region. There are around 150-200 known underground settlements, some of which were large enough to house 30,000 people at one time. The ground floor level of such settlements were usually used as stables & fodder for the animals.

Car parking space for
Derinkuyu Underground City

People with heart problems, high blood pressure, asthma are discouraged from entering the underground city. Each of the levels can also be completely shut off with the help of a large boulder/stone doors.

A vertical presentation of the underground city

Going down a tunnel

According to history, this city was heavily used for the protection from Arab Muslims during the Arab Byzantine wars & it is also connected to Kaymakli, another similar underground city approx. 21 km from Uchisar.

Inside a chapel

Visiting hours for Derinkuyu Underground city:-

Summer (Apr to Oct) - 08:00-19:00 hrs (ticket counter closes at 18:15 hrs)

Winter (Nov to Mar) - 08:00-17:00 (ticket counter closes at 16:15 hrs)

Entry tickets - 250 TL/person.

On the way back, we made a quick stop to visit Uchisar castle, take some quick photos as we were in a hurry to visit Goreme Open Air Museum before dusk sets in.

In front of Uchisar Castle

The Goreme open Air Museum has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984 & was one of the first UNESCO sites in Turkey. It's one of the most popular attractions & historic sites in Cappadocia, Turkey. This museum provides an audio tour through ancient paintings, churches & cave houses from centuries ago having an amazing preservation of history.

Jesus Christ

Goreme Open Air Museum

The entry fees are quite expensive with the prices being 300 TL/person for foreigners which includes only the Open Air Museum & Buckle Church, more expensive than Zelve Open Air Museum. Visiting this museum requires light to moderate hiking from one historic site to another but it's worth the effort. The whole route can be covered within 1.5-2 hours.

The Buckle Church speaks of great Byzantine Art which was constructed at the end of 9th century. It's an ample barrel vaulted single-nave church hosting an extensive pictorial cycle with numerous scenes from Christ's life & Saint John the baptist. Scenes from Christ's life cycle is accompanied by figures of saints on the walls - notably of Constantine - the 1st Christian Emperor & his mother Helena.

This is the oldest known rock-cut church in this region comprising of 4 sections - the Old Church single-naved, the New Church, the Lower Church under the Old Church and the Parecclesion to the north of the New Church. The life of Jesus is described on different panels on the vault, running from left to right.

Visiting hours for Goreme Open Air Museum:

Timings - 8 am to 7 pm (although the whole place shuts down by 6:45 pm)

Entry fees - 300/TL per person (foreigners) without Turkey Museum Pass

We could not do our hot air balloon ride on Day 2 as all the slots were booked. So we went to a local tour agency (contact details provided in this blog post), booked our slots & paid the full amount in cash on the condition that if the weather is unfavourable in the morning, the full amount will be refunded to us.

On the way to Derinkuyu

The next day was the day of our hot air balloon ride costing us 210 euros per person. We woke up at 4 am & were ready by 4.30 am. The car came to pick us up at around 4:45 am. It was ~2 deg C outside & I was shivering to my bones. There were many other travelers like us riding in various other cars. But we faced the biggest disappointment of our lives when we were informed that all the hot air balloon rides were cancelled due to unfavourable weather conditions (it was very windy that morning).

Goreme after dusk

Twinkling stars

I was pretty dejected as tourists & travelers come from all over the world to Cappadocia to experience hot air balloon ride. I was so forlorn that I forgot when my mobile phone slipped out of my pocket into the car. I noticed it 15-20 minutes AFTER the car had left. Called the driver immediately requesting to search his car for my lost mobile device, he found it in his car & demanded 200 TL for the return of my mobile device. My 2 yr old iPhone costed me 200 TL more than the buying price 😒.

Amazing service aboard Kamil Koç

Bus time table from Goreme

With nothing else left to do, we packed our suitcases & left the AirBnB, heading straight Goreme Bus Terminal. We had purchased our tickets to Denizli the previous evening costing 1796 TL for 4 people. We boarded the 9:00 am Kamil Koç bus (Benz company) to Denizli, which took quite a lot of time as it traversed the barren landscape of Turkey through Konya, Lake Eğirdir, Isparta and finally Denizli.

One can travel to Uchisar or Nevsehir via public bus from Goreme Bus Terminal. It costs only 15 TL. The timings are from 07.30 hrs to 19.00 hours with buses in every 30 minutes.

[Cappadocia, Turkey, Kapadokya, Denizli, Goreme, Hot Air Balloon ride, Derinkuyu, Kaymakli, Kamil Koç, Open Air Museum, Buckle Church]