Beneath the surreal landscape of Cappadocia in central Turkey lies a hidden world that seems more at home in a fantasy novel than in reality. While tourists marvel at the region's famous fairy chimneys, cave churches and hot-air balloons, an even more astonishing mystery lies underground: vast subterranean cities capable of sheltering entire communities. Carved deep into soft volcanic rock, these underground labyrinths contain homes, churches, wells, kitchens, stables, storage chambers and ventilation systems. Some descend more than 80 metres below the surface and may once have housed tens of thousands of people. Even today, archaeologists continue to debate exactly how these remarkable complexes were developed and how they functioned during times of danger. A Hidden World Beneath the Earth Cappadocia contains dozens of known underground cities and hundreds of smaller cave complexes carved into the region's unique volcanic tuff. The soft rock is relatively easy to exca...
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