Beneath the ordinary Anatolian town of Derinkuyu lies a city. It was dug into the soft volcanic rock, tuff, that underlies the Cappadocia plateau, and it descends through many levels, with stables, kitchens, wine presses, storerooms, chapels and living quarters, all linked by narrow tunnels and stairways. Only the upper levels are open to visitors, but even these give a powerful sense of how large and organised the place was, and the air grows cooler and heavier as you go down.
Nobody knows exactly when it was begun, but the city seems to have been expanded over centuries, and it is often linked with the Byzantine period, when local Christians used underground refuges during raids and wars. The designers were ingenious: ventilation shafts bring fresh air from the surface, a well supplies water, and round stone doors, like millstones, could be rolled across passages from the inside to block intruders. The doors are still there, and you can see the grooves in which they ran. The city could shelter thousands of people along with animals and food stores for long periods.
The modern find is a story told with relish locally: in the 1960s, a man knocked down a wall in his house and found a hidden room, which led to a tunnel and eventually to the whole complex. The landscape above gives no hint. The town is a modest market place of low houses, shops and a mosque, and the surrounding plateau is flat farmland with fields of potatoes and orchards. That ordinary surface makes the subterranean world even more surprising.
The ride here from Nevşehir crosses open, rolling land, with strange cones and rock formations rising in the distance, and the roads are mostly good, wide and quiet. Dry, bright weather is the norm, and the best months are spring and autumn, when the days are warm and the evenings cool; midsummer is hot, and winter can be cold and snowy. Wind across the plateau can be strong, and farm vehicles use the roads, so keep an eye out.
Tunnels are narrow and low, so the visit involves stooping, and crowds can be tight at midday, which makes early morning the best time to go. Derinkuyu is a real town of over twelve thousand people, with fuel stations, cafés and shops, and it is a sensible place to fill up and eat. Simple restaurants serve grilled meat, lentil soup, flatbread and sweet tea, and pottery stalls sell local ceramics.
Bring a light jacket, since the temperature below ground stays cool, and take your time.