Oguzhan Avcituncer, our guide, Angela and Teresa both from Melbourne, set out today to discover Cappadocia - an extensive area around the centre of Turkey. We began from Nevsehir, travelling to a nearby underground city where over 10,000 people once lived. Such cities were first established around 8,000 BC in pagan times. People chose these extensive and linked caves as their homes to protect them from various invasions. Being in a volcanic region enabled people to live underground because the ground above them was made of pumice stone, the fruit of the nearby volcanoes, which allowed the transition of fresh air thfrough the rock. The underground cities included wineries, carpet making facilities, deep wells, ventilation shafts, shrines and chapels. The chapels provided places for the worship of pagan gods in the first place and later the
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