Kaymakli (Enegup-Enegobi) and Underground City of Cappadocia

Kaymakli (Enegup-Enegobi) and Underground City of Cappadocia,

This town is established on the asphalt road of Nigde and Nevsehir and it is 20 km away from Nevsehir and 9 km from Derinkuyu. The foundation date of this town is not known. Its old name was EnegOp but it was changed into Enegobi by the Greeks that lived there before and into Kaymakli by the Turks. Enegup (Kaymakli), Melegop (Derinkuyu) and Gople are old neighbor settlement centers established on the same road. The underground city dug under a hill in the middle of the town called Kaymakli Today, was found in the year 1964 and opened to tourism. This city has four layers that can be visited. The number of layers it has altogether and the places that hove not been brought to light lighted have not been determined so far. This city can be visited for approximately 15-20 meters. This city, as the other cities which also accepted Christianity, was dug by tribes escaping from oppression and the fear of disappearing and was used both as shelter and against enemies and as a secure place for worship. Although the city looks as if it is made on a complicated plan, it is obvious that great attention and skill was used in the excavation of this city. Although the tunnels and rooms are very complicated, an excavated room did not join another excavated room. Places visited are bedrooms, food warehouses, wine cellars, ventilation chimneys, water depots, the church with double passes to worship and stone doors to get protected from all kinds of danger that can come from outside. These stone doors were placed in the tunnels just as the other underground cities and the can only be opened and closed from inner parts. There are graves having a simple structure on the rocks just on top of the underground city and all of these are in a clean position.