Down, down the rabbit hole

As we gather around the entrance to the underground city, one of the group members hesitantly steps back. "I'm just not good with small spaces" she says with an apologetic shrug. Our words of sympathy follow her to the shade of a nearby tree but her words linger among the group: "Am I good with small spaces?" is the question you can see playing across people's sweaty brows. I don't give myself time to ponder this potentially halting question. The Turkish sun is unleashing the full might of its power upon me and after a 12 hour bus ride sitting next to a chicken I am ready to escape into the cool, subterranean world of Cappadocia and explore the roots of this magical land.

We begin our decent single file down the winding path, our way lit only by a sparse string of light bulbs that have certainly seen brighter days. As the surface disappears overhead, you begin to feel the closeness of the air. A moist blanket begins to settle on your skin and you find yourself thinking wistfully of a cool, sharp breeze and then feel a slight thrill of panic when you realize that it's utterly impossible when you are 8 stories below the Earth's surface.

The dark tunnel finally plateaus into a chamber large enough to accommodate over a dozen people. We take advantage of the room before us and spread out, grateful for the chance to look at something besides the back of each others heads. I am surprised by the height of the ceiling as it's well out of reach. Granted, all ceilings are well out of reach for me but I notice that the majority of the less vertically challenged members of the group are standing quite comfortably, stretching their hunched backs and fiddling with the flash setting of their cameras in preparation for our dark journey. The rough stone walls bear the same pink hue as the surface rock but are blackened in spots by the flames carried around by the first inhabitants centuries ago.

As I walked through the ancient chamber into the adjoining room I had the distinct sense that I was walking through someones home. This place was unlike any ancient dwelling I had ever seen. It had not been built up and then buried by the centuries, rather it had been purposely built into the ground. These early Christians delved deep into the Earth with nothing but their tools and their desire for safety and peace urging them on. I'll never forget the day I set foot in that ancient city for it was the first time that I truly felt I was in a different world.