Exploring an UNDERGROUND CITY in CAPPADOCIAl! 🇹🇷 - Australia to Scotland by road - Episode 87

From our spring fed water stop in the previous episode we continued on until near dark and found a quiet spot for the night away from the road. With darkness now all but fallen the only signs of life were the small scattered village lights across the neighbouring mountain faces and the unmissable and echoing ‘adhan’ (call to prayer).
We woke the following morning to an incredible mountain-scape stretching off into the distance with painted hills of pastel earth shades glowing in the morning light. The damp cool coastal air of the Black Sea was behind us and we were now embraced by a warm dry desert air. The air stood still and the only sound to be heard was the occasional flock of passing sheep. In only a matter of days we had crossed from the snow capped peaks and towering glaciers of the Caucasus to the warm dry sandy desert of Central Turkey. A transition we would’ve spent weeks covering previously though much more achievable now with ease of borders and quality of roads.
We take the morning start slow to enjoy our surroundings before hitting the road again. Our destination for the day is the tourist Mecca of Cappadocia. First though, like the D915, we were searching for something more to fill our transit across this part of Turkey. We found success in a lesser known road down, or more so through, Karanlık Kanyon which translates to ‘Dark Canyon’. The road leading to the canyon led us through endless valleys of striking colours, lush green farmlands, and crystal rivers. The towns appeared quite desolate of amenities which combined with the brutalist architecture and infrastructure indicated they may suffer hard winters. Contrasting the cold designs was the friendly faces of youth that lined the streets of the towns as the schools didn’t appear to have an attendance policy.
When we reached the canyon we entered a short tunnel which took us straight onto a bridge over a turquoise river, delivering us at the entrance to the infamous Kemaliye Taş Yolu. The road started construction in the 1870s to link the two districts of Iilic and Kemaliye and continued construction for 130 years wrapping up in the early 2000s. The tunnel road was carved by hand and originally only used for foot traffic though later widened just enough to allow vehicle passage. For the majority of the canyon the narrow road is concealed within the cliff wall though opens through small breaks in the valley or ‘windows’ in the cliff face to allow light and air. The total collective length of the 38 unlit tunnels is just shy of 5kms long. An incredible feat of human persistence and strength in a time when the need for the tunnel became increasingly obsolete towards the end of construction. Before reaching the tunnel section a single width path is cut into the cliff face, thankfully we met no oncoming traffic meaning no need for reversing - something not preferable in the near blind Troopy. We’ve been lucky to date with narrow hill passes like this with not having a need to reverse. We crossed similar roads in Pakistan and met oncoming traffic though the sight of our armed military attache eliminated the negotiation on who was to reverse - thankfully.
Leaving the tunnel we travelled along beautiful quiet narrow country roads for hours through the hills until we hit the huge 4 lane central highway. The beautiful weather early in the day degraded the further we went west and towards the end it was very heavy rain. Not ideal though it provided a break from the monotony of the highway. As we arrived in the area we had chosen to camp we took a small farm track to a crest which looked promising. Like we experienced on the drive, this region had been experiencing heavy rain recently and the soft course sand ground had suffered washouts along the track. From the surface the washouts looked minimal though, like a sort of iceberg, there was a lot more hiding under the surface. We hit one one of these sand iceberg sections near the end of the track which brought us unstuck. Unknowingly we drove straight into a cavern approximately 1 metre deep by 4 meters long lying under a thin crusted surface. The Troopy lurched and sank as it ploughed into the ground ahead. The top of drivers side bullbar was level with the ground and the rear passengers side wheel was about 1 metre off the ground (one of the downfalls of leaf suspension). The drivers wheel was in the hole though still not on a solid surface as the Troopy hung precariously balanced, wedged into the ground by the bullbar. Getting out the drivers door wasn’t an option as it was half underground so we very cautiously climbed out of the passenger door and gently shut it behind us. We took a few moments in the fading light to assess the situation and build a plan for recovery.
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[@OgaugeTrainsplusslotCars]

Very nicely done. CHEERS FROM OVER SEAS UNITED STATES ♐👍

[@theridgelinestories]

The drone shots in this video looked amazing and very interesting history of the place. 👌

[@TheWayOverland]

Cheers

[@essamalwazir757]

Cappadocia is a land of mountain caves with complex and irregular entrances and exits

[@stevestott1514]

Wow what a spectacular bit of old road building ,and think of how hard to build back then . What beautiful countryside there in TURKEY 🇹🇷. And those awesome cave city’s I could stay for days in that area it was so beautiful . Thanks again for sharing your wonderful travel memories with us your Over landing friends . From Steve Stott in Sutherlin Oregon U.S.A . :):) 🥂👍🏼😁 .

[@TheWayOverland]

Cheers Steve, they definitely showed a strong commitment to that tunnel over the 130 years it took to complete! Especially not as it's relatively obsolete. We're glad they did though as it was a great detour!

[@rrrrrhino]

Love experiencing those epic roads with you!! 😍

[@TheWayOverland]

🙂

[@overlandme]

Your travel is amazing in general and Turkey part is very special...places you are visiting and video covering it is really valuable...thanks for making and sharing.

[@TheWayOverland]

No worries, glad you're enjoying the videos. Cheers

[@mike.garnham]

Fab!

[@aussietravelgold4873]

Amazing footage, thanks for sharing your travels!

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks for watching!

[@edwinrock2118]

Nice video mate. Thank you both

[@TheWayOverland]

Cheers

[@robkeith1776]

Hey Jolie and Mark. Greetings from Oz. What amazing tunnels and excavations. Cappadocia must be added to my bucket list ! Thanks for taking us along on your magic adventure.

[@TheWayOverland]

Cheers Rob, the landscape around this part of Turkey is incredible. Every changing topography and colours. Definitely exceeded our expectations!

[@abo7amad34]

You are a nice couple and heroes. Greetings to you and may the Lord protect you. Keep going🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹👍

[@bepe3643]

Amazing Video. Planning a similar route from Malaysia (where I life) back to my hometown in Germany in the next 2 Years.

[@TheWayOverland]

Cheers, good luck!

[@colinross6259]

What a great road through the tunnels. Those caves, what a trip through yester century. I once got pointed out to me in Europa that Oz only had 250 ish years of white settlement. Aboriginal 50,000 years. It was pointed out recent arrivals (first fleet) Aussies had no culture that had been steeped in time. Which is true. What I found in Europe and surrounds is while history is great, some of that old age tribal/country jealousy/dislike still runs deep.

[@peteregan3862]

Human culture is all the one age. While it has variation, and out infrastructure differs, we all do much the same thing.

[@aletnortje8929]

This is such a beautiful video that I watched it twice! I suffer from a bit of claustrophobia, so those tunnels and caves would have been challenging. Thank you for showing it to us, so that I could enjoy it from my armchair. I really hope to one day visit here with my Troopy too. I hope you got to fly in a hot air baloon?

[@TheWayOverland]

Cheers! Glad we could take you out of the comfort bubble, albeit from the comfort bubble (a bit of a paradox). We didn’t make it on a balloon though catch the next one to see the show!

[@Simon-tg7jg]

Thoroughly enjoy watching your vids and the spectacular scenery of these far away lands ! How do you get on with leaving the Troopy while exploring on foot...I'd always be worried if its still there when I got back ? Cheers from Oz.

[@TheWayOverland]

Ha yeah, it can be a worrying sometimes. For a lot of the countries we worked under the thought process that as the Troopy is so different to the local vehicles it would have to be a pretty calculated theft. Not that that's not possible though the people in the areas we generally visit are too busy getting on with their lives to try and steal and disguise a big 4wd. For general break ins, all the valuables are stored and locked in a hidden compartment.

[@sebastianarielburd3119]

hi guys, awesome, I wonder how easy is to get lost walking under the caves in order to get back to where the car was parked? I would love to do it , just afraid to get lost. Is there any sign or anything to guide you? thanks again for sharing

[@TheWayOverland]

Fair question, in the bottom of the valleys getting lost is doable as the different valleys join in various places. If you find a way up the walls though the landscape on top is relatively flat so easy to navigate. There is marked walking trails through some of the valleys though sometimes, as we did, it's easy to misplace the markers. Cheers

[@jb5708]

Would be great to show what u can of the boarder crossing info

[@TheWayOverland]

Border crossings from here are smooth sailing, essentially rego and passports, once in Europe not even that. If there’s any problems though we’ll put them in. Is there anything you’d like to know about the previous crossings?

[@junjin21]

Do you have any plans to drive to Japan?

[@TheWayOverland]

No plans though would love to. We’ve been a few times now and is one of our favourite countries.

[@itismegarry]

have you guys made it back to perth yet or still on the road?

[@TheWayOverland]

Neither at present, getting back to Perth will be a while off yet. When we finish this leg on YT we'll think about where to next.

[@essamalwazir757]

Cappadocia, the land of hot air balloons

[@askerzeynal8638]

SLAVA UKRAİNE! LET'S SUPPORT UKRAINE

[@edwinrock2118]

Viva Russia