How the ancient underground city of Cappadocia became a fruit warehouse | Cities | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/may/30/ancient-underground-city-cappadocia-fruit-produce-warehouse?CMP=twt_gu
Beneath the earth, however, things look even stranger: a network of caves, connected into what used to be entire subterranean cities. Derinkuyu, in southern Cappadocia, was once home to as many as 20,000 residents living together underground. There’s a huge bathhouse, complete with a set of private rooms and tall ceilings to allow steam to rise, all of it ventilated by a system of shafts that run for dozens of kilometres in every direction – sometimes a vast distance from the populated areas to trick potential invaders.
Long abandoned, the underground cities of Cappadocia have rather suddenly been rediscovered: by the produce industry. The constant underground temperature of about 13C make the caves an ideal storage climate for thousands of tonnes of fruit and vegetables: apples, cabbage and cauliflower stay fresh for up to four weeks; citrus fruits, pears and potatoes for months. In a cave near the village of Ortahisar, nearly 6m crates of lemons sit in endless stacks. They arrive from Turkey’s Mediterranean coast on trucks and are unloaded by hand. Labourers – mostly women – package and stack the fruit, which then is stored underground until it is needed for export to Europe, Russia and elsewhere.
#grottes #garde_manger #conservation #aliments #Turquie #Cappadoce
Une ancienne cité souterraine turque stocke des fruits et légumes
▻http://bigbrowser.blog.lemonde.fr/2014/05/30/reconversion-une-ancienne-cite-souterraine-turque-stocke-des