Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25037
DERINKUYU, TURKEY Early Christian resourcefulness shows itself here. Chased by heathens bent on feeding them to lions, some of the first believers start ed digging into the ground. Their result: a troglodyte city of 20,000 people com plete with wells, water tanks, air shafts, cemeteries, churches and passages connecting to other subterranean com munities. The site was so well hidden it was n't discovered until 1968. Eight levels have been unearthed, with more to follow. (six miles south of Kaymakli, a smaller underground com munity founded around the third century) PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT, CALIFORNIA These are the funky remains of a volcano lying 195 miles to the southeast and the prod uct of millions of years of geological forces. Over 32 miles of trails and two sets of caves offer ample opportunities for strolling, hiking, cave exploration and rock climbing. (East side of park is five miles off California 25. The west side can be reached from Soledad off US 101). PICTURE: JOHN OITILI Never mind the guided tours, take a back door to the catacombs. It's illegal, difficult to get to and you need a map, but once inside you're in for a surprise. Visit during a full moon and watch pagans conduct Black Mass. PICTURE: GEORGION ROSSVGAMMA LIAISON THE METRO CAVE, PAPAROA NATIONAL PARK, NEW ZEALAND Nature has a clever solution for those disappointed with not being able to stretch out in sensory depriva tion chambers: black-water rafting through a vast net work of subterranean rivers beneath Paparoa National Park. Float underground on water lit by glowworms as gentle stalactite drips provide your soundtrack. (West coast of South Island. If on the North Island, try Waitomo with its 60 miles of underground passages, waterways and cav- GUANAJUATO, MEXICO: MUSEO DE LAS MOM lAS Even those obsessed with the grotesque might blush during a visit here. The curators of this fine institution visit the local cemetery to exhume dead folk whose descendants have stopped paying plot renewal fees. Over 100 bodies in varying states of decay now decorate the museum, and the lucky visitor gets to see them for about $3. (200 miles northwest of Mexico City) PICTURE: CLASOS PRESS/GAMMA LIAISON MUTIRIKWI VALLEY, ZIMBABWE It's sub-Saharan Africa's only ancient structure- 900,000 pieces of hand-trimmed granite interlock to form the 36-foot-high and 797-foot-around Great Enclosure. Most think it served as a year-long premarital initiation school teaching boys and girls the proper behavior of married life. (175 miles south of Harare) PICTURE: MARY ALTIER