A few things we learned. Haven’t checked them and are relying on the guide:
- It’s the third longest inhabited city – c12,000 years, and behind Aleppo and Jericho (but you probably knew that)
- All the houses are essentially caves, and were inhabited until the 1950’s when it was declared “a city of shame”. People shared with their livestock, and there was no sanitation or running water.
- People were forcibly evacuated, the last ones in 1971.
- It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site (for the water management and cisterns).
- The first hotel only opened in 2001.
Lots of other stuff which can be checked out in other places.
Meanwhile photos are hard to do it justice
Even if it looks like a house, it’s a cave with a front attached. And distances are quite hard to judge as they’re all built directly on top of one another.
Our guide Gaetano who was really good, although a bit of a film buff, and kept mentioning Mel Gibson, Daniel Craig and Angelina Jolie who have all filmed here.
Cave that housed a family of 4 plus livestock – in need of refurbishment.
We’re done for today!