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>
> x0x Ballica Cave
>
> By FIRAT ULGUR
>
> Ballica Cave is a subterranean monument that draws
> its guests ever deeper. At the same time, it is
> symbolic of the victory won by curiosity over
> fear.
>
> I still remember the look of astonishment on the
> face of a friend, years ago, when he complained of
> a fear of darkness and I asked him, "Why don't you
> try going inside caves?" In a voice full of
> anxiety he answered, "What business do I have in
> those horrible caves? That's where vampire bats
> suck your blood!" I realized then that my friend
> wasn't afraid of the dark alone. I thought of this
> friend once more in the `Magnificent Gallery' of
> Ballica Cave, as beneath the stalactites which had
> taken millennia to form I gazed at the
> extraordinary natural `architecture' of the
> ceiling. And I thought, "If he's ever been through
> Tokat and had the courage to enter Ballica Cave,
> there won't be a trace left of that fear of the
> dark!" Who knows, perhaps Caesar's famous words,
> supposedly uttered in Tokat's county of Zile--"I
> came, I saw, I conquered"--were changed by my
> friend on exiting the cave to "I came, I saw, and
> I was not afraid." Indeed, this mysterious
> labyrinth has a dreamlike effect that not only
> expunges fear, but at the same time takes away the
> feeling of reality as it distances you from the
> earth. Ballica Cave seems to be an enchanted
> staircase buried underground, one that goes on
> forever.
>
> But let's start with the first step, that is, with
> how one can reach this geological wonder.
>
> YOU MUST LEAVE THE ROAD
>
> The cave is in Tokat's county of Pazar, which
> starting in the 12th century provided lodgings for
> the caravans travelling from Anatolia to the Black
> Sea. As evening fell on the earth, the weary
> camels would slump down to rest in the courtyard
> of the Mahperi Hatun Caravanserai.
>
> This town was the last stop before climbing the
> Ziganas, while the witnesses to the journey were
> the mountains and a river, the Yesilirmak. This
> river runs quietly beside you as you drive along
> the Tokat-Turhal highway, yielding no slightest
> clue as to what lies in the past or underground.
> It knows how to open a path for itself by
> patiently wearing away the rocks, but most
> certainly it has heard the praises of the cave
> sung by the subterranean rivers.
>
> Lulled by the calm image of the earth in the
> shadow of the willows that bend down to the water,
> you may miss the yellow `Ballica' sign at the 23rd
> kilometer, or see it and fail to turn, in which
> case you will live on unaware of a masterpiece of
> nature.
>
> But if you leave the road--and isn't it the first
> article of the true traveller's constitution that
> "To see extraordinary beauty one must leave the
> road"?--you will reach Ballica in the county of
> Pazar and think to yourself, "What's a cave doing
> so high up?" Indeed, at 40 meters above the valley
> bed of Inderesi Creek, the cave lies 1,085 meters
> above sea level. When you first enter the mouth of
> the cave you will feel nothing special, for it
> starts with a small gallery. But as you attempt to
> accustom yourself to the humidity and reach the
> `Hall of Pools,' you will begin to realize that
> you are walking through an underground monument.
> In this section the absolute humidity is low while
> the temperature is higher than elsewhere in the
> cave, something which has caused the stalactites
> to peel in scales. The hall is two to three meters
> high, and the lamps which have been embedded in
> the darkness begin to illuminate sights which
> engender a mixture of shuddering and wonder. It is
> a fact that in Ballica, as in all splendid caves,
> mystery, fear--I apologize to my friend!--and
> beauty join hands. Fear is felt first, but it
> turns to mystery, which then is quickly replaced
> by awe.
>
> A SUBTERRANEAN RAINBOW
>
> After the `Hall of Pools' you are greeted by a
> forest of stalactites and stalagmites. In a wild
> variety of colors from red to milky white, these
> formations are ranged on the floor and ceiling in
> the layers of yellow of limonite, and the blues
> and greens of copper-based azurite and malachite.
> As if escorted by a subterranean rainbow, you move
> on to the north galleries. One of these is the
> Fossil Hall, where at the moment thousands of bats
> hibernate, hanging upside-down from the ceiling.
>
> In this hall an unusual underground geography is
> created by spaghetti-like stalactites, cave roses
> and cave needles, stalagmite pools full of water.
> The Hall of Great Stalactites and Stalagmites, on
> the other hand, is home to mushroom rocks. Here
> 20-meter-deep wells, like dark mouths, lead to the
> lower levels of the cave, where a new voyage from
> gallery to gallery awaits you, toward the Hall of
> Collapse and the Magnificent Gallery.
>
> AS FREUD MIGHT HAVE SEEN IT
>
> From the mouth of the cave to its end there is an
> altitude difference of 94 meters. In the
> Magnificent Gallery, carbonate-rich water dripping
> from the ceiling collects in puddles before
> turning into stalactites and stalagmites, thus
> creating horizontal formations. When light is shed
> on them they look like spotted, honey-colored
> marble, and are set off by structures that
> resemble faces and hands to give you the feeling
> that you are doing a jigsaw puzzle in stone. The
> Hall of Columns, meanwhile, is the `youngest' part
> of the cave, with a floor that boasts stalagmites
> reminiscent of flags and curtains, while the
> stalactites that look like bulbs and massive
> pillars are not to be scoffed at. If the father of
> psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, had been to Ballica
> Cave, I don't know whether he would have enjoyed
> the Tokat kebab and cokelek cheese, but I am
> certain that he would have described the cave as
> "a fine subterranean womb." For in his works he
> said that those who dream they are in caves "wish
> to return to the mother's womb." Let's leave the
> psychoanalysts to decide whether he was right as
> we wind up with one final thought: A while after
> emerging from a visit to Ballica Cave, don't be
> surprised if you are gripped by the desire to go
> back in again. This is the triumph of curiosity
> over fear, and the starting point for that effort
> to understand the universe which we call science.
>
> --------------------------------------