During an extended stay in the small town of Pendleton, Oregon, I learned that tourists and travelers were being drawn to this town for reasons more than originally met the eye. Though Pendleton has historically been known for its famous Round-Up (hosted every September for rodeo enthusiasts across the world), there was and is something more beneath the surface—literally. There is some speculation about the truthfulness of events about the town beneath the town, but once you take a closer look, it is clear that some stories about the underground dens and galleries below Pendleton are warranted.
If you choose to embark, the Pendleton Underground Tours will lead you through a card room, an ice cream parlor, a meat market, a bowling alley, and more (including some under-the-radar destinations for less polite company), none of which ever fail to shock and delight tourists. However, though it may seem entertaining to find some underground attractions in a small American town, in many places across the world, underground towns were built out of necessity instead of for tourists’ enjoyment.
One such place is the massive historic town of Derinkuyu in Cappadocia, Turkey, which was built as a shelter for approximately 20,000 people. This underground space is 18 floors deep and is complete with remarkable features for the eighth century B.C.E., including ventilation shafts, wells, and even stables. Many believe that this underground town was designed for Christians to take cover and hide from invaders in the city above. Just as in Pendleton, tour guides lead interested parties through this web of underground buildings, but at a much larger scale.
On the other end of the Silk Road, underneath the city of Beijing, China, there is a massive complex called Dìxià Chéng (Chinese for the “Underground City”). This city was built in the 1970s, when the Chinese were concerned about the possibility of nuclear war, constructing a safe place for people to go if the threat became reality. This underground city stretches for miles and is reported to include schools, theaters, and farms to support the lifestyle of anyone who would be forced into taking cover in this city. Most of this city is closed to the public, and thus tours are not offered the same way they are in Pendleton or Derinkuyu.
Back on the North American continent, in Montréal, Canada, the RÉSO was built to provide tunnels that pedestrians can take to travel between hotels, shopping centers, banks, museums, universities, and so on. With more of an economic motivation, this underground city was built to give pedestrians a way to navigate Montréal through the coldest and snowiest months. “Nearly 500,000 people use the underground city per day,” according to Montréal’s Visitors Guide website. That is more foot traffic than any of the other underground cities and likely makes it the most utilized for its original purpose.
While these are some of the most popular underground cities, many places around the world are no strangers to underground tunnels and attractions for the benefit of citizens and tourists. So, next time you travel to a new city or country, don’t miss out on seeing what there could be below your feet!
—Kyla Christensen
Sources
www.sciencedirect.com
www.montrealvisitorsguide.com
www.pendletonundergroundtours.org
www.dbpedia.org