Damlataş Cave

This cave was found by accident by a dynamite explosion which was done to open a stone quarry during the building of the harbour. People entered from that hole and were amazed by what they have seen. They closed the hole immediately and moved the explosions to another place. While all these were happening one of the deceased citizens of Alanya, Galip Dere, called all interested authorities to do their duties. One day he saw interesting news in one of the newspapers. This was the news: On one of the horrible days of II World War German soldiers hid in a cave to protect their-selves from bombs. Among these soldiers, the ones who had asthma healed in the cave. When he read this news he remembered the cave that was found. He took the newspaper and went to see deputy of Alanya, Ahmet Tokus. He showed the news paper and said: "If this could happen in Germany, it can happen in Alanya too." Ahmet Tokus helped him and made authorities come to Alanya. First investigation was made by geologist Dr. Timuçin Aygen and geologist Dr. Süleyman Turkunal. They gave us good news and another group came after them. This group consisted of doctors and chemists. They made investigations and decided that this cave is of the same kind with the cave in Germany.

Galip Dere had Alanya Municipality to confiscate the cave and its district and with an iron gate to prevent people to enter the cave for a while. In the same time he made the arrangements of this district. He took photographs and sent them to newspapers. Newspapers transmitted news about the cave with this title: "The cave found in Alanya heals people with asthma." After these news a great tourism activity started in Alanya. When the hotels in Alanya couldn't meet the demand, citizens of Alanya started to host tourist in their homes. Some of the citizens profited from this opportunity. The ones who had a house with two storeys turned one of the floors into a hotel. The ones who had two houses turned one of the houses into a hotel. Thus they laid the foundation of tourism in Alanya. Sevki Turktas, Ibrahim Aga, Mehmet Aga Agaoglu turned their houses into hotels and gave them very intere-seting and unforgettable names. Another citizen of Alanya Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Sipahioglu (from Nesibe Gevher Faculty of Medicine) made inverstigations on patients who came to visit the cave. He got very satisfying results. With these investigations he contributed to make Alanya known in all over Turkey. When people came to visit this cave Galip Dere welcomed them. They found him sitting under the shadow of the walls overgrown with ivy and smoking water pipe. According to your willing he told the story of the cave himself or made you listen from tape while you were wandering inside the cave.

The explorer of the cave, Alanya's master of comedy and conductor of music bands in wedding ceremonies Galip Dere managed Damlataş Cave till his death. May Allah rest his soul in peace. We shouldn't forget to commemorate Galip Dere's best friend, his colleague Sait Dogruyol and Russian Ismail Selah and his friends who made great contributions in the opening of Damlataş Cave and Castle road. May Allah rest his soul in peace.

THE FORMATION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CAVE

The cave is composed of layers that were formed in the 6th and last parts of the first era. After investigations it's assumed that the cave was formed in 10 or 15 thousands years. The big amount of rain that falls to Alanya had a big role in the formation of the cave too. Because rain contains an amount of gas and carbonic acid it dissolves limestones and other similar stones. It makes cavities in layers consisting of limestone. While dissolution continues big cavities come into existence. Small drops leak inside. Some of these drops freeze and form stalactites and stalagmites. When stalactites and stalagmites get longer they can join each other and form columns of the cave. Because of this dropping characteristic we call it Damlataş Cave. Damlataş means drop stone or dropping stone in Turkish.

After the entrance door of the cave there are a 20-30m-long pass way, a cylindrical cavity with 13-14m diameter and 15m height and colorful stalactites, stalagmites and columns which were formed in 15 000 years. The cave has 2500m3 air. Its temperature is 23.3 °C both in winter and summer. Absolute humidity is 19.6° and relative humidity is %98. At this point I would like to digress from the topic and remind you of something. If you enter the cave with your camera do not take photographs immediately. The lens of your camera will moist over. You need to clean it. Especially in winter this happens more often. The cave is away from outside influences. In its air there is big amount of carbonic acid. Although it's a little bit lower than sea level its air pressure is 760mm. Whole cavity of the cave is 180-200 m2. There is no possibility of collapse because all over the cave the thickness of the walls is 10m. Its

best proof was in 1948 (the year the cave was found). In spite of lots of dynamite explosions there was no harm. Water drops in the cave for 5 or 6 months of a year but if you visit in the summer you may not see this dropping.

MEDICAL FUNCTION OF THE CAVE

As I first mentioned when Galip Dere learned that the cave in Germany healed soldiers with asthma, he got into action. As a result of the investigations it's found that there are four functions of the cave which heal asthma. The rate of carbon dioxide inside the cave is 8-10 times of the normal rate. There is a high rate of humidity inside the cave. These two are main functions in healing asthma. Tranquility and radioactivity are functions that help the main functions in the healing process. The rate of carbon dioxide and humidity in Damlataş Cave is more than the rates of the cave in Germany. So this prevents people's feeling cold inside the cave and I think this is an advantage for us. According to analysis of experts there are %25 carbon dioxide, %71 nitrogen, %20,5 oxygen, some radioactivity and ions inside the cave. Patients who come here for treatment initially spend their times in upper floor and adjust themselves to the atmosphere. Then they go to the lower floor and sit on the benches which were prepared for them. Patients who have asthma for more than 10 years feel at ease temporarily. Especially patients who are between 40 and 60 years old and have asthma less than 10 years can heal totally. Patient whose asthma is chronic, feel at ease after a 21-day-treatment. Damlataş Cave is important for us from two aspects. First one is health and second one is tourism. Hope connects people to life. Even if a person is in pain and sorrow hope is the biggest power for him/her. It's true that when people abandon themselves into despair they find the solution in death. Patients, who come to Alanya for treatment, should be controlled by a doctor and take a permission paper from the doctor. They apply to the management of the cave with this paper. They pay the fee and take a treatment for 21 days. Both in winter and summer tourists visit Damlataş Cave by paying the entrance fee. So this makes Damlataş Cave an important source of income for Alanya.