Turkey's Ballıca Cave captivates visitors with its stalactites and stalagmites

The UNESCO World Heritage Site attracted 90,000 tourists in 2024.

Transcript

00:00Located in the heart of Turkey, the Balıka Cave captivates visitors with its stalactites

00:05and stalagmites that were formed over millions of years.

00:09Located in the Pazar district of Tokat, the site is listed on UNESCO's World Heritage

00:14Tentative List and attracted 90,000 tourists this year.

00:19The nearly 70-meter-long cave is made of marble and lime and is considered one of Turkey's

00:24largest and most magnificent caves.

00:30The Balıca Cave was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2019.

00:34In 2019, 40 caves were registered as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

00:39Only the Balıca Cave was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

00:43Balıca Cave is a beautiful cave.

00:45It is a living cave.

00:46It is a cave that continues its formation.

00:49Some sections of the cave have yet to be discovered and others have not yet been opened to visitors.

00:56What are you going to hide?

00:58We are just discovering it now, but it is a great structure.

01:01It impressed us a lot.

01:03The fact that the excavations are still going on and the story inside it impressed us a lot.

01:07The Balıca Cave maintains an average temperature of 18 degrees Celsius and a humidity level of 54 percent,

01:14making it particularly appealing to people with asthma.

01:18The formation of this nearly 3.4 million-year-old cave is still ongoing,

01:23and visitors can discover pillars and water ponds as well as its cave drippings.