Cappadocia - Balloons, Cave Churches and Goodbye

Posted by Melissa

Balloons over Göreme

September 21 - 22, 2010
This morning we awoke with a start.  What was that noise??  Huge whoosh, whoosh sounds.  Loud.  Close.  We got up to take a look and this is what we saw! A sky filled with hot air balloons.  Some were just above our room, so close we could see the passengers faces!  Absolutely beautiful in the cool, crisp morning.

With our time in Goreme beginning to run short, we decided to head over to the "don't miss" Goreme Open Air Museum, a short walk from our sweet home in the village. We came upon this interesting pottery display just outside of town.

Pottery Tree outside Göreme

The museum is a complex of medieval churches with beautiful Byzantine frescoes, carved into the hillside.  This is another UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was easy to see why.  The complex included several churches, chapels, a refectory - with long stone benches, and monasteries.

Overview of Goreme Open Air Museum

As these are all cave churches, the light is not the best. I've included a few pics so you can get a peek inside.

Chapel of St. Barbara

St. George and St. Theodore in the Chapel of St. Barbara

Us in the "Snake Church"

The church above is actually the Church of St Onuphrius.  It was misnamed when the painting of a dragon on the wall was mistaken for a snake. The dragon was used in Byzantine times to symbolize paganism.  The shot below was taken looking back out of the "Snake Churck."

View from the "Snake Church"

The next couple of pics are of what's left of the large rooms at the entrance to the "Dark Church."

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The "Dark Church" or Karanlik Kilise is the most famous church here, filled with well preserved frescoes.  Photos are forbidden, to preserve the condition of these lovely paintings. After a quick search on the net for some pics, it appears that lots of folks have ignored that rule though - so here is a link to a page with lots of interior pics of this church.  We did not take any, just enjoyed the amazing paintings, while listening to explanations of each though our audio tour headphones.  I can only say that these were amazing!!

After a big morning of hiking around the museum, it was time for lunch.  Meals out in Turkey can be very inexpensive.  Pide, sometimes called Turkish Pizza, is one of the least expensive meals around.  We watched as these pide bakers prepared our lunch, which was then cooked in the wood fired oven.

Delicious!  A simple, freshly made dough crust, with minimal toppings.  This one is the combo pide which has the most toppings.  Others have only one topping.This was about $3 US.  Very tasty!

This is a typical afternoon for our good friend, Ahmet.  He is playing okey, a Turkish game similar to rummy and played with tiles.  You may notice that it is only men playing here.  That was so typical throughout Turkey - men playing tavla (backgammon), okey, and drinking tea in small cafes with sidewalk tables.

It is finally time for us to say good by to our much loved home in Goreme.  We felt so welcome here, so included.  By the time we left we had a larger, extended family here, waiting for us to return.  We hope it is not long.  We miss you Ahmet, Ramazan, Mehmet, Ibo and Goreme!!  You are the BEST!

View from a roof top restaurant for our last dinner in Goreme

Up next: A week of lazing around on a beach with a view of the island castle just off shore in Kizkalesi

Cappadocia - Underground City, Turkish Shave, and a Wedding

Posted by Melissa

September 18-19, 2010
We don't usually take group tours, but today will be an exception. This particular tour facilitates a one way hike through a canyon and gets us to hard to reach places.  It is a small group of 8 and includes a professional tour guide*.  Our first stop is at the Göreme Panorama overlook (above). The view is so expansive that it just about takes my breath away. I stood at the edge of this overlook gazing out over the vast landscape and listening to our tour guide explaining the formation and overall geology of this area. I'll just stick with Amazing!

Next up is a visit to the underground city at Derinkuyu. From the top, we see absolutely nothing that hints at the vast complex beneath our feet. Our guide, Zeynep, explains that the entrances were hidden as these cities (there are more than 100 in Cappadocia) were used in emergencies to hide from attacking armies. Whole villages could quickly escape below ground and live for months. This expansive complex included water sources, air shafts, stables, storage rooms, chapels, sleeping rooms, kitchens, and a winery.

Some of the tunnels were too small to stand fully upright

Thane is climbing up from the 8th level, about 280 feet below ground. This tour is NOT for the claustrophobic!

*Tour guides in Turkey are well trained professionals with University degrees in Tourism.  They study art, language, architecture, history and psychology.  Zeynep was a gem and filled in lots of details throughout the day. We were so glad that we decided to go with a professional tour instead of on our own.  Thanks Zeynep!

These little old ladies were selling handmade dolls just outside the underground city for 3-5 Lira each or about $2 - $3, USD. Very sweet, but we are traveling light and are very limited in what we can carry so we are only able to take pictures this time.

One of the advantages of this tour is that the driver drops us off at an entrance to the Ihlara Valley and picks us up at the end of the trail.  Not easy to accomplish in your own car or by public bus.

We hiked for about 2 hours deep in this valley, along side this beautiful stream to find many Byzantine rock cut churches.

With a dependable water source and the deep valley to hide them, early Christians fled to the area to escape from Roman soldiers. There are hundreds of rock carved churches in this valley.

One of the many frescoes from the churches in the valley.

As we climbed up out of the valley we found this little stash of corn, drying on a flat roof. We saw peppers and beans drying on other roofs.

We worked up a good appetite and had this lovely lunch in the tiny town of Belisirma at the end of the trail.  I'm starting to get used to eating fish that still have eyes and a tail.  Not the typical filet I cook at home.

Next up, Selime Monastery - another Star Wars looking rock complex with churches carved in the 13th century.

Church interior

Thane

View of the valley from caves above

It was a long day with lots of great sites, hiking, food and a great guide. Then to top it off we had this fabulous sunset!

After another sweet night in our cave room we decided it was time for Thane to experience a classic Turkish Shave and Haircut.  We'd heard these were great and Thane was not disappointed. He was in the chair for almost an hour!

We couldn't keep track of the lotions, potions, masques, massages plus the ever popular flaming giant Q-tips for removing ear hair!

Good thing that Thane is now so well groomed as Ahmet invited us to a wedding reception that evening!  Again, we were honored by Ahmet's invitation and gladly accepted!  I was very nervous walking in to the huge reception hall filled with people whose language I couldn't speak, wedding guests I didn't know, and where most of the women were dressed in conservative head scarves.  Ahmet's wife noticed my hesitance and grabbed my hand, leading me to a table next to her friends (she doesn't speak English).  It was just so sweet of this woman, whom I had just met, to take me in like this.  I felt so much more comfortable after that kind gesture.

This is Elif, Ahmet's daughter.  She is attending University and dresses in western clothes while her mother and sister choose to wear headscarves.  

Elif would not accept "No" when she asked me to join her on the dance floor. So, when in Rome . . . . We danced to a LOUD band with flashing lights (disco style). Elif explained that the men typically have the floor for a while, dancing together, followed by the women - again dancing together, and then the children join in as well. I was very self conscience found that most people just smiled at me.  Some women at an adjacent table smiled and took pictures of Thane and I while we were snapping pictures of the gathering.

The wedding cake was an amazing affair - 10 layers - stacked on a stretcher type server and paraded through the reception for all to see.

After some dancing, a piece of cake and a juice box (no alcohol at a Muslim reception) we called it a night.  Once more, we felt so lucky to join in this celebration!  Thank you Ahmet and family!

Next up:  A visit to the Goreme Open Air Museum with its Byzantine era cave churches with murals dating from 900 AD and our last few days in this wondrous land.

Göreme, Cappadocia - Picnic with Ahmet

Posted by Melissa

Good Food in a Cappadocian valley

September 17, 2010
Ahmet, whose son owns the Star Cave Hotel where we are staying, said "I am garden" "you go with me" "we picnic". Through a little back and forth conversation we discover that Ahmet has a country garden and wants to take us there for a picnic. Sounds GREAT to us. We hop into his car and make a couple of stops along the way, first for fresh peppers and tomatoes at this street market and then a stop at a little grocer for bread and chicken wings.

Ahmet speaks some English and we speak VERY little Turkish.  We converse as best we can as he drives us out of town and then down a little dirt lane.  The lane gets narrower and narrower with branches scraping up against the car.  Ahmet parks when the car can go no further and indicates to us that we will now walk.  We wonder just a little bit, "was this smart?" We are now wandering around a remote valley, far from home, with someone we just met. My daughter insists that I am too trusting, hmmm - just a little worry begins to work its way into my head, but we both agree Ahmet is a great guy and this will be a fun adventure.  So off we hike through this valley, passing through many orchards and gardens. . . .

to Ahmet's garden and camp/picnic area.

The simple outdoor kitchen where our lunch will be prepared.  Ahmet fills the water jug from a source further up the valley.

A lovely shady little spot, just right for lunch.

Thane checks out the one room house, built partially into the hillside.  Nice and cool inside.

We picked melon and mint in the garden and started preparing lunch.

Ahmet put Thane to work watering new fruit trees that he planted earlier this year, telling him that lunch will be ready when the trees are watered.

Simple BBQ, fueled with tree clippings stacked neatly next to the house. 

Ahmet roasted an eggplant (directly in the coals) that would become part of our lunch. Peeled and mixed with chopped tomatoes, green peppers and mint, it became the filling for our sandwiches.

Thane says "Yum!"

Dessert - straight from the garden.  Very sweet!

Oh, must NOT forget the çai.  Ahmet retrieves his wood fired samovar and tea glasses from the house and fires it up.  Turkish tea generally steeps for 15 minutes, leaving some time for . . .

play!

Tea is ready AND Ahmet even has some Nescafe with creamer and sugar for Thane!

Time to clean up.

The leftovers are bagged up and ready for our hike back out.  We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at Ahmet's family garden and picnic/camp area.  What a treat to be included in something as personal as this.  One of our goals in traveling is to get to know people living in other cultures as much as we can.  This day was very special to us. Ahmet, we feel so honored to have experienced your generous hospitality.

On the drive back home, we take a little detour. Again, we are not sure where we are going, but we are along for the ride so we'll soon find out! Ahmet parks the car and takes us into this old house.

We discover that his son, Ramazon, has purchased an old stone house with cave rooms, to remodel into a new hotel/pension. This is just the 2nd day of cleaning out the debris and seeing exactly what he has.

A couple of items found in the rooms.

Wine amphoras found in another room.

And just uncovered a few hours ago, a large cellar room that looks big enough to make a couple of additional rooms in the pension! We hope to go back to Göreme sometime soon and see this new pension.

Still to come in Göreme - descending deep into an underground city, attending a Muslim wedding reception, touring a vast complex of Byzantine churches, oh and probably some more hiking and food.