Merhaba

Our hotel provided a huge breakfast buffet so you could really eat yourself silly.  I got hooked on the muesli with thick village yogurt and some kind of nut syrup.  And lots of tea.  There were two other buffet tables with eggs and cheeses and vegetables and fruits, bread, rolls…and even some kind of soup!    Lunch was usually some time past 1:30 so I was pretty hungry by the time we ate.

Ru

Kapadokya  Day 1 Lunch and afternoon

Uranos Hillside Restaurant

Sitting on stone pillow covered seats at stone tables..

We were serenated by this musician and Turkish diners who knew the words to his songs.

“the content of the pot which was slow cooked beef stew or testi kebab is an Anatolia dish served in Gὄreme.  It’s essentially a large pot that is sealed in bread dough and put into an oven for an extended period of time.” http://anlinhsu-foodendine.blogspot.com/ We had some grilled eggplant and soup and then Randal and I opted for the grilled fish.  At the end there was baklava!

The proud chef

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/357 is an very erudite explanation of the Cappadocia area with a photo gallery and video.  There were certain places where we weren’t allowed to film in the caves to portect the wall frescos.   It was a good place to walk off some of lunch.

Open Air Museum with its rock churches.  No photos were allowed inside the caves to protect the fragile wall frescos.   Some caves we could take photos but without using the flash as the light is just enough to cause certain bacteria to activate and destroy the paintings. “Bacteria are abundant on and pose a serious threat to ancient rock and cave paintings. The microclimate in these caves cannot be regulated as well as it can be in museums, with the result being that art that has survived for thousands of years in sealed caves is being destroyed in a matter of years by invasive bacterial species. Cave art paintings have been genetically tested for bacteria and have been shown to host a variety of unknown bacteria, some of which could be potentially harmful to these ancient paintings, which use the paintings as substrates during growth, produce destructive metabolites, or simply cover the paintings. The results of these tests suggest that new preservation measures need to be taken to ensure the longevity of the paintings, whose environment has already been altered significantly by the presence of tourists, who introduced foreign microbial populations, and artificial lighting, which led to the growth of algae and colonization by bacteria.” http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/

I was fascinated with her multi-colored dreadlocks.

Then it was on to a pottery demonstration.  I took lots of photos so I’ll write about that next email.

Merhaba,

   So I’m going through my photos trying to write up these emails wondering…where the hell were we that morning?  Afternoon?  Next day?  I’m not 100% sure where we were at each stop.  I had read some of my Cappadocia book to understand some of the geologic causes with the volcanoes, wind, rain etc creating the perfect conditions for the creation of the cave dwellings and the what the locals called “peri bacalar” (Fairly Chimneys.”)  And I knew that it was a refuge for persecuted Christians.  But for me the area was a place of beauty for walking and taking photos.  So that’s what I did.

Ru

Kapadokya  Day 1

Our first day in Kapadokya brought perfect weather.  About 12 folks boarded the bus at 5 am for a 6 am hour balloon flight they described as spectacular.   Randal and I took a pass, my one hot air balloon experience years ago in Roanoke was enough forever.  It was tranquil and safe and I hated pretty much every minute.  Our Kapadokya day started at 9:30 am and went on for a very long full day.  We visited areas most famous for their geologic structure and areas more famous as cave communities for early Christians.  Cappadocia is also famous for its pottery and carpets and we visited shops selling both. 

http://www.cappadociaturkey.net/   gives basic info.

This excerpt from the New York Times pretty much sums it all up…..and explains what my photos  try to show.

     “The conical formations are the result of volcanic eruptions that took place millions of years ago. Eons of wind, rain and other forces of nature have eaten away at the volcanic rock creating tufa, a soft and malleable stone. Many of these cones, known as fairy chimneys, contain caves and labyrinths.

As early as the third century, those chimneys became a hiding place for early Christians who fled persecution from the Romans, and then later from raiding Muslims. They dug deep into the rock, carving out underground cities that went eight stories below ground, as well as thousands of cave chapels and monastery cells.

As recently as 20 years ago, most of the cave dwellings were empty — abandoned for more modern, concrete homes. In the last several  years, though, affluent Turks and foreigners have started turning them into second homes and, in a few cases, boutique hotels like the Cappadocia Cave Suites and the recently opened Anatolia Houses.

“It was the soap opera ‘Asmali Konak’ that started it all,” said Laura Prusoff, an American who lives in the tiny Cappadocian village of Ortahisar, referring to a Turkish television series in 2002 and 2003 that was set in Cappadocia. “It made Cappadocia famous among Turks and put it on the map.”

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/travel/09next.html

The landscape of Cappadocia had been described as “lunar” “imaginary” “fairy chimneys.”  What grabbed me was the starkness of it.  No trees, no bright colors.  Nothing but rock and scrub and sand.  Imagine tall pine trees turned to stone.  Whole families of them frozen in place to watch over the centuries.    In China I met a stand of bamboo trees that became my friends because they seemed alive to me.  The Cappadocia stone statues came alive too, or would have if I’d visited them as often as I visited my bamboo friends.  Each structure seemed to have its own personality.  Some had been carved by the wind and rain into human or animal shapes.  But many looked like the “forest primeval”  turned to stone.

   This is the forest primeval.  The murmuring pines

and hemlocks,

   Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct

in the twilight,

   Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and pro-phetic,

   Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their

bosoms.

   Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neigh-

boring ocean

  Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail

of the forest.

http://www.hwlongfellow.org/works_evangeline.shtml

In junior high we had to read Evangeline and it pretty much meant nothing to me except the first few lines that have stuck  forever.  But when I saw the stone druids at Cappadocia I immediately thought of the poem.  Both the stone churches of Cappadocia and the poem Evangeline illustrate how people are persecuted and driven away because of their beliefs. 

Comic Relief!   The office of the Jandarma or Smurfs houses.  http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMFZ6F_Jandarma_Pasabagi_Turkey

This was our first stop and rather than wait around and actually listen to what our guide Taṣ had to say I headed for the path through the stone structures. http://www.goreme.com/pasabag.php tells about Pasabagi

Fairy Chimneys or an army of stone soldiers?

They sort of look like stone Dervishes with their huge turbans and flowing capes.

Stone hats on stone heads….

“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1079389/ An unfinished Michelangelo sculpture?  Or a male version of the Pieta?

Exploring the stone houses. Thinking about this, cave homes make sense as there wasn’t an abundance of trees and the stone was soft enough to be carved into.   Just as in Pueblo Colorado, caves were used for homes to take advantage of the climate and the resources.  Our guide Taṣ believes from his studies that Hittites were the first people to actually live in the caves.  “ Cappadocia lies in the very heartland of Hittite country whose relics are present in many locations.  The Egyptians called the land ‘Kheta’, the Israelis ‘Chet’ of ‘Chittim’;  the Hittites called their country ‘Hatti.’  Cappadocia  by M. Ali Birant

Kὄrhan and Taṣ entertained themselves with a game of backgammon while Mary looks on,

These cave structures housed a religious community  I think we’re at the Gὄreme Open Air Museum “Persecuted by the pagan Roman emperors, and their cesars of the Orient and fleeing for their lives the early Christians sought and found safe refuges among  the rugged hills of Cappadocia where they settled and lived in remote monastic colonies like Gὄreme, Zelve, or the valley of Ihlara.  They decorated their rock-cut churches and dwellings  with colorful frescos, many of which have survived the calamities of the bygone centuries to our delight.”  Cappadocia

Rock Church fresco

A stone cross carved into the cave

A snack and souvenir stop….Turkish ice cream is an acquired taste.  It has sometime called mastic in it which resembles chewing gum…..sort of.   Terry gave it a try.  Our cruising friend Cindy had some family with her on this trip.  Her sister, niece and niece’s pal, all from Florida.  They were a great addition and were willing and eager to try everything.

Then it was off for a quick stop in Ortahisar. http://www.goreme.com/ortahisar.php

Next  email, lunch under a mountain