Zelve Valley Monasteries
Pasabag Valley
Unfortunately somebody coined the terrible name for these as “fairy chimneys or fairy castles”. To add interest, about 1300 years ago some folks started carving these things out and living in them. This got totally out of hand such that these ferry castles have been hollowed to be multistoried habitations, churches, stables, monasteries, pigeon houses, granaries, vine cellars, etc. etc. Looking around you’re more likely than not to see some hole carved in the rocks. So much so that many have collapsed. There are cave hotels (Curtis saw no value in paying to stay in a cave).
Fairy Castle at Cavusin Village
We did a day hike starting at a Byzantine monastic cave complex (Zelve Vadisi). The place was totally hollowed out. Hundreds and hundreds of interconnecting cambers carved out and connected by stairs, tunnels, vertical shafts, ledges, etc. The monks, to get from one place to another, had to climb (monkey monks!). After visiting this area we walked on to the next geologic oddity, some balanced rocks. Along the way were many vineyards and fruit and walnut trees, all ripe and ready. We foraged unrestrained. Interestingly they don’t train up the grape vines. They’re just individual bushes.
Carved rocks near Goreme
Red Valley near Goreme
We lunched at a village and trudged on to several valleys of colored rocks and odd formations. We followed paths without a proper map but headed generally back to Goreme. About 5:30 we were running out of gas when in a canyon bottom we came upon Red Valley Tea Garden.
A friendly old man fixed us some apple tea in his little oasis of shaded tables. We bought some nuts and raisins and dried fruit. He showed us the cave he sleeps in and gave us a copy of the Quran which he put in a plastic bag. He drained our wallets that little twinkly eyed entrepreneur. Arriving back to Goreme we had a few Efes pilsners and some pide (wood fired oven bread).
Cappadocia Jandarma (police) Station
Rock cut facade in the Ihlara valley.
Motoring on the next day we checked out some villages. We tried to enter a huge rock tower castle that was closed. Curtis tried the back way but a huge Turkish hound awoke and tested Curtis’s time in the 20 yard dash. Fortunately the beast was chained. We lunched in an atmospheric old Greek house and hiked around a valley of 900 year old stone craved churches (Soganli Valley).
Old Greek House in Mustafapasa
Carved church in Soganli Valley
At the entrance to the valley a line of energetic old women dressed in scarves and pantaloons loudly entreated us to buy some of their homemade dolls. We caved and bought a couple (who could resist?).
We drove to the town of Ihlara. We stayed at Akar Pension/Motel/Camping. The truly friendly inn keeper made our stay special. We hike the length of Ihlara valley (accidently getting of the bus well past our start point and walking and hitching a ride with the propane man back).
Selime Monastery
Carved church in Selime Monastery
It’s a canyon sort of reminiscent of Smith Rocks (sort of) with all kinds of caves and churches and other rooms caved out of the rocks.
Ihlara Valley
We lunched at a café where they have little Turkish crash pads built over a small river in the Ihlara Valley.
After our walk we drove high up on to the slopes of Hasan Dagi (a 10,700 foot volcano) for sunset.
Next day we went to an underground city at Derinkuyu. The troglodytes around here took cave dwelling to new heights by digging out a complex eight stories deep. With vent shafts and deep wells they had all they needed to outlast a raid. History is complicated over the last 1500 years so any number of people could be the raiders or the raidees. So far they have found 36 of these underground cities and probably many more are out there.
Pigeon Valley
While driving around we saw all kinds of pumpkin fields in stages of harvest. Incredibly they only pick out the seeds and dump the rinds. There are piles of rotting empty pumpkins all over Cappadocia. It is the province of the elderly to pick out the seeds and dry them in the sun.
We stayed in Uchisar village which is dominated by a rock pillar. Back in the day the village lived inside the rock (kind of weird). They have moved on by surrounding the rock with pensions and trinket shops.
Uchisar Village
Balloon rides are big in this area (too spendy for nosotros), but we got up early to see 66 balloons hovering over a landscape of fairy castles.
Balloons over Goreme.
We boogied on to Kayseri and spent the night at Hotel Sur (a dump). Kayseri has no tourists. It is very strict. While we had dinner they turned the music off in the restaurant during the call to prayer. A few women looked modern with no head scarves but all had arms and legs covered. On the other hand it is quite possible for young women to look trendy with hip hugger skirts and wide belts and flashy accessories and wild colored head scrapes. On the other hand most men were sitting around tea shops for hours chatting and smoking and playing cards or backgammon or dominoes (no women here).
Mosque in the main square of Kayseri
Kayseri is next to a 13,000 foot volcano called Erciyes Dagi. We drove up to a ski area on the mountain. We trudged around some buildings where everything was under construction getting ready for the season.
Erciyes Dagi
A man approached us and chatted us up and invited us to tea. Turns out he is the Turkish part of an Austrian concern that is developing the mountain. He showed us the development plans and the “mountain room” and the museum of Turkish skiing (much like Timberline Lodge) and some photos of him climbing and skiing with a former prime minister’s son. He spoke of his hope for the resort and his theory that skiing is the perfect sport for traditional Turkish especially woman since generally you are covered from head to toe and it can involve the whole family. He spent an hour with us (would the head of Mt Bachelor do this? with someone from Turkey? I think not). Turkey isn’t perfect but this is an example of how truly friendly people are.
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