What a Way to Wake UP!

Our last morning I was woken first by the Ramadan drummer, announcing time to eat breakfast before fasting was to begin, then the mosque call to prayers, then the unmistakable sound of a large propane burner shooting a flame.  The last sound catapulted me out of the bed as the sun was just coloring the horizon.  I threw on some jeans, grabbed my camera and ran barefoot up the 5 flights of windy stone steps to the roof deck of our hotel.  This is what I saw.

after an hour of watching from the roof, i crawled back into bed. this is the view from my pillow!

Sights in Goreme

Can you tell Goreme is a backpacker haven?

alternate transportation

Pigeon houses along rock cliffs - built by people

typical transportation

interesting Goreme doors. design details are typical

More Goreme doors

this color blue appears alot

Goreme attracts an interesting mix of people from all over the world. We saw alot of Australians, Germans, Italians and ALOT of Japanese traveling through.  Parked in front of the mosque one evening was a Harley Davidson motorcycle complete with leather saddlebags and huge backpack. The helmet was painted with stars and bars - so I commented to Mark that the driver was from the South...US that is.  Sure enough, the license plate was from Alabama and the driver looked like he was a star in Easy Rider. Quite a site in the small dusty town of Goreme.  I expected to see mostly young, college aged backpackers, but was surprised to find that at least half the people we ran into (not traveling in tour groups) were our age and older - but not from US. 

Pigeons are important to this area of the country.  The soil is poor quality but the area survived on agriculture (before tourism started). So, the pigeon poop provided valuable fertilizer. For centuries, the people would encourage pigeons to live in the area by carving out pigeon caves for them on sheer sides of the rocks to prevent creatures from eating the pigeons. In more recent times agriculture has diminished in importance and fertilizer could be purchased, so the pigeon caves were not maintained by humans and many pigeons were killed by critters like squirrels.  Today, the residents are trying to grow the pigeon population by working on the pigeon caves.

The housing in the area is made from carved out rock, typically with additional rooms built using stone. Some buildings now are fully stone made, but all contain interesting detail work around windows, doors and along the building facade. This carries into the inside of the buildings as well which give the stone walls alot of character.  I fell in love with the old doors and weathered wood. The white walls in each building are accented with deep colors of turkish carpets. Beautiful!

Being a Goat in Zelve

Since Mark and I had both been to Cappadoccia before and 'did' the tours, we wanted to enjoy the area on our own. Today we took the city bus to the town called Zelve. Well, it used to be a town, but in the 1950's, the government moved everyone out of their cave homes because the rocks were no longer stable.  We decided to climb around these rocks and explore the homes.

Where to start?

 The rocks that were left by the volcanic eruptions are porous, which made them easy to carve out multi-story homes, churches with central columns, barns for the animals.  It reminded me alot of Mesa Verde in Colorado as the Indians lived in similar way. We climbed, Mark pulled me up steep rocks and guided me - not a sure footed hiker like him - down equally steep and slippery paths. We climbed up interior stairways that had notches for your feet and carved holes to put your hands (all perfectly placed).  We both decided that these people were short, at least shorter than me. I have a knot on my head from learning this lesson at many a doorway.

looking down one of the stairways

Yes we hiked and climbed into these caves in Zelve

We progressed from Zelve to the Fairy Chimneys, easy to hike about 1 km down the road.  You can see why these are my favorites!  People still live in these type of rocks, but where we hiked, the caves were empty.

Here are the lovely fairy chimneys - not the name i'd give them

mark climbs up into fairy chimney

more representative chimneys!

Visiting a Different World

One of my favorite places on earth is Cappadoccia. It is a region in central Turkey with a fascinating geography and history. Three volcanoes in this area created a sandstone type ground that has weathered through the centuries to form odd, pinnacle shaped hills. And this same sandstone is easily carved out to form homes, barns, churches.

To get here, we had to take a 14 hour, overnight, bumpy bus ride. Seems the bus stopped every 2 hours, plus an added stop at 4am to accommodate those who were fasting for Ramadan. They had to eat before 4:30am when fasting began for the day.  It was amazing to me to see a bus station at various times in the middle of the night filled with people bustling around as if it were the middle of the day. Vendors were selling fruit and kabobs, bus windows were being washed, children were running around.  Just odd for the hour.


The Cappadoccia area has historically been home to various peoples who seem to be in hiding.  That is the only reason to explain the underground cities. These cities housed tens of thousands of people - all underground complete with shopping centers, barns for animals, and homes.  Fresh air and water are plentiful even at the deepest levels. Some are so deep that all levels of the largest cities have not been explored even today.

cave churches hidden in the rocks

Going above ground, the hills and pinnacles (fairy chimneys) were carved out to create churches, barns, stores and homes.  We are staying in a cave hotel that was formed this way many years ago.

The early christians built small, almost personal churches in these hills, mostly during Byzantine times.  The frescoes are amazing, as are the number of churches that exist. The area was home to monks and nuns who seem to have just done alot of praying.  The surrounding communities had to support them - which doesnt seem like a very beneficial situation.

low doorways resulted in bumpy forehead

With over a thousand churches, we had plenty to choose to explore.  We hiked around the community just outside Goreme, where we stayed. The frescoes are either the early ochre painted geometric designs (at that time the church did not allow images to be used), or the later ornate frescoes depicting stories from the new testament.

Goreme cave church

Mark and I found a great little place, Old Cappadoccia Restaurant, where our dinners were cooked in clay pots. Mine required me to actually break the pot in order to get to the food. Lamb, eggplant, peppers (of course) were all cooked together and were accompanied with brick oven fresh bread. I finally got to taste the cappadoccia wine which was surprisingly good!

the Sac Tava dinner - lamb, peppers on hot plate

church alter area - ochre painting

To make the visit to Cappadoccia complete, we stayed in a cave hotel.  This hotel was the home where Mustafa, the owner, was born and raised.  He turned it into a lovely 6 room cave hotel that included beautiful patios and a roof patio for breakfast and to hang out between hikes.
Breakfast at our cave hotel is pretty wonderful too. Typical Turkish breakfast - fruits, olives, cheeses, fresh breads, honey and jams.  All home made/home grown. Great food and views to start the day

Looking from our room to the rest of hotel

our cave room - updated from when owner was born

Where Mark Goes, Fish Follow

Mark wanted to cook for his family a typical 'Mark' meal that we'd have at home. Today, Saturday, is market day and blocks of the town are lined with vendors selling everything from fabric and lightbulbs, shoes and underwear, spices and vegetables, fish and cheese.  And yes, lots of peppers!  

candies for Biram - starting september 9

We shopped all day - shopping on market day is a social activity as well as a functional one. There are also vendors who walk around selling things like pens, paper and even razor blades.  the razor blade salesman's pitch as he walked around was  ' Don't Sleep, Shave!'

We decided the 'dinner' would include a fish for everyone.   Even though Turkey has a large coastline, fish is expensive and somewhat of a luxury to alot of people. The cooking would be done on a grill, on the roof of brother Adnan's house where we could all spread out on the carpets and the women could watch the men do the grilling.  

We women making the salad

Dinner was a huge hit and even attracted a number of cats who somehow climbed up to the roof. I think brother Ibo had something to do with attracting the cats as I did see from the corner of my eye some fish bones being tossed out to the neighbor's cat.

Hanging with the family

Arriving in Selcuk

It took us 10 hours by bus to get to Selcuk, traveling part of the way via ferry across the Marmaris Sea.  Mark and I decided that next time we fly...that's a long time in the bus.

The family welcoming committee met us when we got in, men in the front yard and women and children in the house.  Of course no one speaks English, and with Mark in the front yard I was left to my own creativity to communicate with all of those women.  They asked so many questions - none of which I understood. After a while, they realized we werent getting anywhere with the talking.  It is important to note that even tho there is usually furniture in a room, everyone sits on the floor on the carpets.  And, it was probably 95 degrees (no exaggeration because the day had been over 100) in the 'ladies room'.


So, to limit the communication frustration, I started showing the ladies yoga moves.  We were already on the floor, so it seemed kind of natural.  This worked out great and got everyone interacting with me, without needing many words.  Mark came in after a while and joined in - much to their amusement.

We've slept on the roof of one brother's house because of the heat. This seemed like a good idea until 4am when the drummers started walking up and down EVERY street in town to wake up anyone who was fasting for Ramadan... and to wake up those of us who werent.  These are loud and rhythmic beats that could be interesting almost any other time than 4am. After one begins to settle down back to sleep, the call to prayers starts.  We found out that they had just installed a speaker system from the mosque on the wall next to our roof beds. ACCHKKKK.   Once that ended, the roosters started which got the dogs going.  About 6:30 the traffic started, joined by the morning train which passes about 50 yards away. Things quiet down then, but the sun is bright and hot by 8am, forcing you to get up.   I really need the strong tea served for breakfast each morning! 

 The family has been harvesting tons, literally, of peppers from the land they are renting this summer.  So, I was on the roof the other evening cutting these so they can dry - so we can bring some home.  Beautiful peppers, but also hot. Don't wipe your eye after cutting up hot peppers!!!

 

Mark's mom's house is over 100 years old. Now that it is cooler we are staying there. Shower is in the kitchen, peppers drying everywhere. And yes, the Ramadan drummers are on this street also, as are the roosters. The outside wall of the house is against a hill, so only a part of it is visible at the street.

Here is one of our dinners - peppers (of course), squash, kasatma (grilled peppers, eggplant, potatoes in garlic yogurt sauce). YUM.