Celebrations

upper body exercise...sort of

The last day of Bayram was unexpectedly busy.  Nephew Ali showed up to take me and mark to the beach. Ah, the Aegean Sea!  While it was too cold for mark's tender body, Ali and I enjoyed swimming around and watching the tourist party boats come and go.  I kayaked (I think that's what it was) for a while to look around the coast line. Turquoise waters were beautiful- but our beach was rock and that was a bit challenging.

beach bums

Boreks for dinner! made outside in the fire oven just for this purpose, accompanied with ayran - Turkish yogurt drink. Lots of relatives stopped by - it was their last chance for a Bayram appearance. Then I find out we've been invited to a couple of celebrations taking place in the neighborhood.  Because families are already together, a wedding and a going away party (son and his friends were going to serve their Army time) were scheduled.

Fatima leads the crew of borek makers

fig eating supervisor

picked figs between dinner and street party

These kinds of parties require the street to be closed for dancing, sitting, eating. Both had loud music, live or DJ, and there was ONLY Turkish music.  These celebrations are typical and the whole neighborhood takes part.  The young mens' party was interesting to me.  These guys were all being 'guys', hanging out and joking. But they were also wearing Turkish flag scarves, jumping up to dance traditional dances (guys dance together), or to welcome adults coming to the party with the traditional kissing of the visitor's hand and placing it on their forehead. There was a lot of respect shown which was refreshing to see. This is the typical Turkish way.  Respect is a large part of family and friend relationships and there are certain protocol that is followed. If broken, the meaning is unmistakable. 

boys do their best...need experience!

Ibo - mustache - and men show the boys how to dance

The wedding celebration was actually the PRE wedding party. There are special girl dances for the bride which prepare her to have henna put on her hands (which are then wrapped through the night so the henna will stain the hands for the ceremony the following day). These are not detailed henna designs you see with Indian weddings. The palm is basically colored. The guests are all sitting around the dancing - yes, in the middle of the street - while a DJ plays Turkish music. Some was traditional, some modern Turkish music - but no American music!

Ramadan is Done - Bayram Begins

I'll explain all of this in a very uneducated way - so forgive me for errors along the way.  Islam has a yearly month of fasting called Ramadan. Its really more than just fasting, but that's the most obvious part to me.  You can eat before sunrise and then again after sunset. No drinking, of even water, during this time. Not very healthy when Ramadan, which moves across the calendar as the years pass, is during the summer. So excluded are young and old people, those with medical conditions or those who's lives require food and drink through the day (like people working outside, etc.).

In our travels we met a lot of folks who where fasting.  You could usually tell by the late afternoon because they were either sitting in the shade waiting for sunset or were a bit spaced out. One of our waiters dropped our drinks because he was too shaky. 

In many towns, a drummer will walk through the neighborhoods - street by street - waking people up to eat before sunrise (am very happy the drummers are done). Then the evening call to prayers from the mosque gives the ok to break the fast.


After 30 days the end of Ramadan is celebrated with Bayram.  Here in turkey, that means you travel 'home' to where you family lives - like Christmas time.  And then you have 3 days of eating sweets and visiting friends and family. Younger people go and visit older people (so because we are staying with mark's mom, we have had alot of visitors). The younger person kisses the hand of the older person and then touches the hand to their forehead as a greeting and receives candy, money or a gift in return. To the kids, this is like Halloween in that they come to the door and kiss the hand - get candy in return. (advertising is huge starting w/Ramadan - commercials/ads wish people happy Ramadan and then Bayrm from the sponsor, and candy ads jump just before Bayram)  People get dressed up in their finest outfits. Mark's niece is a hairdresser and worked until 3am the night before Bayram to get her clients ready.

Visits typically last 20 minutes and everyone is served homemade baklava if the household made it (I've seen no store bought baklava served) or some special dessert. Then up you go to the next house, to do it again.  Mark's family tends to stay up very late and then sleep in.  We've been surprised to have dressed up visitors arrive while we are still in our pj's!

Those drummers come back as well.  They stand outside of each door and bang the drum and even start singing loudly. Their objective is to annoy you enough to pay them to leave. Some people give money, others give gifts like kitchen towels or olive oil. The drummer has helpers to assist in being annoying and also in carrying the loot.

Mark's family prepared for Bayram with one full day of baklava preparation. His mom is the master filo dough maker and literally rolls out each filo layer for the baklava. I was the dough ball maker and nut spreader (i'm told these are highly specialized tasks given only to skilled craftsmen....and visiting relatives).  The extended family showed up with their dough so that mark's mom could roll their dough.  So, ana worked for over 8 hours rolling dough - with no food or drink! I was exhausted for her.

Mixing the dough

Unending rolling of each filo layer

The baklava pans are so big that they have to be taken to the bread baker for baking. One family member had a catastrophe - the baker burned their baklava. So he took the baker to the city to get the baker to pay for more flour and a 'cost' of remaking the baklava in time for Bayram.

precise cutting

ready for the baker!

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.