Cappadocia

Over the last Byram (which just happen to fall on American Thanksgiving), we hopped on a plane and headed to the Southern central area of Turkey. The region that we visit is called Cappadocia which is made up of small villages and a very unique landscape. Cappadocia is a volcanic region which is covered with soft stone from some 30 million years ago. This soft stone, formed by compressed volcanic ash, has been worked on ever since, by processes of erosion, to form valleys and curious fairy chimneys. The region is very famous for these unique formations. The most fascinating aspect of the region is the impression of continuity: rock caves are still inhabited;the fields are still fertilized with guano collected in rock-cut pigeon houses;and the pottery is still made of the main river, the Kizimilirma. Wine is produced locally as it has since Hittite times.

We flew into Kayseri from Izmir, a mere one hour and fifteen minute fight. We were greeted at the airport by the driver from our hotel. He was holding a sign with our name on it (there is a first for everything). We then were shuttled the hour to the village of Goreme, where we were staying. We were staying at the Local Cave House, which is just that, a small hotel built into the caves. It was small with only nine rooms. There was five of us so we almost had the place to ourselves. For the first day we walked around the village, took many pictures, and ate. We ate at a wonderful restaurant where we seated on the floor around a wood burning stove. Our food was served on a very low and large metal tray. The food was very much like the food in Izmir but a bit more middle easter, Lots of garlic and eggplant.

The next day we were signed up for a tour of the region. Our tour was small with only 19 people with us. However when we went to some of the historic sights it was crowed with other tours and huge buses. But this didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves and taking a million pictures!One of our stops was to the Gerome Open-Air Museum. The Open- Air Museum is the most visited of all the monastic settlements of the Cappadoccia Region. It's also the largest of the religious complex, and its churches, of which there are over thirty, contain some of the most fascinating frescoes. Virtually all date from the period after the Iconoclastic controversy, and mainly from the second half of the ninth to the end of the eleventh century.






Next stop was the old city of Avanos. Avanos is known for its pottery making. We stopped at one pottery studio that has been in the same family for over two hundred years. Our tour guide was a 15th generation potter. The pottery was beautiful and highly decorative. While there, the master potter allows a member of the tour try their luck at their old kick wheel. Gary took a chance and demonstrated his own skills at the wheel.

After the tour we went back to Gerome and ate and drank and planned our nest day adventure. We decided rather than touring around it would be better if we just rented a car for the five of us. So the following day we hopped in a car and hit the road. Our first stop was to the underground settlements in Kaymakli. This underground settlement was large enough to accomm0dated 30 thousand people. The cities date back to Hittite times at least (1900-1200BC). It is thought that the underground rooms were used as shelters during the 1200BC attacks. 70 to 85 meters below the lowest floor level were large ventilation shafts and deep wells. It was really remarkable.

Cappadocia is a region that needs to be visited over and over. There was so much to do and see, we didn't even scratch the surface. We met some fellow teachers who are currently working in Istanbul, who took a hot air ballon ride over Cappadocia. After their rave reviews it is something we will definitely do upon our return as well as hiking and a visit to some of the local monasaries.