April 15 – Fairy Chimneys and Cappadocia

Pick up was at 5:45am today for our transfer to the airport and our flight to Kayseri in central Turkey.  Our driver, Belal, had driven from Istanbul to Kayseri and will be with us for the rest of the trip. 

The area has lots of mountains.

Our first stop was the Ӧzkonak Underground City. The city may date to the Byzantine era but they really aren’t certain.  It was found in 1972 by a local farmer who was trying to figure out where all his crop water was going.  We met him at the site as well as his son. 

There are 10 levels but only 4 are open.  The labyrinth rooms and tunnels includes a room for horses (feed “troughs” were carved into the walls),

kitchens, winery, and many other features like ventilation shafts...

and gigantic stone wheels that serve as doors and can be rolled into place to prevent the enemy from entering.

The place is now a national park but the family owns a snack place and a market.  We wandered around the shop and picked up a couple of small items.

The countryside in this part of Turkey is lovely with hills, green fields and red earth.  

We had a stop at a ceramic manufacturer.  The entire process is done by hand from forming the piece to drawing and painting the designs.  We (Mary) broke down and bought a large tile hanging piece and a pitcher.

We had lunch at a small diner beside a gas station.  They had phenomenal bread (the place is also the local bakery) plus we had a calzone type of dish.  Very tasty.

Next stop was Paşabağ (pah-shah-bah) or Valley of the Monks.  The valley is filled with “fairy chimneys”…magical rock formations formed by erosion of the volcanic porous rock.  The valley had a very high concentration of these chimneys and we enjoyed wandering around.

However, during the Roman period the Christians escaped to the area and dug homes and churches into the soft stone.  A few of them still remain.

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More Paşabağ 
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Our hotel tonight is in the town of Gӧreme in a cave hotel…our room is dug into the side of one of these hills. 

This evening we went to a local caravanserai to attend a Whirling Dervish ceremony.  This is a religious ceremony that started as a form of meditation and is practiced by a Sufi sect.  No photography was allowed during the ceremony but several of the dancers stayed after to do some whirling for the benefit of those wanting photos. 

The ceremony started with some chanting, followed by music.  At one point the master got up from the rugs, changed and the dervishes got up, removed their black robes and one by one bowed to the master and then slowly started to rotate until they were all whirling.  It was very moving and touching.  We were fortunate to see the ceremony here instead of in Istanbul where it is much more commercial.

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Video of Whirling Dervish
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It was a lovely way to end the day.