A Wanderers Musings: Cappadocia-Day Six

The Three Beauties

The Five Beauties (and one Beast)

No, I'm not going to go there...

Today we started off with a visit to the Three Beauties. This was just to whet our appetite for the smorgasbord of weird and wacky rock formations we would be seeing in Cappadocia. These odd pinnacles are called “fairy chimneys” or "tuff cones" (Don't you like the way that sounds? Tuff cones!) and are formed when lava covering the tuff (consolidated volcanic ash—the same “tuff” as I found in Italy last year-see here) breaks away from earthquakes or natural erosion, leaving pinnacles.

We then walked down through the Devrent Valley, where our new guide, Hussein, encouraged us to use our imagination to see animals in the fantastical rocks. He pointed out one that he said looks like the Virgin Mary. Some of us could see it--Claire saw a mustached man holding a pointy-eared dog. Obviously a very subjective activity.

What do you see in these rocks? (This is a test;
you will be graded...)

Sleeping rhino in the sun?

Old man with a staff?

Pink alien with buggy eyes?

Slug fest?

Wildflowers along the trail.

Hussein had told us we were going to “lots of museums” today; what we didn’t know was that those museums were all outside! The Zelve Open Air museum was the next place we visited; this was once home to one of the largest communities in the region. It is an amazing cave town, honeycombed with houses, storage areas and Churches. Zelve is situated about 10 km out from the town of Goreme. The Christians and Muslims lived here together in harmony (well, at least that's what the historians claim) until 1924, when the Christians had to leave the Valley because of the exchange of minorities between Greece and Turkey. The Muslims were forced to evacuate the Valley in the 50's when living in the caves became unstable due to erosion. They left the site to set up a modern village, a little further on, to which they gave the name Yeni Zelve (New Zelve) (very original). These cave dwellings remind me of Civita di Bagnoregio, the dying city I visited with Deb last year; see that post here.

Kind of creepy looking, huh?

This is by far my favorite picture from this area. Wish I
could have figured out how to put myself in it! btw, it was
a tough climb up to this area--kudos to my tough MIL and
her sister Olive for getting up there!

Sort of look like gnome houses, with little pointy roofs.

Stone doorway

Carving of the cross inside the Church.
According to what I've read, this is an
antithetical cross; what I can't seem to
find out is what exactly that means!

Inside the stone Church.

Lots of pointy gnome houses.

Sun and shadows.

Hiking back out of the valley.

Hole in the rock.

Drive through garage.

Trail out.

In a hollow.

Cool echoes.

Doorways.

Carol and Olive in the doorway.

Someone else took this obviously.

Large fairy chimney.

Hobbit home.

We then visited the Monk’s Valley (Pasabaglari). This is a valley of many fairy chimneys with multiple stems and caps. Hermits and monks through the ages have carved out living areas in these chimneys and the surrounding hillside. A hermitage of Simeon monks, also called Stylites after Saint Simeon Stylite. lived here; a chapel dedicated to St. Simeon, and a hermit’s shelter is built into one of the fairy chimneys with three heads. Saint Simeon was living in seclusion near Aleppo in the 5th century, when rumors that he had performed miracles started to spread. (For instance, he had gone the entire period of Lent without eating or drinking anything.) Disturbed by all the attention, he began to live at the top of a 2m high column, and later moved to one 15m in height. The hermits of Cappadocia distanced themselves from the world by carving out small dwelling places in fairy chimneys, lying on beds carved from the tuff.

Three caps.

The caps look like grey roofs.

You could climb up inside this to the second
floor and look out the windows. The climb up
was steep though--like a ladder. Bob did it--but
for some reason I didn't get a picture of it. Sorry
about that Bob!

Sultan Bob with part of his harem.

I don't know if this is the hermitage site or
not--it does have three caps. Maybe?

We stopped by a local ceramic studio to learn about making ceramics. They demonstrated how to make a very unique circular amphora. All of their pieces were hand-painted, with no patterns or stencils. Very beautiful; we might have been tempted to buy some if we didn't have to carry them around in our suitcases for the next two weeks!

Pots in a window.

More pots.

The guy demonstrated how to make this plate-it took him maybe
two minutes.

Free-hand painting.

This is a family business-the owner introduced
this guy as his crazy cousin.

Here are those unique circular amphoras.

And here are some painted.

They still use kick wheels.

Watching this guy make one of those circular amphoras.

Surrounded by ceramics.

Claire with blue and green.

After lunch, we visited another open air museum in Goreme, a complex of medieval painted cave churches painted by Orthodox monks. This area was very crowded and busy, and we weren't allowed to take pictures of any of the cave painting.

Goreme stone house.

Motorcycle parking in a cave.

How's this for a weird one? Looks like
a scary face!

The entrance to one of the Churches. Yes,
you had to stoop way over to get through
the tunnel!

Another church.

In front of the weird face rock.

I really had to duck while going through
these tunnels!

I think I am taller than the average person back
then...

Claire braving an ice cream from the flamboyant ice cream
guy.

We then stopped for a panoramic view of Goreme from Esentepe and visited a local cave house. We wanted to take a picture of a sign we saw that read: "Cave House For Sale" but never had the opportunity.

Overlooking the valley of Goreme.

Relaxing in a local cave house.

Bedroom of the cave house.

Other side of the bedroom.

The front door.

The entryway.

Puppy with it's mum.

After a refreshing swim and shower back at our hotel, we went out for a night of Turkish dance. This was a real highlight...we were seated at tables amphitheater style, and enjoyed turkish "snakes" (our guide Hussein has trouble with some English words--he meant snacks) and beverages: local wines; Raki-the local anise-flavored liquor served diluted with water and ice, making it turn milky white--hence it is called "Lion's milk"; vodka with either orange or sour cherry juice; or turkish coffee, tea or apple tea; all were included in the price of the ticket. I stuck to the apple tea. While we enjoyed our "snakes" and drinks, we were entertained by traditional turkish musicians, energetic folk dancers and an amazingly supple belly-dancer. We all got to go down and join in a little dancing as well. A fun night.