We catching an early morning flight to Kapadokya, so we have to assemble in the lobby at 5:30. There isn't a lot of chatter at that hour; but Ginger does ask the man at the desk to hold on to our bag o'goodies until we return at the end of our trip. She sure didn't want to carry those teapots and cups all over the country!
We are ferried back to the airport and go through security before we even approach the Turkish Air Line counter! They only x-ray the luggage and ask you to remove your computers. It is nice to keep your shoes on and not worry about your liquids! We clear security and move on to the counter to get rid of our suitcases, since it is free to ship. Yeay!
There is another security line to get to the gates; but it is just the same procedure and much more civilized than at home! I wonder if people here feel more or less secure than we do at home? We sit down at the gate and wait for them to board our flight. We're in Zone A, so we are looking forward to boarding first. Well, it turns out we are ALL in Zone A and there is just a mass movement through the doorway. That leads us to a stairway and onto a people mover that takes us out to the plane.
We are all sitting in the same row for our hour-long flight and don't expect to even get coffee, so we are totally amazed to find breakfast being served! There is a delicious cheese sandwich with tomatoes and cucumbers, and an apple cake with coffee. They barely pick up the cardboard trays before it is time to land!
Ours is the only flight into the tiny airport, making it pretty east to pick up our bags! There is only one carousel!
We are met at the airport by our guide, Sezin, who will be with us for the next three days. Mustafah is our driver and they have us loaded and on our way in no time. Sezin tells us about what we will be seeing today and also a bit about herself. She studied English in high school and tourism in University, after passing a very rigorous exam. She's been a tour guide for seven years and is quite wonderful.
Our first stop in the Underground City, a seven-layer maze of caves and tunnels that have been carved out of the native rock, a volcanic ash that is easy to work with. The city is 800 meters wide and runs under the entire town of Kymakli. There are electric lights which is a wonderful thing because some of the tunnels extremely narrow and short and it is very reassuring to see light "at the end of the tunnel"!
Sezin is remarkably knowledgeable about the the long and complex history of her country! I tried really hard to keep up and remember all the details; but I have to admit that mostly I remember that the caves were first occupied in the Paleolithic!
We see the winery and are told that the grapes were tossed into one area and trampled to release the juice. The juice, then, is drained into amphoras which are stored for a while for fermentation then moved closer to the kitchen where they are more easily accessable for dinner. Or any time! There are basalt grinding stones for the wheat and they are handled the same way, in that the ground flour drains through a hole into amphoras for storage.
There is a special area for the kitchen and another for the animals. That one is close to the entrance.
The city was large enough to accommodate about a thousand people and they could stay underground for three to four months, safe from invaders. The city could be entered from the above-ground caves in which the people usually lived. There were huge round stones that could be rolled into place to block the tunnels; they had square holes in the middle which served two purposes. One was to allow the people to see the enemy and the other was to accommodate a rope that was used to pull the rock back into place. The tunnels often had a hole in the ceiling, too, so they could look down on invaders and drop a rock on them or pierce then with a spear.
It is simply an amazing place! But there are more amazements in store! There are fourteen valleys in Kapadocia and we are of to visit one that has four cave churches that we can crawl all over! Some of them date back to the first century A.D. and have three different layers of ornamentation. As with all the cave dwellings in this area they have been carved out of the volcanic ash which is quite easy to work with. It is the same material that the local people use to make bricks for their houses. The natural yellowish color requires no paint and is lovely and maintenance-free.
The first layer of ornamentation is simply red paint which was applied directly to the rock and is primarily geometric designs. In later centuries, professional artists were sent to create frescos depicting all the stories of the bible. The Christians used this form of visual aid to teach the "pagans" of the area about their beliefs. The classical elements are all there. The annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the crucifixion and even the raising of Adam and Eve from Hell.
The churches have a central apse with two smaller side ones and pillars carved from the rock. In some cases the ornamentation even extends to these pillars.
The first church we visit is called The Dark Church (no - don't go there!) which derives from the oxidation which has darkened the frescos.
The next is the Church of Snakes, which sounded scary, like speaking in tongues, but turned out to have a fresco of St. George and the dragon.
Across the road are two domed churches, also carved out the rock; but whereas the first ones were carved into the rock face, these were carved out of the pinnacles which are a major feature of this regions landscape. It has been a treat to watch the guys clambering over, into and around all the caves. Seems like old times!
The Domed Church and the Hidden church are also decorated inside; but the Hidden Church is so called because half of the dome has cleaved away and it is no longer safe to explore it!
Lunch is like a picnic except we didn't have to bring the food! It is at a restaurant called Cappadocia Restaurant (original) and lunch is served under the trees and the watchful eye of one of the ever-present felines. Red lentil soup, pita, salad, veal stew with red peppers, onions, tomatoes, and bulgar wheat and watermelon or yogurt with honey for dessert comprise the menu! I could really live here!
 |
| For all my fellow cat people! |
After lunch we visit two madrases or church schools. The first only has the original facade and has been turned into a public library. I am pleased to notice that someone here is as cavalier as our kids at home about shelving!
Next stop - an old Greece town, Mustafapasa, through which we wander gladly! There was a period of two hundred years when the Greeks and the Bulgarians moved into Turkey and built summer houses along the trade routes. When Ataturk founded the new republic, he offered a free exchange of houses between the Turks, the Greeks and the Bulgarians, so that everyone could move back to their own countries. You simply found an empty house you liked and moved in!
In this town you can really see the Greek influence, yet, at the same time, you can see the caves which people have lived in for centuries. In some places the caves were inhabitied as recently as fifty or sixty years ago!
There is, of course, a beautiful old church here. It is actually a constructed building rather than a cave church.
We have had quite a full day and are ready to go home to our own cave! Really! We are staying in one of the "cave hotels" for which the region is noted.
It is called the Assiana Cave House and the boys have the ultimate man cave! You have to climb down stairs into the room and the only natural illumination comes from a small sky light!
Once we are all settled in our rooms we agree to having a small dinner; we're still stuffed from lunch! There is a place down the hill (everything is down the hill from here!) called Ziggy's that served small plates or mezas, like a tapas bar, and we trudge down and climb the stairs up to a terrace with a view of the city and tables made from old Singer treadle-style sewing machine tables! We have lots of small plates including fava-bean paste, eggplant wonder stuff with tomatoes and yogurt, potatoes in olive oil and feta and olives and walnuts in seasoned olive oil. It all went with fresh pita (which is nothing like the stuff we eat at home!) and a wine from a local winery, Kocabag. It was a dry, red wine and delicious. We also ordered three different filled phillo rolls, an order of spicy fried potatoes and, for dessert, miniature funnel cakes served with thinly sliced Granny Smith apples and one order of ice cream with grape molasses that made two complete trips around the table!
When the bill arrives, it is in a fancy wooden box!
We manage to make it back up the hill and only take one slightly wrong turn. It's lights out in a hurry because we are being picked up at 4:30 a.m. for our balloon ride!
No comments:
Post a Comment