Today was a LONG day, starting with alarm at 4 AM for our 5 AM departure for the airport to leave Izmir and come to the Cappdocian region. We arrived a little after 10 AM to Keyseri and then drove for about an hour to Nevsehir, a city in the center of the Cappadocian region where we stopped at the Han restaurant and had an unbelievable buffet lunch. Truly there was a mind boggling array of food, salads, appetizers, multiple hot dishes, veggies, fruit, a whole island full of desserts. It was overwhelming. Having stuffed ourselves with all that good food we then proceeded to our first stop if the day, which was Kaymakli, an underground city. There are a number of these underground cities that were built and used by early Christians to hide during times of persecution. They are labyrinthine underground structures in which entire villages took refuge when under siege from enemies. The one we visited could hold up to 3500-4000 people at a time for weeks on end. We were able to visit the first four levels of the city, going deeper with each level. The passageways down are very narrow - we had to bend over double and walk single file to go through the passageways. There are living areas, kitchens, wine cellars and chapels throughout the underground city. It is quite amazing. These underground cities were last used in the 7th century and were later abandoned and forgotten until they were rediscovered and excavated in the late 20th century. They are truly fascinating structures, reminiscent of the catacombs in Rome.
The topography of this region is spectacular. Large volcanic rock structures dot the landscape. These rock formations are distinctive and are millions of years old. The vistas out over the rocky, mountainous landscape are breathtaking. We stopped at a lookout point for a short break and picture taking, and I had my Turkish ice cream fix. The ice cream is made from goat's milk and orchid flower powder, which is what makes its consistency so different from our ice cream. After our stop at the lookout point we went to visit one of the many Cappadocian churches, which was really a monastic complex built right into the rock structures. We visited the Goreme valley region where there is an open air Goreme Churches museum. The complex was a monastery during the 3-5th centuries completely built in the rock structures. We visited a variety of churches in the rock structures, some of which have beautiful mosaics still visible, although damaged. We also saw the ancillary rooms including refectories, wine cellars, kitchen areas and classrooms where monks were trained. The tall rock formations made perfect buildings into which to build the monasteries. It brought to life all I studied about the Cappadocian fathers in church history back in seminary!
After we left Goreme, we went to see the fairy chimneys, which are large rock structures that look like clusters of giant mushrooms. Their tops look like hats or mushroom tops plunked on top of the tall rock formations. They too, are amazing to behold. Millions of years old and just stunning to see.
After that we went to a carpet factory where we got a terrific demonstration of how turkish carpets and kilims are made. We watched women doing the weaving and learned how the silk thread is harvested from the silk worm cocoons and then died and made into carpets.
After that we had an hour's drive back to Keyseri where we had another big meal at our hotel, enjoying two specialities of the region. The first is a pasta soup, with the pastas like tiny raviolis filled with meat and served in a tomato based soup with spices and yogurt. The second dish was a sort of Turkish burrito, flat bread with spiced meat spread on top, which you roll up with parsley and yogurt and eat like a burrito. Delicious. Then we had two desserts, a chocolate pudding and then birthday cake for one of our traveling companions. We rolled up to our rooms in a food coma, and pretty exhausted from the long, long day. For some reason, I have had terrible allergies today which my anti-histamine has not touched, much to my annoyance. I don't know what's in the Cappadocian air, but it certainly has me sneezing, sniffling and itching like mad! Tomorrow morning we have to be out of here by 6:45 for our flight back to Istanbul.
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