Advertisement
Published: October 8th 2023
Edit Blog Post
This day started with a beautiful traditional Turkish breakfast, complete with local cats. Every meal we have enjoyed outdoors has been with a menagerie of cats. The locals are very fond of their cats and dogs and take great care of them. They do not really belong to anyone, but belong to everyone. They feed them and provide water everywhere. Many have ear tags which tells me they are tracked and probably spayed/neutered and vaccinated to keep populations under control. The care they have the animals is but another example of the warm and generous spirit of the Turkish people.
We were up early enough to catch the ballon show over Cappadocia. This is a very popular thing to do, which provides a birds eye view of the region. They only fly at 6am, provided weather and winds cooperate, and make a beautiful color display in the morning light of dawn. None of us was daring enough to try a flight but we appreciated the view all the same!
We met our guide Suleyman who took us first to the valley to see the open air museum, a collection of more cave dwellings. Many of them were churches with
beautiful frescoes painted over indigo blue backgrounds. Photos are not allowed so the pics I’ve included are from Wikipedia. Many of the dwellings were monasteries and nunneries although some were also for regular families of the day.
From there we visited the fairy chimneys. Similar to the other cave dwellings, they fell into disuse for human occupation but were later turned into pigeon houses for collecting droppings to use as crop fertilizer. Families would adopt a cave, feed the pigeons and collect the droppings twice a year. A symbiotic relationship that has also given way to modernity. Fertilizer can now be purchased at a low price, not requiring treks to high mountain caves to collect pigeon poop!
The chimneys are created by the erosion effects on different rock layers. Those who have a bit of imagination may be able to see a camel in one! We stopped for a lovely lunch along the Red River before one more visit to the Alladdin Ceramic company. I thought “ho hum” more pottery, not is ubiquitous with the region. I changed my mind quickly once inside. This is a family owned operation and goes back 600 years! Some in the family
skillfully shape the pottery with precision, others paint and fire it. Their ceramics are so well known, they have several pieces in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. As an artist, I was in awe of the use of color and negative space, especially in a product that takes multiple firings two achieve the final vision. Some are even gilded in the process with 12K gold. They are all stunning. Of course we chose a few pieces to go home but their delicate nature demanded they be shipped to the states.
Finally, we were off to the airport again for a quick flight back to Istanbul and a transfer to Izmir. Tomorrow we explore our old stomping grounds!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.113s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0639s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb