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Published: April 17th 2011
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It is Day 10 of our Tour of Turkey and what a wonderful trip it has been so far. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the city centre of Konya but it is certainly a growing city. Our hotel appeared to be situated on the east of the city with new development all around. It seemed so unusual to find a city of a million people in the middle of a vast high plain (1000+ metres above sea level).
Our drive to the Cappadocia region meant a long monotonous drive across a vast plain where much of Turkey’s wheat, barley and sugar beet are grown. This road was once part of the route known as the Silk Road. In the middle of nowhere we had to stop for a set of traffic lights and wait. After several minutes a tractor crossed from the left, the lights changed and we were on our way. There were about a dozen dwellings in the locality and very little traffic on the highway so the traffic lights seemed quite out of place.
We made a brief stop at a well preserved caravansary which was used as an overnight stopping place for the camel
caravans using the Silk Road. The camels certainly had the pick of the accommodation. While we were exploring the structure two bus-loads of teenage school girls arrived on a study trip. We think they were more excited about talking with us and getting their photos taken than the educational value of the stop. Nearby we visited the underground city of Sarhatli. These cities were dug as a refuge in times of attack by marauding tribes. People could live down there for weeks, perhaps months, at a time taking with them all their livestock. Climbing through the tunnels and chambers gave us the Indiana Jones experience with large millstones at every corner ready to cut off our progress or retreat.
Our lunch stop was in the city of Nevsehir, close to our destination for the day. The restaurant was part of a supermarket. Our light lunch included a salad each, chips, bread and butter, orange juice and coke for the miserly sum of 12.75 lira (about $11).
The first of our local sights was an open air museum near Goreme. The museum consisted of many small churches all carved out of the Fairy Chimneys. Several had original art work from many
centuries ago only to be defaced by the invading Ottomans. It was very crowded and this meant waiting up to 6 minutes at each church while other groups moved through. What it must be like in the tourist season we hate to think.
An experience not to be missed was a visit to a Whirling Dervish Ceremony. These men performed this religious dance in a trance like way in a chamber 18 metres underground. There was a brief photo shoot at the end and then we were off to our evening meal in a nearby village. Perhaps the highlight of the meal was the use of a meat cleaver to chop the top off a pottery cooking jar to reveal a meat casserole – a new take on a slow cooker.
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