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Published: September 23rd 2008
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Another great day! this time I hired a private driver/guide. He was a nice man named Adam, at least that is the English version. He spoke pretty good English. I went to the Goreme Open Air Museum first. Lots of walking, hiking, treking, whatever you want to call that exhausting stuff! Many steps again and stooping to get into the caves. But mostly worth it. Saw several more churches with the original frescoes that were painted directly onto the rock face of the cave by the early Christains in hiding. Some of them had the faces defaced; later inhabitants believed that it was bad luck to have faces on pictures indoors. Amazing to think that people lived in these caves, cooked, slept, made love, had children and died and were even buried in the caves. I have a few pictures of the graves. The children must have grown up to be very sturdy and I can only imagine that a few died falling of the tops of some of the cave areas. There were no railings to protect them. I would have hated to be a mother back then, would have been scared to death whenever a toddler was out of
view. I saw some local children climbing on the outside of some caves and they looked half mountain goat. The dogs here are also very good at getting around on them. Last nite, a large dog that is some kind of Turkish Shephard was outside my room, I could hear him snuffle, then he was laying there snoring. This morning he wasn't there when I looked out but I was him return over the side which was a very steep drop down, just rock and nothing else. I don't know if its soft enough to get his claws into, but he sure was surefooted.
Anyways, after the museum, went to see Fairy Chimney Valley. Took picts of camel rock, was amazed, you will see in my pict. Also see if you find my kissing rock picture. The guide didn't know if it was actually called that or not, but it should be. Some of the others made me think I need a man! Just look and you will see why! (sorry kids and family). After that we went to a restaurant and had lunch. I was able to eat with the driver, we were the only ones there, since
it was late. The was really good and we had a nice conversation. He wanted to know why I was traveling alone and why I didn't have a man. He said that he just wasn't used to it, but it didn't bother him. He was very surprised that I have a whole house to myself. They seem to be a lot more crowded in their living quarters here, although there is a lot of open space. In the Cappodochia area, you can't build a house without gov't approval because of it being a national heritage park. They limit where buildings are and caves can't be enlarged without a special permit, used to be if you had another child, you could carve out another room, add a few carpets and you were all set. Now most of the houses are being built with stone quarried in the area, its white and blends in pretty much with the caves. I was told that the cave dwellings are mostly passed down through families and its not easy to sell them as they are very expensive because of the tourist value. Many of them are barely habitable but still quite expensive compared to an
apartment which is what most of the other people live in. Or they share a family home with many generations all living there.
Ok, then we went to a government carpet factory. Its also a school where the village girls when they are 12-14 come to learn to weave carpets. They have teachers who are gov't paid and they get a certificate when they graduate. The hope is that they will return to their village and carry on the age old tradition. I was shown how they spin the silk from the cocoon into thread, takes 20 or so strands to make one thread. They raise the silk worms in Bursa which is near to Istanbul and ship the cocoons to the factories. The silk is then dyed. Nowadays, they use synthetic dyes on the silks, some natural dyes on wool and cotton rugs. They do beautiful work and of course they then had to show many of their rugs to me....no obligation of course!!! I would have loved to get a silk rug but the smallest wallhanging that was about 10in square was $250!!! So I bought a kilim instead! Its a runner and is all wool, hand
woven and will look lovely in my front hallway. I would show a pict but its so nicely wrapped up!! We also stopped at a onyx factory, they mine the onyx here in Turkey too and make beautiful jewelry and stuff to sit around and collect dust! Kinda heavy to carry tho and quite expensive. So I managed to not buy any.
Oh I almost forgot...also went to Urgup, a small village with many wineries where I was able to do a tasting and of course had to buy 2 bottles of white wine. I took a picture of the gravevines along the way too! They make and bottle the wine there, so it was a nice stop. Got back to hotel about 5:30p after a stop at the ATM. The ATMs here are strange, they won't tell me an account balance but will dispense cash. Oh well, along as it gives me the money! OK enough for today! Tonite, I take the 9pm bus to Antalya and arrive there in the morning where I will check into the Dogan House Hotel for the night. They said I can check in when I get there and don't have to
wait...must not be tooo busy! Thats good, so I can freshen up after all night on the bus. I get a discount on bus fare, the ticket shop owner is the cousin of the owner of my hotel today! Family is very important here!
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Jilly
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Really?!
Dude cut out the grossness. And you can buy me onxy. Thanks :]