CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY--Sunday, May 12, 2013

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Cappadocia, Turkey--Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother’s Day! In the town of Avanos, Cappadocia Region, Turkey

Up at 6am this morning to watch about 30 of the hot air balloons out our hotel window ascend. About 10-15 of our group left the hotel at about 5am to glide by balloon over the area. The balloons have very large baskets holding 20-30 people at a time. It is rather cloudy and looks like rain with the wind blowing the balloons away from us, toward the far mountains range. Valerie took photos, but don’t know if they will be clear in this light.

Got ready to leave at 9:00 this morning to give people time for eating breakfast after their balloon ride. We spent the morning driving to look at various places where different kinds of these “fairy chimneys” as they are called here, are located.

ImaginationValley, PigeonValley, and More

In one area, which our guide called “imagination valley,” the formations are smaller and are fun to look at as they take on many shapes that can be looked at the same way as clouds formations--"looks like a rabbit, or a camel, or two wise men etc." Another stop was to look at a grouping of three large formations that together look like a man and a woman with a child by her skirt.

Made a stop at PigeonValley where the enterprising people have carved pigeon coops into the canyon walls. Like the similar ones we saw in Egypt, these are used to raise pigeons to eat. Since this is a big tourist stop, a large jewelry “factory” is there for you to tour. One interesting thing I learned (Valerie opted out to take pictures instead of going inside for the tour) was that the word turquoise came into being when Marco Polo, or Genghis Khan, or someone like that, visited the area and saw the color on pottery tile for the first time and named it Turk “quoise.” Turkey does have natural turquoise and this store had stuff made from it and other stones and gems.

Next we went to where a huge formation with many “tepee” shaped points formed a so called castle for multiple families to live in, like a modern condominium. We stopped at a café patio where Aykut took pictures of each of us sitting on the railing with the castle in the background. Some folks wandered into some of the occupied ones while we wandered around and looked at the souvenir shops.

Another area we stopped to look at is called Hunter’s Valley, and seemed to contain more residential “houses” one on top of the other. Nearby, we had lunch at a local place where women make a pancake/tortilla like large circle on a hot skillet and then put some cheese, spinach, minced meat and/or potatoes and then fold it up like a crepe. It was ok taste-wise, but not enough stuff inside it to be filling.

At the next stop, at some more formations, Aykut tried to hawk ice cream at a vendor/friend cart. The ice cream in Turkey can be cut with a knife and is much thicker and seems to have something that makes it stick to the cone even when the cone is turned upside down. The vendor put on quite a display playing and doing tricks and slight of hand with the ice cream cone with several children and a couple adults from our group.

The UndergroundCities

Not only did the early Christians carve villages into the above-ground formations, they also borrowed underground creating ever-expanding homes and communities. There are several of these underground cities in this region, and you can see from the one we visited how they could easily hide and defend them from invaders. Some of these underground cities go down for 8 stories.

From the area of formations in and around Goreme, we drove back through and beyond the town of Avanos to the underground city of Ozkonak. Here a sign warned that anyone with heart conditions, asthma, back or knee problems, or claustrophobia should not enter. Because of my claustrophobia, I took heed and waited at the entrance and because of Valerie’s asthma, she was a little hesitant to proceed. Several others also decided not to go down.

Valerie and the rest of the group walked down some stairs and into the first room, which was only one of two places that could comfortably hold a group our size. Valerie said that this was also the only room where it was a little hard to breathe. They then wended their way through the very narrow and low tunnels into storage rooms and living rooms, wine cellars, and other dug out places. Besides being claustrophobic, Valerie said there was no way that I could duck down low enough to go through some of the “doors” and hallways.

For defense purposes, as you went back further, the rooms got smaller and passageways narrower. In a few spots, they had huge mill stones used as gates, so they could close them off from invaders once everyone was inside the room.

The most difficult passageway was where you had to “duck walk” about 20 feet. At 5’6” Valerie said she couldn’t see how anyone much taller could get through the passage, unless they crawled on their hands and knees. In this case, she said that you couldn’t be very wide either. She had to duck-walk into the last section where one of the 2 other women who was with her, broke into a song from the Sound of Music as the acoustics were so great, Myrtle just had to test them out. On the way back, the three of them who were bringing up the rear were almost trapped in the 2^nd large room where another tour group had stopped and filled the room to capacity.

The Pottery Factory and Showroom

For centuries/thousands of years the area around Avanos, red clay from the nearby Red River was mined for making bricks and pottery. On our way to our final stop, a pottery factory, we passed several brick factories. With locally-available kaolin, potters were able to advance beyond the crude household items, and this area became known for its exquisite pottery.

Our last stop, and by this time it was pouring rain, was at a pottery factory near our hotel. This company (http://www.venessaseramik.com/en/2/about-us.html) has existed in one family for over 200 years. At the factory/store, we sat and watched a master potter make an elongated tea pot with a circular middle that allows you to pour tea over your shoulder while an English-speaking family member explained what he was doing. He demonstrated making this while using a kick wheel.

The narrator then called for a volunteer to make something and Brian Elkin surprised the group with his skill at making a bowl. He told us later he had earned his living as a potter and that it was difficult for him to throw a pot here, as he wasn’t familiar with the properties of this kind of clay. I thought clay was clay and didn’t think about the changes inherent in the elasticity, etc. of clay from various regions.

We then toured the sales rooms where all types of elaborately painted items were for sale at not so cheap prices. The group was allowed to take pictures of the trainee’s work that were in certain rooms, but not of the master’s work that were in others. When we were done “shopping,” we sloshed through the puddles and loaded back on the bus for a very short ride to the Altinyazi Hotel. Dinner and bed time; another long day, and we weren’t among those leaving at 5am for ballooning.

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