More Walking and Exploring
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2007
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26
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Trip End
Nov 08, 2007
Goreme,
Turkey
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Then off on our next tour. Hopped on the little bus and got a huge surprise - we knew every body except one couple on the bus! Four people we knew from the previous days tour and 6 others were people who had also been at Apricot Hotel in Istanbul when we were there. Mehmet and Hakan are obviously doing well out of all these commissions
Old mill in a cave under our hotel rooms
!This was another great tour and one where we benefited greatly from our guide, Derya. She was our guide on the previous day and we were very impressed with her knowledge and enthusiasm for what we were seeing (she did a 4 year degree including history and comparative religion) and the way she always seemed happy and smiling - it was a pleasure to tour with her.
The highlight of this tour was the excursion down one of the major underground cities - Kaymakli. This underground complex is 2.5 kms wide and goes down 8 levels. It was frst begun thousands of years ago by the Hittites and expanded over the centuries by the various town inhabitants, who normally lived above ground, but had easy access to the underground through secret passages wherever they were threatened. Last used by the early Christians, this underground city could support around 3,000 people for up to 6 months if necessary! It is a maze of rooms, passages, storage areas and very efficient ventilation shafts. And apparently each of the major underground cities they have found appear to be interconnected via long tunnels - Kaymakli is connected to the largest underground city ???? which could have up to 10,000 people living in it, by an 8 km tunnel and the longest is 25 kms! We were blown away by the complexity and sophistication of this place - but you couldn't live here (or even come visit) if you were claustrophobic!!!
Above ground again, this is a big agricultural area, despite the desert like look of the place - the volcanic soil is fertile and there is good artisian water supply. One of the big crops is grapes for raisins and for wine. So our next stop was a local winery. They made 2 wines - a red one and a white one and the white one was very pleasant - aromatic and dry
Inside Kaymakli underground city
. The red was a bit too acid and tannic. Tina's sister Chelle would be interested in how the grapes are grown - small, runty vines, most with no supports at all so they sprawl over the ground. There are several grape varieties, but all are old and have Turkish names so not sure if we know them in the west at all. Apparently the wines from this region are well known and some are exported.Next stop was lunch in a restaurant specially built and designed for tourists - but impressive non-the-less. It's a huge room, carved deep into the rock and it serves tour groups local food - specifically a vege soup, a lentil and lamb stew (more like another soup with lots of chickpeas and very little lamb), another stew, this time beef and vege, cooked in a clay pot. And finally a choice of desserts incl rice pudding (which was a huge surprise to the 2 Japanese girls with us who thought they were getting normal boiled rice!
After lunch it was on to Avanos, which is a town renown for pottery, for a visit to one of the pottery workshops. We though this was going to be a naff hard sell push for us to buy something, but instead was very interesting. The Pottery workshop have been owned by one extended family for several hundred years and they appear to be renown for the quality of their work
Crawling through tunnels in Kaymakli
. First we were given a talk and demonstration of how to make a pot - the young guy doing the demonstration was extremely good - he made a beautiful pot in only a few minutes! Then one of our tour party was offered the chance to try making a pot. No-one else put their hands up, so Tina did. Ablely assisted by the young potting guy, she managed to make something that did not quite fall into the mis-shapen ashtray category, however what started as a bowl had a bit of a hiccup and rapidly flattened into a bowl. While it was decorated and set to one side, we somehow doubt it will ever make it to the sales area - even the highly discounted crap bin..... Actually these guys don't seem to sell crap. Infact some of their pieces are in the "if you have to ask the orice you can't afford it category" We saw some huge, intricately decorated plates and vases that had a price of tens of thousands of dollars on them. One person asked who bought them and the answer was "movie stars and millionaires". The best items for sale were incredibly beautiful with hugely intricate, complex and stunning designs. But even their run of the mill items were lovely. And it was interesting seeing the real thing as opposed to the tourist shlok that a lot of the places around us in Sultanhamet sold.Next couple of stops were short - to see and photograph some of the more famous and interesting rock formations around this area
Uchisar castle rock - carved out fortificatio
.Then on to Rose Valley for a 90 minute walk though canyons, past pigeon houses and ancient chapels carved into the cliff face, eating the wild blackberries and grapes that were growing everywhere.
And finally back to the hotel for a beer on our terrace with our next door neighbours - who happen to be an Australian couple that we first met at Apricot Hotel and had flown in from Istanbul that morning to join us on the same tour. It's a fantastic view from our terrace looking out across Goreme village and rock formations to the coloured cliffs a few miles away - and even more beautiful in the sunset.
Comments
Hello from the City of Sails
Trip sounds fab so far. Envious we are not with you enjoying Turkey. Counting down to our take off in 4 weeks 5 days! Make sure you check out the beautiful turkish pottery.
See you in Athens.
Love L&A