Adventures a la Turk: Cappadocia

I rose (actually I was up most of the night) but I did not shine. But I'm always glad to see breakfast. Warm "coffee" and bread and cheeses and olives and veggies. I was in a much better mood after I ate. Exhausted and near the end of my capacity for hand-eye coordination, but in a much better mood.

So this guy I spied from the train before we disembarked. He was just sitting there stuffing that bottle with strips of newspaper. Hey, why not? He must be one of those fidgety types who relaxes by doing, you know?

Here we are on the platform, about to trek off to board the bus. We all lug our own baggage so packing lightly is a priority. Sally is the Queen at this. She managed to get all her stuff into her backpack (see her on the far right). I did all right too. My bag can also be worn on the back and is not as big as the one worn by the lady in the pink coat. Actually, I never even unzipped my expandable sections.

Heading out to the bus.

Ankara Railway Station looking oddly communistic.

Kitty! We love them.

We are in Ankara today to see the Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and Atatürk's Mausoleum. First, the museum. We enjoyed the peaceful courtyard while we waited for the doors to open. .

Go to the web site 360 degree virtual tours of the place and flip through the artifact catalog (a highly condensed version). I have to say that I really dig flipping through the catalog of selected items. But a caption, even in Turkish (cuz you could plug it into a free online translator to at least get an idea), would have been helpful. As it is, I'm just looking at interesting pieces with no historical or cultural context.

I was very excited to visit this museum. I took dozens of photos. I love a museum that allows photography.

Turkey is old, OK? I mean, people have been living in this part of the world for a very long time. Thirty thousand years? No. But about ten thousand. People with settled communities and even with writing. Before the trip, I was reading about the site at Çatalhöyük, Turkey (Çatal=fork, Höyük=mound). Hey, Rick Steves, I vote for skipping the carpet demonstration and instead taking the group to the Çatalhöyük site.

Çatalhöyük is one of the first urban centers of the world, dating from 7,400 BCE during the Neolithic Age. The official web site of the dig had me pointing and clicking until my eyes dried up. I highly recommend you visit to learn more about the largest and best preserved Neolithic site ever discovered. Another great site is the Berkeley Archaeologists at Çatalhöyük site, Remixing Çatalhöyük.

The inhabitants of Çatalhöyük buried their dead underground.

One of a couple hundred "goddess" figurines unearthed at Çatalhöyük. Originally, it was thought that Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society. Since the renewed interest in this site, starting in the '90's, it is now believed (though probably will be debated forever) that Çatalhöyük was neither matriarchal nor patriarchal, rather it was a pretty balanced situation.

Keep in mind that only some of the pieces in this museum are from Çatalhöyük. Çatalhöyük is a good starting point because it's the oldest. The museum covers thousands of years of Anatolian civilization.

I've included the entire description of this sun disk below it. Click any image to enlarge. .

It's easy to be impressed simply by the age of the items in this museum. Some of them are 9,000 years old and some one made it by and and now I get to see it and imagine how it was handled and used. Was it appreciated and useful or was it always in someone's way and getting tossed in the corner?

It's also easy to be impressed with the craftsmanship of some of the items. Artists were at work. Sure, people needed water pitchers but stylized gold ones? And the beads on the necklace are so tiny. It's hard to tell from the photo but I was amazed by how delicate the beads appear.

Remember, click on any photo to enlarge.

Here is another example of detail work that always catches my eye. Clay tablets covered in cuniform writing. This piece is about as big as an iPhone on steroids.

This piece is slightly smaller and still partially surrounded by the clay "envelope" which enclosed it.

Twin figurines are not uncommon. I failed to snap a shot of the identification card if there was one. But often the card simply listed the object and gave no further explanation.

The piece below was found at the site of Acemhöyük, which dates to the 3rd millenium BCE. This piece is particularly impressive because it is carved from a single piece of ivory. Before I was back home and working on the photos, I assumed the visual noise at the base of this piece was caused by wear and age. Then I zoomed in and found the animals. After the third photo I've included the identification card from the museum.

Here is another great piece of detail work but this one is big. This is the only bronze tablet found in Anatolia. It's a treaty. I've posted the museum card.

Now we're into the Hittite and Neo-Hittite Empires. Lots of big stone relief pieces and plenty of stone statues.

This is a statue of King Tarhunza, 8th century BCE.

A view of part of Ankara from the museum steps.

Atatürk's Mausoleum. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first president. He is Turkey's biggest hero, statesman, social transformer. He reinvented Turkey. He took the Ottoman Turkey and transformed it into the democratic, secular, nation-state it is today. To say he is revered is an understatement. At least what I could see and hear in my limited time in Turkey was all positive. His face is on all the money, in the schools, every other thing is named after him and his statues are everywhere.

Places like this leave me cold. Statesmen and politicians do little to inspire me regardless of my global location. It's not that the information fell on deaf ears, but it was so much information. I could not possibly absorb it all or appreciate it all. It would be like asking someone from Turkey to come and spend a couple of hours touring a J.F.K. museum and hearing his speeches and looking at his tuxedos, and reading about his life over and over again. The detail on one of the buildings, however, caught my eye.

I have to admit, the changing of the guard was impressive. Slow and deliberate. All of the Turkish armed forces are represented here. The position of guarding Atatürk's Mausoleum is highly regarded. They don't take just any schlub. We had the opportunity to tour the military museum and see inside the mausoleum. We did not tour the actual mausoleum. Check out the changing of the guard in these two video clips. A representative from wach of the Turkish services is in this procession.

History makes me hungry! Our first pide. Pide (PEE-day), not to be confused with pita, comes in many manifestations. It could refer to the bread, it could refer to the finished product. Either way, it's delicious.

The dough is a basic dough and the toppings vary. The round version of the bread is not topped at all, just decorated with a cross-hatch of indentations. This boat shape is a popular style for topping. A common topping combination is cheese, spinach, and mushroom, like you see in this photo.
Toppings are not heavy, just a moderate amount. The bread is light. The crust is on the thin side but would not at all be considered thin crust.

Back on the road. We traveled for a while. This was kind of a heavy bus day but I really enjoyed watching the country go by. We couldn't see much on the train ride so this was our first real view of the land. I have to say that the Turkish country we explored varied a great deal in appearance. Much of what we saw looked like Eastern Washington. It was golden, relatively flat but with soft undulations, and grew wheat. Like in this photo below. I didn't mind at all looking at this for long periods of time.

Some of Turkey looks like the American Southwest - a bit of scrub, some red rock, pines, crazy rock formations. You will see some of that in later posts.

Some was just highway. But we had nice rest stops everywhere. All were modern with plenty to offer, like the one shown below.

Though I never got around to buying one for myself, I did get a small taste of the very popular Magnum ice cream bar. Our group was just crazy about these things. They come in a variety of flavors and they were very tempting. Not sure why I never got around to having one. Granted, ice cream is never my first temptation or my second or third. Still, I should have tried one just cuz.

We arrive at Old Greek House in the village of Müstafapaşa, our home for the next two nights. Our hosts were Süleyman (on the right) and Fuat (on the left) Öztürk. By the time we settle in, have dinner, have our informal get to know you session, and get to bed, there wasn't nearly as much time left for sleeping as I had hoped. The van would pick us up the next morning at 5:35 am for the hot air balloon ride.

I think I mentioned earlier that there is a lot of cobblestone in Turkey. There are also a lot of un-level situations. Always watch your step. The stone stairs in this place were not level and no longer at 90 degree angles. Once at the top of the landing, watch your step as you enter the hallway with that red and black carpet - cuz you step up. If you need to use the common potty to the left, watch your step as you go in - cuz you step down. All of our rooms had private baths but we stil had to watch our step and our heads.

I really wished we had eaten dinner in this room upstairs. But I understand what a pain in the rear it would have been for the staff.

A nice view of the dining room. The room is, technically, open to the outside. Above a section of those grape vines is just air. Those stairs in the background lead directly up and out to the second floor terrace, which is covered but not enclosed. I never did find out what they do about dinner when it rains.

Some of the group do some shopping, or at least some looking, before dinner.

Yes, real grapes.

Return to Main Page or go straight to Day 5 - Cappadocia Part 1.

The "Fairy Chimney" shapes of Cappadocia.

Göreme Open Air Museum is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

You can see some of the cave dwellings across the field. This reminded me of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. At Göreme Open Air Museum, it's all about the churches and the Byzantine art. People were worshiping in this area in very simple cave churches as far back as the 4th century. At that time, Cappadocia was known as "Land of the Three Saints" - St. Basil the Great, his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Gregory of Nazianzus.

I did not post all the photos I took in all the churches at Göreme. I've tried to narrow it down to good examples from each we visited. Shooting conditions were far from ideal - hand-held without flash in a cave.

This shot to the left is just to give you some perspective on how cramped a space it was in the church. This is the Elmalı Kilise (or the Apple Church). Inside are images of saints and bishops and The Last Supper. And Jesus, of course.

The frescoes in Elmalı Kilise date to the 11th century. Though fully restored, the frescoes continue to deteriorate. Pieces still fall away, sometimes revealing older paintings underneath.

You will notice throughout the cave paintings that the faces are often the most damaged. Some of the damage to these frescoes are the result of the Iconoclastic Controversry, beginning in the late 7th-early 8th centuries. The Iconoclasts believed too much emphasis was being placed on the images in the church. The veneration of holy icons did not sit well with the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Until the mid-8th century, the iconoclasts, generally politicians, and the Popes duked it out over this issue. Back and forth to various degrees, one side or the other held the advantage until 842 when Emperor Theophilos died and his widow Theodora was regent for their young son. She had the Monk Methodios elected as Patriarch of Constantinople in 843 and on the first Sunday of Great Lent a feast in honour of the Holy Icons was celebrated.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Some damage was caused simply by time and the elements. Some caused as a result of Islamic prohibition to imagery.

And some damage was probably caused just from generations of locals using the churches for practical day-to-day existence purposes, like pigeon houses. Keeping pigeons is huge all throughout Cappadocia. Pigeon coops are carved into the rock everywhere. Pigeon poop is a cheap and effective fertilizer.

This is Yilanlı Kilise (or the Snake Church). St. George is depicted slaying the "dragon" but it looks like a snake. You can just make out a portion of the snake in this shot. St. George is on the brown horse in the middle.

To his right are St. Constantine and his mother, St. Helena, holding the true cross, believed to be the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.

Below is an interesting figure, Saint Onuphrius. He is one of those figures about whom little is known but plenty is told. Legends, lore, cults, churches, myths, feast days, veneration days and more for a man no one can prove lived at all. No matter, here he is depicted in nothing but a fig leaf for a loin cloth. Apparently, he roamed the deserts of Egypt, practicing the strictest code of silence, for decades.

Another shot of St. George and part of the snake. St. Theodore is on the white horse.

Now we are in the Karanlık Kilise (or the Dark Church). Sounds sinister, I know. But it's referred to as dark because so little light finds its way into this church. It dates from the 11th century and was a monastic compound.

In this church, as in others, we see the image of Christ Pantocrator (All Mighty or All Powerful or Ruler of All). It's an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic term. In iconography, Christ is seated on a throne, Ruler of All, flanked by others, usually St. Peter and St. Paul. It's one of the most widely used icons in Eastern Orthodoxy. However, the earliest examples are found in Italy. This compositional concept dates from the later part of the 4th centruy.

The lack of light entering this church over the centuries has allowed the colors in these frescoes to remain vibrant. Restoration, however, took almost 15 years because of the severe acumulation of pigeon poop on the walls. You will also pay an extra 8TL for a separate admission into the Dark Church. A pittance compared to what you see. As always, click on an image to enlarge it.

This fresco of the crucifixion is considered the finest in Cappadocia.

Here again are Sts. Constantine and Helena holding the True Cross. Constantine, Helena's son, was the first Christian Emperor of Rome. After Christianity was legalized throughout the Empire, Helena traveled to the Holy Land. Allegedly, she discovered the hiding place of the three crosses used to crucify Jesus, Dismas, and Gestas. Via a miracle, it was revealed to her which cross was the True Cross, the one upon which Jesus was crucified.

Tokalı Kilise (or the Church of the Buckle) is the largest church at Göreme. It contains frescoes from the 9th and the 11th centuries.

The blue in the paint comes from lapis lazuli.

Sally, Mine and I snack on pumpkin seeds and çai while we wait for the rest of the group.

Now we are in Ortahisar, on our way to lunch at a local woman's house. Mine warned us about "Donkey Man" and there he was! Apparently, he get s a little too close to the ladies. He was soliciting us for a photo op with the donkey but we all just kept walking just to be sure.

Before we went into the house of Fayrihe, I spotted wasps getting good and soused on grapes rotting on the vine.

More drying grapes and tomato paste.

We all crowded into Faryihe's house. Some of us sat on a carpet woven by Faryihe and her sister about 25 years ago. It looked new! This room is not actually part of her house. It's a separate building she uses only in the summer because it's not heated.

I love this kind of food. A simple lunch of beans cooked with a little meat, a shepherd's salad, some bread, and under the bread is small variety of bulgar.

What a face. Her eyes were so expressive. She had a great smile. The style in which she wears her scarf is how Sally will wear her scarf the evening we spend at Hotel Karballa when Mine conducted a scarf tying demonstration.

After lunch, we headed to a carpet cooperative for a demonstration of how the women are trained to weave. The young women are also taught basic educational courses and health courses. The Turkish government realizes that this craft is dying. Big incentives from the government are passed along to the consumer here in the form of free shipping back to the States. Still, a carpet is out of my price range. Some carpets were in my range if I wanted to splurge. But I'd rather spend my dough on another plane ticket to go on another adventure.

I was impressed by the speed and skill with which these women could thread silk threads through silk threads. It defied reason that fingers could work that fast and with such dexterity.

Next we saw how silk is harvested. This was cool. The silkworm pods float around and the lady taps this dense broom-like tool on top of the pods. This grabs pieces of silk from the pods. Grab some silk then pull away from the pods and you have silk thread.

It's very, very strong. It felt almost like fishing line. The strands are then collected and spun onto large wheels. Here is a bagful of pods.

And here are the silkworms that once resided in the pods.

The carpet demonstration was ok. I did learn a lot about carpets and we saw some exquisite examples. But it went on too long. And, bottom line, carpet buyng is prohibitive. It really only calls to a few in the group. I would have rather spent my time hanging out with Faryihe. Who helped her clean all that up? I would have liked more time at Göreme. I would have liked just to walk around Ortahisar.

OK, back at Old Greek House, after dinner, Mine asked us all to gather in the room off the dining room for something special. The man on the left is 70 and soon, he will be getting his groom on, out-dancing all of us. The man on the right plays the saz or bağlama (the ğ is silent) and sings.