Kappadokya'da bir haftasonu

Our first full weekend trip of the summer came a bit later this year, but it was definitely worth the wait. We left early friday afternoon for a weekend in Cappadocia, the region to the east of Ankara that is known for its interesting volcanic rock formations and for the settlements that various people like the Byzantines have carved out of those rocky cliffs over time. While this part of the country's history is moving a bit outside of my comfort zone, the guidebook says that the churches and monasteries that are the main tourist draw date largely from the 9th century on and functioned as a refuge from persecution for their various inhabitants. I can't recount everything we saw since the guides had a very busy itinerary planned, but I will try to give a quick guided tour of the highlights.

After a relaxing friday night in the hotel room we started our saturday at the Göreme Open-Air Museum that features some of the best extant examples of the churches and monasteries that dot the regions cliffs. While this type of thing wasn't entirely new to me after my visit to Petra in Jordan a few years back, I was surprised by how intricate some of the constructions and their decorative frescoes were. Little did I know I was in for a much bigger surprise the next day, but more on that in a bit. The area featured a couple paved pathways leading to examples of the monks' cells and churches with preserved Byzantine frescoes of various saints and biblical figures. These were impressive enough and I assumed they would be some of the best we would see all weekend, but I was amazed that at each place we stopped the sights seemed to get more and more impressive. After the open air museum we drove back up the hill towards the Üç Hisar Kalesi, the mound of rock featured in pictures two and three, that has functioned as a citadel for the region's inhabitants through many centuries and that offers a pretty amazing view of the surrounding countryside. Some of the most distinctive features of this countryside are the Peri Bacaları, or Fairy Chimneys, that were formed when some of the softer material in the region eroded and left the harder portions of volcanic rock as they are seen now (in picture 4).

Some of the more fun portions of the day occurred when the guides let us off the leash and allowed us to hike around these formations and explore the area a bit. Of course, these parts of the day were also broken up by visits to local jewelry and pottery shops where some very interesting exhibitions of how their wares are made were inevitably followed by an offer to let us tour their show rooms where we could purchase the products for very reasonable prices! The prices were a bit better for the pottery than for the jewelry so Amanda and I are now the proud owners of a decorative ceramic tile with some Quranic calligraphy for our new apartment wall. The afternoon was capped off with a visit to a local winery's salesroom and an impromptu game of soccer in the abandoned lot across the street that is probably the only time I have (or will) play soccer with a series of tied-up growling attack dogs marking the boundaries of the field. It was only after we finished that I saw the sign saying "Private Property, Keep Out"! By this time it was pretty late, but before we headed back to the hotel we were taken further up into the hills for a view of what we were told was the best view of the sunset in the region. Again, it was pretty similar to the sunset that I saw in Petra, which is no small thing to say. However, this sunset wasn't followed by the confiscation of my passport and an hour of questioning by the Jordanian police, so I can safely say it wins out overall!

Our evening wrapped up with another visit to the all-you-can-eat buffet at the hotel and some group bonding over drinks in our hotel rooms. If for no other reason than this, I wish the trip had happened earlier because it was good to get a chance to spend time with the other students in a less formal setting than we normally have. Luckily we were still able to get a little rest for our second action-packed day of tours.