30 September, 2011

Tonight I have my feet up on a chaise lounge, in our private room in the Argos Rixos Hotel in Cappadocia.  My brain is so full of facts and figures it might explode if I do not write it down!.. After breakfast this morning we were picked up  in an elegant black  Mercedes  minibus.  When trying to picture it the Mercedes  should definitely be before the "Minibus" as it is elegant!  It appears to seat the driver, our guide and 6 passengers with  plenty of room left for luggage. 
It is very comfortable.

Our guide is a very knowledgeable man , whose heritage is Greek/Kurdish.  He himself lived in England for 15 years so his English is pretty good.  For 4 hours of this day we traveled across terrain much like Eastern Washington under a grey sky.  We learned about the  soils and the formation of the land and the minerals that make up the streaks of color.   It all used to be covered with forest, but they cut down the trees to grow crops and the soil then became more arid...climate change is not that new.  Now each field has only a tree or two and that is to give the farmer shade to rest in while he is working...a place to eat his lunch.  Wheat is the main crop gown in much of this area.so again, a resemblance to eastern Washington/Idaho.  I think we were told that this part of Turkey ranges from about 1000 feet above sea level to 8000 feet  in some of the passes. Most of the land is probably  about 2000 to 3000 feet above Sea level, and there are snow fences along the roads to prevent the snow from  blocking it in the winter.  About half way here we started seeing big bags of onions along the roads, where they are harvesting, and whole shops that seemed to be onions in the little towns.  I guess it is time to stock up on onions for the winter!  As we got closer to Cappadocia we began to see  melon markets too, stocked with  melons of yellow and gold and green zigzagged water melons.  I wish I could have gotten a picture but I did not  think to ask our driver to stop.   After the melons came the Tomato Markets, and we could see people out harvesting them, and camps  along the roadside for itinerant tomato pickers.   The next crop I noticed were winter squash/pumpkins.  Our guide says they are not really good to eat, but they use the pumpkins seeds and give the rest of the pumpkin to the livestock.  These are all shades of green to yellow.  The other crop  grown there which was no longer attractive were fields of sunflowers which are raised for seeds and oil.  Now the blooming is over and the plants hangs their small heavy heads, their leaves fading to brown, in the fields.   One difference  from Eastern Washington....when I say "Field" of a crop it is not fields as far as the eye can see, but a small patch probably run by a single family..really only  a garden sized patch, along a ravine where there is water. 

Late in the afternoon we came down out of a high pass, into a valley  where we began to see the  remnants of volcanos.  Then the first "Fairy Chimney" appeared and soon we were in a most fantastic landscape.  Long ago a number of volcanos  (3, 4 or 5 depending on what area you are talking about) spewed ash many feet thick, then capped it with a layer of basalt.  Over time the  ash packed down into tufa, a light stone that could be cut with anything hard enough, like a spoon or pocket knife.   As water and wind eroded the land, it carved it into tall skinny cones topped with basalt "top knots".  As long as the basalt stays in place it protects the top, but inevitably over time the  cap comes loose and the whole thing is eroded away.

During the early days of Christian persecution, the religious folk  came to these hidden valleys of stone and carved out  a whole city among the tufa stones.  It did not take that much effort to carve out a room in it, and over time they  expanded into whole cities.  If you had a new child born or got married and needed more room you just scooped out another room and hoped you did not run into your neighbors "house."  The Tufa lay many feet thick which allowed  the city to become multi-storied, easily defended by sealing the outside exits from within.   Within this city was everything the people needed, water, fresh air, drawn in by ventilation shafts, food storage rooms and chapels, bakeries, schools...city government.  Their only real danger was earthquakes, which do happen frequently here.

IN the chapels one can still see the frescos painted on the walls...murals for teaching about the faith.  IT is a strange mixture including St George and his dragon, Jesus, the disciples, Constantine and his mother, etc,  We only went into half a dozen of the caves as the place was crowded with tourists and long waits to get into  the special ones, but since we could not be alone with the spirits it was enough to give the idea of the place,

After we left the Caves, which by the way are a Unesco World Heritage Site,  we stopped at a small market and bought lovely looking dried fruit, including organic unsulphered apricots,  figs and dried mulberries.  THey showed us how you pull out the pit and stuff the fruit with a dried mulberry , a nut, mush it back together and eat it.  The nut they were selling looked like almonds but are apricot pits.  I guess they must be the "edible" kind!

Today I have seen  hawthorns loaded with 1" golden fruit which is good to eat, apricot and apple trees which have been harvested already,

The hotel where we are staying tonight is built into the tufa on the side of  a hill.  Our room is oh so comfortable with high plastered walls and a ceiling of wooden poles,  It is a cool evening with a bit of rain falling and the radiator is gently warm.  A fan spins overhead.  The floor is  nice wood  with a "Turkish" carpet.  We had to walk up a steep treacherous cobbled path to the room,  but have the use of a walking stick from the van to steady myself.  Dinner is in half an hour.  Our Guide explains along the way that Howard can not eat wheat or cheese, and asked that  he have food that is OK for him. He called ahead to the gulet *Wooden yachet) we will cruise the edge of the Mediteranean in to make sure he would find food there. For lunch Howard was able to have  a lovely lamb shank stewed in a light tomato base with carrots and potatoes.  I had chicken cooked in a clay pot with a similar broth.  IT was delicious but not as much as I usually have for lunch so I was glad when we got the dried fruit.  OF course  those not intollerent of wheat would have sopped that lovely broth up with beautiful artisan bread from the same brick oven and been much better filled.

I am looking forward to dinner tonight which I am sure will be another lovely adventure!  Howard is having a nap now to refresh him for the evening.  His last day of work yesterday was rather grueling, and he did not get back until 8:30.  I fell asleep about 8:35 in the midst of packing and he went out for a hamburger as a fare- well party with his friends from Boeing.

It is 6:30  now and day light is fading.  The clouds are grey and look juicy.  So far we have had only a sprinkle.  Everyone else was wrapped up in winter coats and shivering. They looked at us still in shirt sleeve.  We just smiled and told them that it felt just like Seattle to us....(The truth being that I forgot my rain jacket/windbreaker when leaving home.

The call to prayer is coming from the mosque across the street.  It sounds different from the one in Ankara.  Not sure I would want it outside my window every day but it does tell us we are not in "Kansas"  any more!