Land of the beautiful horses

On the road
see all photos »

As the bus roared down the winding mountain road, in the distance I could make out the rock caves that used to be home to thousands of people up until a few decades ago. For a moment I could swear I saw someone moving in one the caves. Just a flash of a shadow and then...gone. Then I realised that it was only the light, playing tricks on me, as it has a habit of doing ın Cappdocia. Also, I hadn't eaten for about eight or nine hours, which could've contributed. And, of course, I wasn't wearing my glasses.

Cave houses, the Goreme museum
see all photos »

I ain't much good at setting the mood, am I? Let me start again.

It was hard to see the cards through the cigarette smoke...

Cappodocia, meaning "Land of the beautiful horses" in the ancient Hittite language, is a land carved out by the interaction of natural and human forces over vast spans of time. It was touted in just about every guide I read as a must see destination. About 12 hours drive time hours direct from Istanbul, it's the furthest east that most tourists go, and some parts have had the charm developed out of them in the last few years to accomodate the dozens of tour groups that pour in and out of there every day. Goreme is one of those places, but it was essential to stop there to make the onward trip to the Ilhara Valley, where I really wanted to go, and I didn't mind the idea of meeting some other backpackers at the hostels.

Frescoe, Goreme museum
see all photos »

It's a weird place. Initially, it's kind of disturbing, the vast expanse of terrain, which on first appearance seems arid and dry . The stillness, and the way the light changes with the land is sort of... alienating. Only later when exploring did I realise that it's actually a fertile place, and the rock is covered in a carpet of volcanic tuff that allowed many civilisations who called it home to make a living off the land. The guidebook called it "a geological fantasy landscape", just about right. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I got captured that essence (amateur!), but if you have time google "Cappadocia"and "fairy chimneys" and see the pictures for yourself.

Frescoe, Goreme museum
see all photos »

The first thing I did was to visit the Open Air museum, the main attractıon. Its a large area of caves built into the rocks, a number of which have frescoes still in good condition. It takes time to tour, waiting for the tour groups to be done wıth every cave - but its worth it. Maybe next time I'll put some spikes on the approaching road to keep the tour buses away. While waiting for a Mexican group to finish with one cave, I told the Turk at the entrance to tell them "rapido, rapido" (quickly) - and the Mexican women responded by unleashing a torrent of foul language in Spanish under their breaths. Touchy, touchy.

Australian backpacker Josh
see all photos »

You get a real sense of wonder, wandering around the caves, marvelling at how the people who inhabited them went on wıth their day to day lives. In a cave, for God's sake. Many succesive groups of peoples lived in the area, some, like the early Christians, escaping persecution from the Romans and later the Arabs, and others for the fertility of the local landscape.

The frescoes themselves are incredible, some made with nothing more than red ochre. Some are incredibly extravagant, especially in comparison with the decoration in mosques and synagogues where worshiıp of images is of course banned.

Villager and mule in the old town
see all photos »

After tourıng a few of the town's museums, I walked around the old town, the part not given up to dodgy carpet stores and take away kebab shops. This the old town that existed before mass tourism built up the new part in the late 1980's. The people there still make their living the traditional ways - keeping animals, growing gardens, etc. I also went to see the local rug making process, pretty much unchanged for hundreds of years. Very amazing - see the pictures.

Saz lessons from Emre
see all photos »

Back in town, I met Ramazan at the local tourist offıce. He's Kurdish, something of a rarity in central Turkey. We talked a while about his homeland in Eastern Turkey, and the situation of Kurds in the country at the moment, who are treated as second class citızens. He suggested I stay at the local hostel, the Köse. It was a great place, run by (typically) Englıish expat Dawn, and there were a mixed group there wıth more stereotypes than you can poke a stick at- a German couple plus baby, the model of friendliness; a solo Scotsman, grouchy; a group of giggle-happy American girls; and another Aussie, Josh- the first time I'd seen someone wearing shorts in Turkey yet (no kidding). The cook was also another Kurd, Yusun, as friendly a guy as you've ever met.

The town square
see all photos »

So Josh and I went into town to watch the Euro qualifıer between Turkey and Hungary, the talk of the town that day. At the cafe we met Mustafa and Emre, two locals who both ran cafes, the standard thıng to do in Goreme. Emre also ran a music store, as well as being an accomplıshed player of the saz - the long necked cousin of the guitar native to Turkish and Persian music. Later on, he tried to teach me a few basic chords, and I managed to catch on after a little while.

The game finished 1 - 0  to Turkey, so as most were in good spirits (unusual for Turkish men) we headed to the local equivalent of an RSL to wile away the hours playing backgammon and cards wıth baklava and chai. No bettıng, or VB, of course. It was sometımes hard to see the cards through the cigarette smoke, but it was major fun, despite, or perhaps because of, the language barrier. I tried to explain to one old guy that smoking might, you know, be kinda bad for you. No such thing, Emre translated for me, that's a conspiracy spat out by the Jews who run the anti-smoking companies. Nonsense, his friend piped in, the Jews run the cigarette companies, that's why they're so rich!

Cotton is left in natural dyes to create a range of coulours for the rug making process
see all photos »

After the old men went home we hopped on a minibus wıth Emre's friends to go to the local park for a game of 7 on 7 football. At 2 in the morning. It finished pretty close, 40-32 to Galatasaray over Beşıktaş (modelled on the rival Istanbul teams). At about 4am, they went off to eat for the Ramazan fast, and Josh and I got some zzz's.

So, then, a day and a half later, I hit the road, off to Selime, about 200km southwest. Up and atom.