He's Irani!

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In less than an hour of my arrival, most of the town of Selime knew I was there, and my life story to boot. I was invited in for tea by no less than four families, and soon the mayor had heard of my arrival. Now I know how the Beatles must've felt when they landed at JFK in 1964, with those hordes of screaming teenage girls faintıng and going mad. Okay, no hordes of screaming teenagers here, just old Turkish men with worn faces and bıg moustaches, but use your imagination.

Selime is a little town in the southern Cappadocia region, at the top of what's known as the Ilhara valley, a narrow valley carved out by the Melendiz River. It doesn't see the masses of happy snappers that upper Cappodocia does. Most of the tourists that come here either stay a few hours to see the sights, or drive straight through down to Ilhara village, a couple of hundred kilometres south. Only rarely do visitors stop here, and even rarer Iranian-Australian ones, so naturally the people were quite curious to see me trudging through the main road wıth my enormous backpack. So, after dumping the bag at the pansiyon, a little homely cottage run by a guy called Mustafa, I went to explore the village.

Caves houses
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I had a brief chat with a villager named Mikhaıl rooftop to rooftop, and as I walked off I heard him talk to the neighbour on the next rooftop, shouting something to the effect of, "He's Irani!". Then the neighbour's nieghbour enquired where I was from -  " He's Irani, Irani". And that's pretty much how news of my arrival spread around the town, rooftop to rooftop.

I walked along, everyone staring at me, saying hello, asking where I was from, where I was going and how long was I staying in Selime?  After my walk, I embarassed myself losing to a couple of local kids in street soccer. That night I had dinner wıth Mustafa and the family, the stereotypically nice smalltown folk. I managed to salvage some pride, thoroughly beating Sima in snakes and ladders. Although, she was five. But hey, a win's a win, right?

Okay, so the hotel's not much, but I'm on a budget.
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The next morning I wanted to wake up before dawn to climb the hill behınd the town to capture the sunrise, and watch the townsfolk tend to the animals, etc. But... I woke up at 11:00, had to shovel down breakfast and then run up and down the hill in order to get back to make the bus, albeit without shower, which I probably needed more than the breakfast.

The main claim to fame for Selime apart from the "fairy chimney" structures and caves is that a few minutes of the original Star Wars was shot here. Now that might make a geek salivate, but what the hell do I care? Yet more than a few villagers asked if that's why I was there, and  a lot of the kids offered to show me the exact spot. It's funny how a film made nearly 30 years ago still impacts a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

Local kids. These same kids later kicked my ass in street soccer.
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So after my little trek, I went off to the bus stop to wait for the next dolmuÅŸ to my next stop, Ilhara Village.