North Africa ‘Plus’ Travel Diary

2011

 

It was yet another early rise this morning - this time to do a 50 minute Skype call with a reporter from the South China Morning Post who is writing an article about our North Korea Goodwill initiative.  Heads of school do not really get holidays in the way that most mortal people are able to manage :-)

Tim and I spent all dat in Göreme and its immediate surrounds.  What a fabulous place - a geological and cultural wonderland!

It is a geological wonderland because of the remarkable landscape created by the distinctive weathering of the region’s volcanic tuff, resulting in weird “fairy chimneys”, or residual rock columns, pyramids and stacks, some with pointed cone-like tops, others with precariously balancing flat capping stones of resistant rock.  Many of these ‘fairy chimneys’ have been partially excavated to create cave homes, and in recent years, cave hotels, such as the one where Tim and I are staying.

It is a cultural wonderland because of its diverse historical evolution over several millennia.  Situated inn the heart of Cappadocia, the region was first settled by the Hittites from 1800 BC to 1200 BC, then by the Persians, and then the Romans.  From the 4th to 11th centuries, the region became a refuge for the early Christians, who built rock hwn churches, monasteries and underground cities that still survive today.  Later, when Turkey became Muslim, the Christians were treated with tolerance, and even today many of the people are active Christians.

After a great breakfast on the hotel’s terrace that overlooks the bizarre landscape of downtown Göreme, Tim and I headed first to the Göreme Open-Air Museum.  We heard that the museum was just a kilometre out of town, and so it was reassuring to get to the turn off and see a sign to the “Open Air Museum 1km”.  It less reassuring to drive for one kilometre and come to a second sign saying “Open Air Museum 1km”.  It started to become humorous when we drove a further one kilometre to find a third sign saying “Open Air Museum 1km”, and just plain ridiculous to find the fourth sign saying “Open Air Museum 1km” after a further one kilometre.  Happily, one kilometre after the fourth sign, we found the museum.

The museum centred on a monastery complex of rock-hewn churches and living quarters, carved as caves into the fairy chimneys over many centuries.  The living quarters, with their long stone benches forming tables and chairs, gave an insight into early monastic life, while the friezes and frescoes on the church walls and ceilings gave an insight into the theology and artistic traditions of the early Cappadocian Christians.

A particular highlight was “The Dark Church”, so named because very little natural light penetrates its interior.  As a consequence, its interior decorations remain bright and vivid - a vibrant and sensitive artistic masterpiece in its own right.

Leaving the museum, we took the long way back to Göreme, driving via the nearby town of Ürgüp and seeing different examples of fairy chimneys that had flat “hats” on them as opposed to the conical tops that were the norm in Göreme.  Returning to Göreme, we had a walk around the town centre before heading off for an afternoon drive into some of the rural areas to the north and north-east of Göreme.

This was particularly enjoyable, as it provided an opportunity to see fairy chimneys in their natural state rather than excavated and converted into cave dwellings.  Our first stop was at Paşabaği, which was a valley area midway between Göreme and Zelve.  Paşabaği is regarded as Cappadocia’s best example of mushroom-shaped fairy chimneys, and it was easy to see why as we came upon the huge field of huge phallic looking rock towers.  I think that the Cappadocians might need to re-examine their tourism marketing strategy if they think they are attracting tourists by referring to these towers as “mushrooms”!

From Paşabaği, we drove a few more kilometres to the Devrent Valley, also known as Imagination Valley.  This was an area with a dense field of volcanic cones in which locals claim to see various animals and objects (somewhat like seeing faces in clouds).  And yes, I did see the rock shaped like a camel, the rock shaped like kissing birds and the rock shaped like the head of an Egyptian queen, but sadly I wasn’t able to find Napoleon’s hat, the dolphin or the Virgin Mary.

By this time, the sun was starting to sink in the sky, so we returned to Göreme on a road that offered some panoramic vistas of the town before heading downtown to have a lovely dinner at a small cafe.

It has been great to have a whole day to explore Göreme and its surrounds.  It is a delightful place with wonderful people and sensational scenery.  One day is simply not enough time to do justice to it all.

Day 5 - Göreme, Turkey

Friday

17 June 2011

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