definately haunted
by FAIRYCHIMNEY
beside the underground cities in cappadocia area , all paths,(discovered one i am sure there are lots of undiscovered valleys and hidden paths located in the area).but my favarite route is a short one(through the vineyards) from pasabag to cavusin-old greek-turkish village....everytime i get there i meet the same fox and i am sure we can become friends one day.you know the poem by robert frost called "the road that not taken" always remind me the lines....when you walk through the path , actually you dont want to follow the footprints and the same destination...you want to get in the bushes and make your own way..lovely ! tempting...after trekking for half and hour and so( well , up your speed) you reach out the rock-cut churches on the way to cavusin.these churches located out of the village on tle left hand side and reach to the top through stairs.you always feel different in cappadocia , because each place you see and experience switch on/off your moods..landscape is fantastic...but when you get into the churches and hermitt cells you suddenly realize that life was not that easy in the past...early chrisitan lives,frescos tell us ehole story......wow ! and you see how lucky you are today in your life !
you can easily do this trip on your own..but incase you get lost get a map but best way is try to get a guide...i dont recommend joining massy tours coz those are rather commercial and you dont go for trekking at all...i suggest you to get a guide for a reasonble price !
Seljuk caravan-seraies
by FAIRYCHIMNEY
In the 10th century , medivial Seljuk times trade across asia minor was dependent on camel ‘trains’ ; restless merchants required inn-like place to sleep over night ,provide a good rest to animals.Seljuks were building fortresses during their first ‘expeditions’ in Anatolia and later in the history those buildings turned to larger buildings with both military and commercial purposes(for travellers&merchants) In one sense they wanted to control trading roads and provide safety ; therefore in every 40 kilometers a caravan-serai is built-30-40 kilometers is to one day camel trek
Basicly a caravan-serai built on an arched base ; surrounded by walls and a small mosque locates right in the middle of the courtyard.Dorm-like bedroom sections,stables and all other facilities that required from a ‘hotel’ are located around the courtyard.
Most important characteristic of the Seljuk architecture can be seen right in the front of an Caravan-serai is portal ; Portals mostly designed with common floral figures , lion motifs-even dragon- but mostly based on geometrical designs.At first sight , gate alone attracks one’s attention, because caravan-serai gates look like castle gates; huge , very strong and made of iron.
As caravan-serais were built along the ‘ancient’ trade roads , mostly seen around Konya and Kayseri.(Konya can be considered as part of Cappadocia ; those days triangle of Cappdocia was larger than today ) And there are perfectly –preserved caravanseraies located in Cappadocia district :To give a clue about directions , Agzikarahan is located near Aksaray-can be seen on your way to Ihlara canyon if your coming from north-west-.Sarihan is closer to us , located only few kilometres away from Avanos town and still has been serving but for different purposes : Today Sarýhan is the only place in Cappadocia where you go and experience orginal religious ritual of the ‘whirling dervishes’ Very peculiar to
Derinkuyu Underground City (Part II)
by ozalp
The temperature is stable here: 15 degrees Celsius during the year. It is a perfect location for storages. So, the main storage of citrus fruits of Turkey is Cappadocia.
We saw small holes in the ground at he first level we entered. Our guide told us that they were the refrigerators of the city. They were near the room of the Priests, because the priests arranged the distribution of the rare foods like fresh vegetables. These holes have a certain dimension, 2m x 2m, I guess. Fresh fruits and vegetables had been put into large jars and had been covered with leather. With these jars inside, these holes has only +4 degrees Celcius of temperature. If the vegetables are not in a jar, leather is not used or the hole is in a different dimension, the temperature will be different.
They had been producing their vine inside. Since vine needs a higher degree of temperature than +15, they’d put the barns near the vine and used the body heat of the animals. Also it is said that they’d used the vine to silence the animals during enemy presence.
I did not intend to tell everything I know about the underground cities, so I have to stop. Actually, I was ignorant about these cities before we found our professional guides at the entrances of both of them. I must recommend you to have a professional local guide for further explanations, because all the information you get is worth to hear. Our guide’s name was Mehmet in Derinkuyu.
Babayan (Ibrahimpasa)
by ozalp
If you want to see a beautiful village in Urgup, try Babayan. Babayan is its old name, now it is called as Ibrahimpasa. It hasn’t strange rock formations but it has beautiful stone houses. I have no idea about the place before it was mentioned in a chat in Ziggy Café. Our friends were talking about how beautiful it was. One said it is the best time to visit Babayan is when people put the apricots over the roofs to dry them. Try to imagine a village with beige stone houses and apricot yellow roofs! What a picture.
When we visited this village, we parked the car in the square and walked the streets. Decorated stone houses amazed me. We looked some valleys surrounding the village. Bird chirpings were coming to us. A dog joined us in our small village trip and followed us anywhere we go.
There were renovation works in some houses. We came across the owner of one. He was a foreigner speaking accented Turkish. Called us tourists, we said we were Turks. He told “You are tourists in Cappadocia”. My friend told that she was living in Urgup. Then he told “But you are tourists in Babayan”. He must have felt like a local in this lovely village.
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Urgup - Fairy Chimneys
Dance from Anatolia
Turkish Wedding Ceremony
Whirling Dervishes Dance
