Goreme Local Customs

I'm not talking about gouging out somebody's real eyes, I'm talking about the Frescos!!

Most of the churches are fully painted inside with beautiful and historically important Byzantine murals dating from 900-1200 AD. They are in pretty good condition for their age, but if you have a look you will notice that nearly all the eyes of the painted figures have been gouged out.

This is because the local people are superstitious and afraid of the Evil Eye! One notable exception is the Dark Church.

YUMMY! A lot of the Restaurants in Goreme serve this kebab.

It is like a stew, full of vegetables and meat in a pottery pot which is sealed and baked. It is then cracked open by you or the Waiter. I had it twice while staying in Goreme. The 1st Restaurant, it was slightly spicy and was served with bread & rice. I was given a knife to crack the top so it would come off. 1st time, I was too soft, told to hit harder which I did, and hey presto! I did it!! They had to pick out a little bit of pottery though as I hit it a bit hard the second time! The top on this one was pottery, not alfoil like in the photo.
Cost at this Restaurant was 14t/l

The 2nd time it was opened by the Waiter and poured onto my plate. This one had an alfoil top like in the photo. It was served with Bread and cost 15 t/l This one wasn't spicy at all, so they do vary a bit.

A very nice, filling meal.

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As it is often happens while having an excursion with a group we were forced to attend an Onyx Jewel shop. But I was glad to see a workshop there with short explanations of how jewels are being manufactured.

You may watch my 1 min 08 sec VIDEO-Clip Goreme Onyx Jewel Workshop with Turkish pop music by Yonka Evcimik – Sallayarim Dunyayi out of my Youtube channel.

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You can realize how I was missing my dogs staying in Moscow! And how lucky I was when saw a German shepherd near to the Ceramics shop! Long live German shepherds all over the World!

Thus it happened in Turkey I take a chance saing long live Turkish breeds!
I know two Turkish breeds.
The Sivas Kangal Dog is a breed of domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), and is the national breed of Turkey. This dog, which can grow as large as 64 kg, was originally used as a Livestock guardian dog.

Have a look here Kangal Dog.
The Anatolian Shepherd Dog is a breed of dog from Anatolia and bred for guarding flocks of sheep from wolves, bears, jackals, and even cheetahs.
Have a look there Anatolian Shepherd .

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Many stores will sell pottery and ceramics in Goreme and you may end up at a pottery workshop at the end of a tour around Goreme (like we did!). You will hear an interesting story and find an exciting show about how a vase can be produced. You may even take part in this process!

You may watch my 4 min 25 sec VIDEO-Clip Goreme Ceramic Workshop with Turkish pop music by Hakan Peker – Zaten Sen out of my Youtube channel.

One of the specialities of this region is food cooked in a claypot which is then broken for serving. We found the food cooked using this method quite tasty , very much a Tutkish version of stew- the meat itself was very tender.

You could have one of these meals quite cheaply in any of the local restaurants in the main centre of town.

Turkish is certainly not an easy language , but if you can manage a few words the Turks will be delighted ! Here are some words you may find useful and a few greetings and phrases you might like to try out :

Ç is pronounced CH as in CHeers
C is pronounced J as in Jolly
Þ is pronounced SH as in SHopping
Ðis with and inverted hypen above it is silent and serves to lengthen the sound of the vowel preceding it.

Numbers :
1- Bir (beer)
2- Ýki ( ick-ee)
3- Üç (ootch)
4- Dört (dirt)
5- Beþ (besh)
6- Altý (al-tuh)
7- Yedi ( yeh-dee)
8- Sekiz
9- Dokuz (dock-uz )
10- On

Few words&phrases to remember :
No : hayýr (high-yur)
Yes : evet
OK : tamam
Beatiful : güzel (goo-zel)
Much/many : çok (chok)
No ,None : yok
Hello : merhaba ( mair-ha-ba )
See you : görüþürüz (guhr-ush-yur-uz)
Good morning : günaydýn (goon-eye-den)
How are you : nasilsiniz (nas-sulh-suh-nuz )
Excuse me : affedersiniz (af-feh-dare-sin-iz)
The bill ,please : hesap lütfen (hes-ap- loot-fen )

Some local customs for you :

If your served some tea or coffee before you asked for or ordered , dont offer any money as it can be rude.This shows Turkish Hospitality.

If your invited into a Turkish house take your shoes off before entering.

Tipping guide ,restaurants, tour drivers are all common in Turkey but we dont tip taxi drivers unless they carry some heavy stuff for us :)