Goreme Shopping

Soganli Village is where the famous handmade wooden dolls of Cappadocia are produced.

Until tourists showed an interest in them, these dolls were no more than children’s toys. Today, however, tourists like me, who collect Dolls of the world, are buying them. This has provided the women with important extra income, and even men make them as well, instead of searching for work outside the village.

These ‘Soganli dolls’ are now bought in bulk and distributed to souvenir shops throughout Turkey, where they’re sold for US$2-5, depending on the size. Of course buying directly from the women in the village centre means the money goes direct to them.

I bought my Doll at Uchisar for $4. At Goreme, they wanted $8.

4 more images

I noticed several souvenir shops in Goreme most of them with typical souvenir items. Even at the panorama stop (pics 1,2) there were stands with souvenirs so don’t worry you will see them everywhere.

ROSE-local handicrafts (pic 3)
Mustafa Kabalci is the owner of this store in Goreme. He told me that everything is handmade but I saw many things that looked like mass production to me. But I have to admit that most of the items are very beautiful with nice colors and drawings. I bought some small cups that are very typical in the region for putting olive oils, honey during the breakfast etc pic 1, at the bottom
Address: Elsanatari Carsisi, No:32, 50180 Goreme, Nevsehir, Turkey
Tel:0090 384 271 2119

ANTIK SHOP
The owner Fikret Baba and his daughter are very friendly and they will try to show everything they have :) The prices are good and I liked some little boxes (for jewelry etc)
Address:Orta Mah. Eski Belediye Alti, Goremer, Nevsehir, Turkey
Tel:0090 384 271 2696

REYHAN gifts & souvenirs (pic 4)
This is a small store in Goreme with some nice items not much different than the ones from other places but some of them handmade
Tel:0984-2712541

As in other cities of Turkey you can also find carpets here (pic 5) in shops that you will be served a tea but then they will try to explain whow important is to buy a carpet from them :) Have in mind though that Cappadocia is famous for the carpets

After walking through the ancient churches decorated with frescoes, you will finally may have a stop at a carpet/pottery/onyx shops which are situated just along the way from the museum to the bus parking.
While the quality in touristy shops is often high, you will be paying 2-3 times what you otherwise would.

4 more images

If you have some spare place in your bag and some spare money in your purse - buy wonderful pottery and ceramics in Goreme!

You may watch my 2 min 25 sec VIDEO-Clip Goreme Ceramics Shop with Turkish pop music by Celik – Cic Kiz out of my Youtube channel.

I found Goreme to be a great place to buy a Turkish carpet. I found the prices to be better than most places, and a great selection to match. By the time you arrive in Goreme you would have been already in Turkey for a little while and had already educated yourself on what kinds and quality of carpets exist, and what you are interested in. Below is my recommendations on buying carpets. Any additional comments or suggestions to this are appreciated. This is the same recommendations as I have on my Turkey page.

There are tons of Turkish Carpet shops throughout Turkey, and a carpet may be a very appealing purchase for you, so it's best to be advised, here are some of the things I learned while in Turkey of how to be a good carpet consumer.

The first few carpet shops you go to, promise yourself not to buy a carpet. Instead ask the propriater to teach you about carpets. How the carpets are made, how you can identify which carpet is of high quality stitch and dyes. I learned that the tighter the knots, the higher the quality. To test this flip the carpet over and count the amount of knots in the length of space of about your thumb. A good carpet will have tighter knots and will have more knots in that space. You want at least 6 knots, and more expensive carpets will have even more than this.

You should also ask the carpet salesman about the iconography and symbolism embedded into the carpets. There is often interesting depictions within the carpets, and it will help you identify a carpet you will really want, and also make it more of a conversational peice when you decorate your home with it.

If you are interested in buying a carpet, view carpets with the carpet salesman, find a couple you like, then state that you would like to go to this or that tourist attraction while you think about it, theres a good chance the salesmen will offer to take you and will be a great source of information, and a comfortable ride, as well. Of course use reason with how far of a distance you are wanting him to take you.

Barter hard for the carpet. They are very overpriced at initial pricing. Initially say that you can only spend abotu 30% of what the carpet is priced at, then slowly work your way up to 40-50% of the price of the carpet. If they don't accept say thank you and leave, they will either make a counter bid that may be their lowest which you can choose to accept or not, accept your lower price, or let you leave, and if they let you leave than you can get a feel for the market prices for a peice as such you were bargaining for and can always go back for it.

The most important tip is the last. Buy the carpet you love. Once you have bought the carpet don't show it to any other carpet dealers for verification of it's quality. They will tell you it sucks and to sell it to them and buy one of there carpets. Buy the carpet you love and assume it is whatever the carpet salesman tells you it is. Make sure you get a certificate of authenticity along with. I was told that the carpet i bought was 40 years old and made in Turkmenstan. It is made of wool ( i believe) and has only natural dyes. Now if all this is true or not I can not gaurantee, but that's what I believe, and I love my carpet. Don't look back, don't analyze, just enjoy your awesome carpet!

p.s. After you buy your carpet, and after a few days in Turkey, you may get quite annoyed with carpet shop owners, they are sure persistent!

What to pay: Bargain hard, you should pay about 40-50% of asking price. A smaller carpet of good quality is several hundred dollars

when tarvelling for longer periods of time a second hand book store is one thing that i really like to bump in to from time to time.
goreme has a very good one and even if the guy does not have 1001 books then the selection is certainly good and i had no problem finding several books that sparked my interetst.

What to pay: the books generally cost from 1 to 5 euros and if you finish the book before you leave, he will buy it back for half what you paid for it.

Banks are open from 09:00 am to17:00 pm and some bank seven open on Saturday mornings.Branches of all major banks have cash point machines outside accepting Visa,Mastercard,Eurocard and American Express(Garanti Bankasi only)The daily withdrawal limit for any cards is around 800 ytl ( 570 usd ) However Turkish ATM Networks are prone to crashing , so it is best not to wait untill your down to your last million before visiting the service till , or to use one if the bank will not be open again before your return flight in case your card is retained.

Post Office and some jewellery shops in Ürgüp have Money Exchange facilities and usually deliver quicker service than the banks but will not usually give a receipt unless requested.Calculate the amount you expect to receive in advance and count the Money in the front of the cashier.Post Office open untill 17:00 pm but jewellery shops generally open untill 19:00-20:00 pm in summer time.

Please note that if your Money or travellers cheques are ripped or scribbled on some banks will not accept them.

What to buy: Money matters
Notes

1 YTL - purple/blue
5 YTL - dirty yellow
10 YTL - red-white
20 YTL - green
50 YTL -bright yellow
100 YTL -light blue
Coins

1 YTL
500 KRS (penny)
250 KRS
100 KRS
50 KRS

** 5 YTL and 50 YTL notes look similar , try to carry large notes in a different pocket of your wallet to avoid cunfusion.

well , well well ; as cappadocia cannot be considered without pottery making as it comes from red river , there are plenty local pottery shops in avanos.most of them commercial ones of course but there are few also allow you to practise pottery making.

What to buy: Hittite models are fantastic...Actually ancient figures that were copied symbolizes Anatolia..Hittite model vases , candals and huge bowls are great. As it always appeal to ones taste , there are beatifully painted plates as well (rather expensive)

What to pay: for local works price range supposed to be around about 20 to 50 usd ; but there are few uniqiue pieces that sold out from 1000 to 2000 usd.