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Report 1595: Turkey - The Turquoise Coast, Cappadocia and Istanbul, 2008

By Linda Hagstrom from Pennsylvania, Fall 2008

Page 12 of 20: 10/14/08 - Cappadocia - Goreme

A cave church with painted decorations that has partially collapsed

After lunch we drove to Goreme Open Air Museum, which I thought was wonderful. This is a Unesco World Heritage Site. It too had caves, mostly dug out of the wall of a valley and used as monasteries and churches. Most of the paintings were done in the 12th and 13th centuries. Ladders were used to get to almost all the caves.

We drove to Windy Hill, which had a good view of the area of Goreme and fairy chimneys and a 'castle', a big hill with many caves.

We stopped to see the 'cave man', a man who lives in his cave in the summer. The cave has six levels, accessible by ladder. I climbed the ladders up five stories. He spoke good English and made us tea. His cave included a small room outfitted as a kitchen, and rugs on walls and floors and benches.

He wanted us to see his jewelry shop, in the 'basement' cave room. He and his family make all the jewelry. This area is known for precious and semi-precious stones. When the other woman and I each picked out some pieces and then wanted to walk away because the price was high, he kept lowering the price until we both bought something.

The other guests went back to the hotel with our driver and Murat and I went to the rug place in Goreme. I was shown a woman weaving a silk carpet and then how the silk thread is made from raw silk. This place buys carpets made locally and also buys old carpets for resale. After quite a hard sell, I bought a small carpet there. Then the manager of the place, the carpet seller, Murat and I piled into the carpet seller's car and drove to Urgup, where Murat lives. Then he took me in his own car to the hotel.

Dinner at the hotel was served in a cave decorated with Turkish carpets.

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