An Indian in Cappadocia: stories, sights & surprises in Turkey (Travelogue Part 2 of 4)

This is a 4 part series on travel to Turkey.

Read part 1 of 4 here – Istanbul

We booked the tailor made trip through Veena World, whom we have banked on for the best international travel experiences so far. We paid Veena World 100% before the start of the trip.

Here is a list of topics covered in this post:

1. A stay at Cappadocia Cave Resort & spa
2. Fairy chimneys
3. Goreme open air museum
4. Underground city
5. Sarohan Caravan Sarai
6. Pottery workshop
7. Carpet making
8. Turquoise gemstone
9. Land Rover safari

Short Description:

While Istanbul is located towards the Western part of Turkey & is blessed with the waters of Bosphorous strait, Cappadocia (locally spelled Kapadocia) is located towards central Turkey. This area is arid & drier than Istanbul

Kapadocia was earlier called Kat Patu ka, meaning ‘Land of best & beautiful horses’

While from the 1990s this area got famous for its hot air balloons, the area has a long & very fascinating history that left us totally mesmerised – the fairy chimneys & the 2 millennia old cave dwellings & the underground cities.

The fairy chimneys are tall, conical, ‘smaller base diameter’ rock formations, formed over millions of years by volcanic eruptions. They were then partly submerged in water & eventually as the water receded, due to erosion & wind, the current structures got formed naturally.

In Cappadocia, Volcanic ash is mixed with concrete to make brick to build inside walls of houses & hotels. The lava material tuff, when mixed with water, becomes soft. With air it becomes strong. So it is used as a building material for homes & hotels here. Many of these buildings have a Heating system below the top layer of floor. The walls are usually 60cm thick.

The outside wall of such buildings is usually made of stone, for strength & weather protection.

Last volcanic activities happened 5 million years ago.

Upto 12-13th century, people used to live only in the natural / man-made caves in the lava rock mountains/ conical structures. Later people started using stone for building.

The caves & underground dwellings were forgotten over time. In 1960s, experts found the first such city.

Till the 1980s local people used to stay in caves in Cappadocia. Then Tourism started. One by one the residents sold their cave homes to Hotels & moved away. Now, only 10% are original inhabitants & companies bought the balance 90% to convert them to hotels.

The 3 days we spent at Cappadocia, there were no balloon rides. There is a local Scientific committee that determines if the weather is good for Balloon rides. Balloons can take off only if they are certified to do so, by the committee. So we did not get to experience the ride due to non-conducive weather forecast. However what we experienced was something that we did for the first time in life – fresh snowfall.

It kept snowing the whole day & whole night on day 3 & hence when we were moving to Konya the next day, most of the roads were shut due to snow cover. We saw an Ice melting vehicle slowing driving on the roads, spraying chemical that would aid in clearing the streets.

We had an outstanding gentleman to guide us – Mr. Erol. He had been a history teacher at school & has been guiding tourists since decades. Now he is retired & has taken up professional story telling full time. The insights we got from him are priceless. We were discussing that we would have been so lucky had we got a history teacher like him at School.

Detailed Description:

1. A stay at Cappadocia Cave Resort & spa (CCR)

Most of the hotels in Cappadocia are not independent buildings planned on flat ground. Rather they are located inside / adjacent to the natural caves that are a characteristic part of this area. So it’s usually never a modern multi-storeyed brick & mortar hotel building but rooms spread across an area.

CCR also had rooms spread across. The dining hall & reception was across the main street. The street was made with cobbled stones & there were real wood log separators after certain distance, probably as an additional reinforcement to hold the stones together.

Our room was right on the main street.

The walls were thick stone walls. Part of one wall was the natural cave.

The ceiling was beautiful – made with thick wooden logs.

The balcony was however the showstopper. It provided a beautiful view of the valley. We just sat there everyday in the mornings to just soak in the beauty, over Turkish coffee.

2. Fairy chimneys

In cappadocia most fairy chimneys are located within a 20 km each side triangle between the 3 places – Uchisar, Avanos & Urgut

Goreme was the cave town near our hotel. This seemed to be the most populated area in the city. We also went to see Fairy chimneys at Pasha bag.

A typical fairy chimney has a soft mid-section & a medium strength base. The top ,section is the hardest due to concentration of basalt.

3. Goreme open air museum

This is not a newly built museum complex but it is a real erstwhile living area of early Christians (CE 2^nd to 4^thcentury & again from CE 7^th to 12^th century) who lived here in natural & rock cut caves, made Churches & lived for almost a thousand years. They lived here to escape from the Romans who were anti-Christianity. When King Byzantine converted to Christianity & Constantinople was formed, the situation eased here for a few centuries. However the area again fell in the hands of Islamic rulers who persecuted the Christians. This continued till the Ottomans (also Muslims) decided to let the people choose & retain their faith.

There are 4 distinct kinds of dwellings in the complex

• People’s homes – People lived in natural caves or natural lava rock cut caves.
• Pigeon’s homes – Pigeons were important for 2 reasons – 1. To transport letters between churches in different areas, 2. The droppings were being extensively used for fertilizers (details in next paragraph in italics)
• Churches – Mostly rock cut, the Churches have beautiful paintings that last till today. Details of the churches & paintings at the end of the post, (in italics)
• Kitchens & dining areas – This part totally fascinated us. These were enclosed large rock cut rooms with table & sitting benches carved out. Pits were carved out for storage & larger pits were carved out for roasting full animals

Note on Pigeon droppings:

Phosphoric acid is commercially produced from bird droppings, specifically from guano, which is rich in phosphorus. Guano, the accumulated excrement of seabirds and bats, was historically an important source of phosphorus for fertilizers, explosives & other industrial applications. Today, most phosphoric acid is produced from phosphate rock, but guano was a significant source in the past. Uric acid was also extracted from bird droppings, particularly from guano. Since bird excrement is rich in uric acid (unlike mammalian urine, which primarily contains urea), guano served as an important historical source of nitrogen-rich compounds.

We also saw uchisar castle carved out of natural formations.

Detailed story –

Two saints came to Cappadocia to preach. St. Basil & St. Gregory. People who lived here were following the local faith till then. The locals were convinced & they converted. The Romans did not like this. So they sent an army to attack the converted people. So people started to build & use natural caves, to hide. Later this area became part of Byzantine empire. King Constantine accepted Christianity. So a monastery was started by the bishop.

• Men & women were allocated separate place to stay.
• They would pray 7 times every day
• Everyone would eat together
• Many monks were educated here & went as missionary to other places
• There are 10 churches inside the complex
• The rock cut structures are like an apartment
• We saw a Nun’s monastery
• The 1^st floor would usually be for Storage & animals stable
• The 2^nd floor would be Kitchen & dining
• The 3^rd floor would house the Church
• The Dormitory would be usually on the top floor

In one of the Churches, there is a painting of at St. Georgia & St. Theodore killing a snake, which happens to be a symbol of pagan faith.

Pigeon houses:

1. Once a year people used to go to the cave & collect pigeon droppings for agriculture fertiliser
2. Pigeons were very important for sending message to other monastery – to keep the missionary activities as per plan & to protect each other.

Underground city

When under attack for many days, months or even years, people have lived in these underground cities. Large underground stones (Soft rock lava) with little visible tops were chiselled out & rooms (man-made caves) made. Different sizes of rooms. Then there would be staircases made to go to another level & there would be another floor!! Entire clans & all families lived in these places, to hide from persecution. It’s a story of unbelievable human perseverance, imagination & resilience.

Unlike a multi-storeyed house built on ground, the logic worked more like a mall basement parking. The building of the underground city started around CE 2nd century. In later centuries, the lower floors were built. A total of 120 meter deep is till where we could go. The rooms are there still another 54 meters deeper. Below that there was certain ground-water oozing. So they did not dig further.

The ground floor would usually be the stable.

The rooms on top floor (1 level below ground level) was usually considered a good place for protection of food. We could go till 5 levels of floors. The floors are not necessarily one on top of the other. It’s just different levels. At times there was a staircase to go from one floor to the other. At other times there was a sloped ramp.

Multiple large stones (round in shape) would be used to block enemy entrance. These heavy stones were carved inside & not brought from outside.

We saw Bedroom, granaries, kitchen area (cooking & eating) & even Church in the underground city. The Kitchen had separate shaft for exit of smoke & general ventilation. Basalt stone brought from fairy Chimney top for use as grinder.

In these underground cities there were temporary graves too (till the time one could go out & bury in proper grave).

Jars were put in small wall niches so that do not move / fall off.

 The Entrance doors from outside were made from the very hard basalt stone of the top of fairy chimneys.

We saw an air shaft from 5 floor to 1. Same also used to move up & down things using pulley & human / animal power.

Cave houses were insulated from the extreme heat & cold outside – In winter 15 degree centigrade when outside is maybe (-)15 degree centigrade. Summer time temperature is about 20 degree centigrade inside, while the outside temperature is 30-35 degree centigrade.

5. Saruhan Caravan Sarai

Saruhan meaning yellow Caravan serai – a place where camel caravans would rest for the night. This sarai in Cappadocia was built around the CE 1249.

The purpose was to shelter merchants, animals (camels) & the precious goods & gold in the night. The huge structure was like a fortress.

As we entered through the beautiful main gate, we realized that the door was good enough to let goods laden camels enter.

On the left we saw a ceiling covered, partially open area where the animals were sheltered in the summers. On the right were beautiful rooms for the merchants to stay overnight. Straight ahead was a closed area to keep camels during cold winter nights.

The covered area for camels is now used for a beautiful Dervish dance performance in the evenings.

6. Pottery workshop

We went to Aldag Ceramic museum, workshop cum showroom. They gave us a 1 hour tour of the entire premises from the way ceramic is made from scratch, to the painting on that & the final baking.

At the entrance they had a large burnt clay idol of a Mother goddess of the Hitites. Pottery started here in 2nd century BCE by the Hittites. The earlier pots were not as symmetrical as they are today.

We got to know that White quartz (gives strength) & Kaolin (white clay) found in Cappadocia are used to make the ceramics. The city of Avanos in Cappadocia famous for its ceramic, sits along the 1400km long Red river, from the Red mountain to Black Sea. Colour of water became reddish earlier due to reddish soil it would carry with it during the spring months. This does not happen anymore.

The process of making ceramic (leaving apart the painting) takes around 16 hours, first baking, then Painting & then final baking.

Hittite civilization blessed by sun god. So they bow down to serve alcohol. The Aldags make ceramics of that design even today.

Their collection on sale is just unbelievable in terms of art. We don’t remember seeing a collection like this in the entire Turkey. Some of the pieces were as good as we saw in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.

We bought a beautiful Whirling Dervish plate From them.

7. Carpet making –

We went to Punto Carpets. The gentleman, Mr. Ibrahim, showed us the entire process of making the carpet from silkworms to final carpet. We also participated in some of the processes. He then explained the different types of Turkish carpets & how to differentiate them. We admired the carpet designs from BC2000 (Hitite), the simplistic yet beautiful designs used by tribes of the past few centuries & also the finesse of design of the Royal Ottoman carpets.

We bought a beautiful piece from them.

We were stunned to see a carpet on which they had woven a royal Bengal tiger!!!

8. Turquoise gemstone –

Goreme Onyx Treasure makes ornaments from the local Turkish Turquoise stones – original blue, blue with age marks & the oxidized aqua marine colour (due to copper deposits). They also showed us hand woven silver thread jewellery that the Hitite people used to wear.

Another cultured stone that we found very interesting was Zultanite. It changes colour with different lights. So in one room the ring looks maroon & the other room it might look green.

9. Land Rover safari

This was the most physically adventurous part of our trip. An old man drove us through the ups & downs of the ravines of Capadoccia in his old & well maintained Land Rover. He did not speak English but he touched our heart by his gestures & the way he drove us around & clicked our pictures with superb backgrounds. Will always remember him & his car.

Overall, a memorable, visually stunning trip that left us with many memories & a lesson in human resilience.

The following section has not been written by me. It is the original text that I read in the museum.

Descriptions of few of the churches in Goreme open air Museum

CARIKLI (SANDAL) CHURCH

THE ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH IS FROM THE NORTH. THE CHURCH IS PART OF A MONASTERY WHOSE HALLS SURROUND AN OPEN U SHAPED COURTYARD. THE CHURCH HAS A GREEK-CROSS PLAN WITH TWO COLUMNS AND THREE APSES. THE NARTHEX HAS COLLAPSED.

PRESENTLY, THE CHURCH IS NAMED AFTER THE TWO DEEP FOOTPRINTS ON THE GROUND, WHICH CAN BE FOUND UNDER THE FIGURE OF THE ASCENSION OF JESUS.

NEVERTHELESS, IT IS THOUGHT THAT THE CHURCH WAS ORIGINALLY DEDICATED TO THE HOLY CROSS, ON THE BASIS OF SOME ICONOGRAPHIC FIGURES AND THE CROSS-THEMED GRAFFITI SCRATCHED ON THE WALLS. THE CHURCH IS BUILT ON TWO FLOORS. ON THE BOTTOM FLOOR THERE IS A REFECTORY, WHERE A LONG TABLE WAS CARVED OUT OF THE ROCK. AT THE END THERE IS A NICHE WHERE THE LAST SUPPER IS REPRESENTED. TWELVE SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF JESUS ARE PAINTED INSIDE THE CHURCH. IT IS THOUGHT THAT THE SCENES WERE DECREASED TO 12 FROM A LARGER NUMBER DUE TO CHANGES IN THE ARCHITECTURAL FORM.

THREE OF THESE SCENES ARE FROM THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS, TWO OF THEM ARE FROM HIS ADULT LIFE AND THE OTHER SEVEN SCENES ARE FROM HIS PASSION AND RESURRECTION. THE CHURCH HAS BEEN DATED BACK TO THE MID 11TH CENTURY.

YILANLI (SNAKE) CHURCH (OF ST. ONUPHRIUS)

THE MAIN SECTION OF THE CHURCH IS A RECTANGULAR SPACE COVERED BY A TRANSVERSAL BARREL VAULT, WHEREAS THE EXTENDED SPACE TO THE SOUTH, WHICH HOUSES THE GRAVES, HAS A FLAT CEILING. THE APSE WAS HOLLOWED OUT OF THE LONG WALL ON THE LEFT AND THE CHURCH WAS LEFT UNCOMPLETED.

THE ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH IS FROM THE NORTH.

PORTRAITS OF THE VENERATED SAINTS OF CAPPADOCIA ARE ON EITHER SIDE OF THE VAULT. THE CHURCH DATES TO THE 11TH CENTURY.

SCENES: OPPOSITE THE ENTRANCE IS A PORTRAIT OF JESUS HOLDING THE BIBLE IN HIS LEFT HAND. THE DONOR OF THE CHURCH IS DEPICTED NEAR JESUS. ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE VAULT ARE ST. ONESIMUS, ST.

GEORGE AND THE DRAGON, ST.THEODORE, AND HELENA HOLDING THE TRUE CROSS WITH HER SON CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. ON THE WEST OF THE VAULT IS THE LONG-HAIRED, NAKED ST. ONUPHRIUS BEHIND A PALM TREE, WITH ST. THOMAS GIVES A BLESSING NEXT TO HIM, AND ST. BASIL HOLDING A BOOK.

1. BASIL CHAPEL

THE FIRST THING THAT DRAWS ATTENTION AT THE ENTRANCE OF ST. BASIL CHAPEL, DATING TO THE 11TH CENTURY, ARE THE TOMBS LYING SIDE BY SIDE AND THE ARCOSOLIUM (TOMB NICHE). THESE TOMBS PRESUMABLY BELONG TO THE PEOPLE AND THEIR RELATIVES WHO HAD CONTRIBUTED TO THE BUILDING’S CONSTRUCTION/ EXCAVATION/CARVING OF THE CHAPEL OR VENERABLE/ HONORABLE CLERGYMEN.

IN THE MAIN APSIS OF THE CHAPEL, JESUS IS DEPICTED WITH THE HOLY BIBLE IN HIS HAND ON THE RIGHT OF THE APSIS, WHICH IS A VERY RARE POSITION. ON THE FRONT FACE OF THE APSIS ARE THE FRAGMENTARY DEPICTIONS OF MARY AND THE CHILD JESUS, WITH THE PERSON WHO BUILT THE CHAPEL AT THEIR FEET. THIS FIGURE CAN ONLY BE SEEN IF YOU LOOK VERY CLOSELY.

WE STILL DON’T KNOW TO WHOM THE ARCOSOLIUM (TOMB NICHE) INSIDE THE NAVE BELONGS TO. HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO THE COMMON OPINION BY THE RESEARCHERS, THE THREE MALTESE CROSSES IN THE VAULT COVERING THE ARCOSOLIUM (TOMB NICHE) REPRESENT THE TRINITY. ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TOMB NICHE, THERE IS A DEPICTION OF ST.

GEORGE SLAYING THE DRAGON WITH A SPEAR IN HIS RIGHT HAND. ON THE WALL TO THE LEFT OF THE APSIS ARE DEPICTIONS OF ST. BASIL STANDING BY ST. THEODORE, SLAYING THE DRAGON JUST LIKE ST. GEORGE.