Goreme and the Kelebek Pansyon
Goreme is a charming village in the middle of
Cappadocia where the fairy chimneys have been continually inhabited
for centuries. The town is built amongst the rock formations
in a large valley sorrounded by red-and-white mesas (see pictures
below). While there are lots of tourists, the town has a sleepy,
relaxing, small-town feel. The locals are incredibly friendly,
and they love Cappadocia's beauty as much as the tourists.
This
picture of the Kelebek Pansyon was taken from a stairway
built between two huge rock fairy chimneys. |
This is the breakfast terrace, great views and great lattes! |
The
houses of Goreme built amongst and into the rocks.
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View of the Goreme valley from a few km up the road above
the hotel. |
Further up the hill is Uchisar, an ancient citadel built
into a towering rock formation. |
Turkish carpets are absolutely beautiful! This is
our friend Mehmet from Sultan
Carpet Shop. We didn't buy the sumak he's holding,
but we didn't get away empty-handed!
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Our hotel, the Kelebek Pansyon, was recommended by our friends
Bill and Eleanor. They have gone back year after year, and this
year brought their new baby, Grace. The pansyon was great: wonderful
staff, great food, great lattes and hot chocolates, interesting
english-speaking backpackers, their own guided tours, cave rooms
built right into fairy chimneys, and what a view from the terrace!
Hikes in the Valleys
On our first day in Cappadocia, we took an afternoon
guided hike through the Rose Valley, just outside of Goreme.
We could start to understand the geology that caused all of
this, discovering that much of the rock is very soft. Wind and
water over the years cut away at the rock, leaving behind canyon
walls that look like teeth and fairy chimneys everywhere. The
autumn leaves and the clean crisp air were also wonderful. Check
out the pictures from Rose Valley:
On the second day as a part of a hotel tour, we
had a chance to walk through the gorgeous, green Ilhara Valley.
The brown canyon walls provide shade in the valley, and a pretty
stream runs the length of the valley. We walked 3 km downstream
and understood exactly why this had been a home of an early
Christian monastic community. What a wonderful placed to give
up all earthly belongings, who needs 'em!? Jesse loved the Ilhara
valley so much he went and hiked the whole thing the next day
with Brendan and Tracey Williams and two other travellers Paul
and Isabelle from Montreal. The views and the weather were spectacular,
and the less touristed section offered even more peace. Here
are some of the pictures:
Caves and Early Christians
Besides the rock formations created by nature,
any valley walker in Cappadocia also notices caves cut into
the rock by humans. There are caves everywhere! Many were homes
with stables, kitchens, bedrooms, and more. The cave-dwellers
built holes for pigeons, which they kept and fed both for communication
and more importantly for the droppings used for fertilizer.
Besides the small caves everywhere, there are
also entire underground cities, where up to 5000 people could
live for up to a month when invading armies came into the region.
The underground city we toured went six levels down, with hundreds
of rooms. The sheer amount of effort required to break all the
rock and then haul it up out of the caves is inconceivable.
Also, there was remarkable ingenuity in the designs: food and
water storage, air shafts for air and water, dispersion of smoke
to not be detected, and huge rolling stone doors to keep intruders
out. Exploring the underground city was really fun, although
maybe not for the claustrophobic!
Many of the cave builders and dwellers were early
Christians. Cappadocia has a rich Christian history, a center
of Christian theological thought and the development of Orthodox
monastacism. There were a number of monastic communities in
Cappadocia, including in the Ihlara Valley and in Goreme. In
both places they carved cave churches out of the rock. When
inside, it is easy to forget you are in a cave, because the
carvers carved arches, vaults and columns like any free-standing
cathedral. In addition to the "architecture," many
of the caves were painted with beautiful frescoes, 1000-year-old
testaments to deep faith. The churches and frescoes we saw date
from the 8th to the 13th centuries! In them one can trace the
developments and controversies in the Christian church through
the ages. We realized we need to learn more about Eastern vs.
Western Christianity.
We learned that the Muslim Turks were tolerant
of the Christians and coexisted in Cappadocia for centuries.
Around the founding of Modern Turkey, a massive population exchange
moved most Greek-speaking, Christian Cappadocians to Greece,
leaving the current Christian population in Cappadocia very
small. However, we found the Turks are very proud and celebretory
of the Christian heritage of the region.
Unforgettable Sunrise Balloon Ride
On our last morning we woke up in the dark at
4 AM to experience Cappadocia from the air. The wonderful people
at Goreme Balloons
picked us up and took us to the launch site, a field just outside
of town. We had coffee while watched the two balloons inflate
and the light increase. We climbed into the 11-person basket,
our pilot Suat fired the burners, and up we went. There were
no sudden movements, only a supremely peaceful floating feeling.
We ascended to over 1000 m. Sun started to hit the tops of the
rock formations and valley walls, and soon after the sun appeared
over the distant mountains. The air was so crisp and the view
was superb. Suat brought us down amongst the fairy chimneys,
and then back up as we floated towards Avanos.
Although some of the landscape reminded us of Utah or the Grand
Canyon, we left feeling that there is nowhere on Earth like
Cappadocia. We now understood why our teacher friends go back
every year. When will we be able to return?
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