Friday, November 28, 2008
We're in the third day of our trip.
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We started our day by flying from Istanbul to Cappadocia. It was a nice flight -- about an hour long and about 25% full. The clouds and dampness followed us from Istanbul, but there was no rain. After landing, we met our guide for the rest of the week, who picked us up to take us to the sites.
We saw some amazing sites today. The first was a visit to the hills of Cappadocia. The people here discovered that beneath the first feet of hard rock, the underlying rock was easily excavated. The local people literally carved-out homes and lives for themselves in the sides of the hills. The people continued to live here until massive earth quakes in 1957, which rendered the caves unsafe for dwelling. We visited a part of the settlement called Zelve, where the "Fish Church" still "stands." As early as the ninth century, people were living and worshiping here. It's incredible to be able to stand in that same place and touch the same walls as those people did over a millennia ago.
After Zelve, we visited a local pottery shop that utilizes clay and rocks from the region. It turns out that the owner has traveled to Chicago twice for the Turkish festival, and has another trip planned soon. They let Liz have a go at the pottery wheel, which was a lot of fun! We were also treated to tea before being given the "unique opportunity" to purchase some of their work at "special prices." The prices were to be especially generous since we were from Chicago, home of Barrak Obama. They actually had some very nice artisan work that was done on-site, but we opted for a more modest sized bobble we can hang on our Christmas tree.
Afterward, we visited the local market -- just for the heck of it, because it happened to be going-on -- then headed to our hotel for the night.
Published by Jace Mouse
on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 8:55 AM.
View Larger Map
We started our day by flying from Istanbul to Cappadocia. It was a nice flight -- about an hour long and about 25% full. The clouds and dampness followed us from Istanbul, but there was no rain. After landing, we met our guide for the rest of the week, who picked us up to take us to the sites.
We saw some amazing sites today. The first was a visit to the hills of Cappadocia. The people here discovered that beneath the first feet of hard rock, the underlying rock was easily excavated. The local people literally carved-out homes and lives for themselves in the sides of the hills. The people continued to live here until massive earth quakes in 1957, which rendered the caves unsafe for dwelling. We visited a part of the settlement called Zelve, where the "Fish Church" still "stands." As early as the ninth century, people were living and worshiping here. It's incredible to be able to stand in that same place and touch the same walls as those people did over a millennia ago.
After Zelve, we visited a local pottery shop that utilizes clay and rocks from the region. It turns out that the owner has traveled to Chicago twice for the Turkish festival, and has another trip planned soon. They let Liz have a go at the pottery wheel, which was a lot of fun! We were also treated to tea before being given the "unique opportunity" to purchase some of their work at "special prices." The prices were to be especially generous since we were from Chicago, home of Barrak Obama. They actually had some very nice artisan work that was done on-site, but we opted for a more modest sized bobble we can hang on our Christmas tree.
Afterward, we visited the local market -- just for the heck of it, because it happened to be going-on -- then headed to our hotel for the night.
Labels: Turkey
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