So back to Sunday.. After the underground city (which was incredibly cool, did I mention that?) we were off to hike the Ilhara Valley. Ilhara was *not* what I was expecting. An admission fee was charged, but it was more like a park nature trail than the hike I was anticipating. The whole length of the valley runs some 14 km, but we only did 3 km on a rails-to-trails-like path. There may have been more challenging terrain, but we stuck to the girly route which was flooded with Turkish families out for a Sunday jaunt. Of course it was pretty, but it was a Turkish Shubie Park. (I did get a cute shot of a very proud little boy who'd just caught a big trout... And we saw frogs mating. But those were the highlights, lol.)
We also had the good fortune to meet a nice Ohio pastor with whom we shared some of the walk. Ken was a cheerful companion, clearly delighting in his walk, and we enjoyed his brief company.
We lunched at Belisirma village at the end of the walk. A nice little spot on the river where the poplar trees molted right into your food and all over your table! Lunch was, as always, excellent. Home-cooked village food and lots of it. The bread in particular was fantastic. A ring of hot crusty bread, with which they were very generous, as I think geno ate 2 loaves (rings) by himself!
<< NOT TRUE. We had a total of 2 loaves. We left a bit. I ate most of it. They looked like tires. I can show you when I get home, I think I may be wearing one of them. Ed. >>
<< loaf pictured above at left, see, they ain't that big. Ed. >>
(these tasty morsels usually don't look me straight in the eye)
Following lunch we drove to one of the coolest places we've seen to date- Selime monastery. Rock cut churches and living quarters high in the tufe rock dating back to the 8th century. The most important of the churches is known as Selime cathedral. Inside there are two rows of rock columns, and remnants of brilliant frescoes can be seen on the walls. Amazing. (However, this was where we had to tell Tahir that we didn't need to examine all the frescoes and hear their stories one by one... He's very knowledgeable and clearly loves to share information. A very welcome trait in a tour guide, but enough with the frescoes already, LOL.)
Not a lot is known about Selime, and again, much of what is known is no more than intelligent speculation. A fantastic place to explore nonetheless, and we were fortunate to beat most of the tour busses for the first 45 minutes or so. It becomes a bit of a schnozzle with so many people on site. It's steep and occasionally precarious footing to begin with, and crowds make the navigation tricky. We saw several older folks of clearly limited mobility being assisted up by their friends and/or guides, with several bailing half way.* We actually worried a bit about them getting safely down and offered to help, but they chose to wait for their group.
(* "bailing half way": a perfectly honourable action engaged in by such luminaries as Lisa, see tomorrow's blog)
Next stop was Agzikarahan caranvanserai - the ruin of a waypoint - almost a hotel - along one of turkey's silk roads built by the Seljuk empire. These caravanserais were built and sponsored by the government to attract trade along the route. Merchants with camel caravans could stop there for 3 days without charge; they and their animals would be fed and their safety was guaranteed. The doors would lock at dusk and open again at dawn, and a mosque was built inside so that the visitors did not have leave their haven to pray.
To ensure the safety of the caravans resting there, the government would punish any caravanserai town where thievery occurred by doubling their taxes for the year; a caravanserai town where no thievery took place gained an exemption for the year. A very clever carrot/stick example of governance, I think.
Seljuk Caravanserais
Last stop for the day was wine-tasting. Cappadocia has some fabulous wines, most sold under the Koçabag appellation. We had already drunk several varietals but tasted them, and a few others, anyway. Kalecik Karasi is my favourite.
A little light-headed and completely exhausted, we headed for home. And that's when I opened the Koçabag the hotel gave us upon arrival, and started this blog entry... We've come full circle.
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