Overland to London - Göreme

 

Eroded tufa formation in Göreme Valley, Cappadocia

Day 56    Sun 20 July                GÖREME                

Departure time: 9 am                  Tach reading: 132,617      Distance run: 98 kms

      This morning we will set out with guide Hamadi Ege on a tour of the Göreme district of Cappadocia. Hamadi will first take us to the incredible underground city of Kaymaklı. This amazing city with its maze of narrow passageways and hundreds of small rooms was constructed by early Christians fleeing persecution from the various invaders who have come through central Anatolia over the centuries.

The Underground city of Kaymaklı

          A circular stone 'door', Kaymaklı          

This city, along with the sister city Derinkuyu  9 kms away to which it is linked by an underground passage, was capable of supporting over 20,000 people completely underground. Kaymaklı was constructed in 8 levels of which only 5 are open to the public. The passages could be blocked off to intruders by rolling great circular stones across the thoroughfare. These could only be opened from the inside. These two underground cities plus 3 more in Cappadocia have relatively recently been discovered and explored by archaeologists.

The Castle at Uçhisar,

      From Kaymaklı we head to the village of Uçhisar, built in and around a rock formation known as the Castle. There are many ‘fairy chimneys’ in the vicinity,  may of which are still inhabited. We will be able to climb up the Castle for photos. Then to Göreme, the Valley of Churches. This was once the main religious centre of Cappadocia and many painted Byzantine churches remain, some dating back to the Iconoclastic periods (726-843) of the Orthodox Church when, by royal decree of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian, it became a heresy to decorate churches and thus, worship images. The reason for this appears to have been a volcanic eruption of Santorini and the subsequent tsunamis caused great loss of life our the coastal regions of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Leo interpreted this as being a judgement on the Byzantine Empire by God, and he decided that the use of images had been the catalyst. Many of the Churches of this period are decorated with simple crosses. 

Ruined church in the Göreme Valley

The two best preserved churches in Göreme – Tokalı Kilise (the Church of the Buckle) and Karanlik Kilise (the Dark Church) – are closed for restoration but we can enter the Church of St Barbara, the Church with the Snake, the Church with the Sandals and the Refectory where monks once ate at a long sandstone table. 

 Church of the Maltese Cross, Göreme

In the Church with the Snake (Yilanlı Kilise) is a fine fresco of St. Onuphirus depicted as a half-man with a long beard and half-woman with a fig leaf. One of many legends about the saint say that once he was a frivolous woman who prayed to God to make her unattractive. Her wish was granted, she was given a beard and moustache and lived a secluded life for 70 years in the desert. Many of the frescoes in these churches have been defaced by Moslems who do not believe the representation of the living form, and also by shepherds who throughout the years used the abandoned churches as shelter for their flocks.

    We will have lunch in a rock chimney restaurant then we will go to Zelve, a village among the fairy chimneys that was occupied until 18 years ago when the government moved the inhabitants as rock collapses were making the village dangerous. Now it is preserved as an open-air museum. Zelve is a fascinating collection of tunnels and rooms hewn out of fairy chimneys and eroded tufa cliffs. At the roadside near Zelve are some of the most impressive formations in the Göreme area. After Zelve we will visit a pottery factory in the village of Avanos, famous for pottery and alabaster crafts and also carpet weaving, before we return to Paris Camping.

The Formations at Zelve are transformed by winter snows

     This evening I have arranged an evening meal in the restaurant followed by traditional Cappadocian folk dancing, which has similarities to Greek and Russian folk dancing, which will be followed by copious quantities of the local wine, Efes beer and raki, the Turkish fire-water which is much like ouzo. 

 COMMENTS:                  How’s your coccyx, Robert?

        Quotes of the Day: -

Ken: “We had the 1812 Overture complete with cannons on the bus this morning.”

  Following along on this note,

          Bookseller John added: -   “We’re just mere piccolos compared to a bassoon –                                 what hope have we got?

-       Consult Jack & Meg for a more precise & descriptive details – that is, if they’ve recovered yet!

                                                                   The stirrer of the bus is Ken                                                                                  Little comments he would send                                                                          To all and sundry without a quandary                                                                    Displaying all their dirty laundry.                                                                                                                                    

 Day 57    Mon 21 July          GÖREME – ADANA

Departure time:  8 am         Tach reading: 132,715      Dstance run:  327 kms

The Fairy Chimneys at Ürgüp, Cappadocia

   A relatively short run today of a little over 300 kms, down to the Mediterranean coast at Adana. We will stop first in Ürgüp, the largest town in the Göreme area, where there are some classic examples of Fairy Chimneys complete with intact cappings of stone. After a bit of hill-work we reach the main Kayseri – Adana road where, weather permitting, we can clearly see the volcano Erciyas Daği (3916m) where, according to local legend, St. George confronted and slew the dragon.  St. George was adopted, in the Middle Ages, as the patron saint of England, as well as Catalonia. Georgia, Venice, Genoa and Portugal because he was the personification of the ideals of Christian chivalry. It is interesting to note that he was born in Cappadocia to a Cappadocian Greek father who was a Roman soldier and a Palestinian mother.

The ancient volcano, Erciyas Daği, 3916m, Cappadocia

   After leaving the town of Niğde, we pass through the Taurus Mountains  via the strategic Cilician Gates, through which most of the invaders of Asia Minor have passed, including Alexander the Great and, more recently, the Egyptian Ibrahim Pasha who dynamited a wider path for his artillery.

          Adana, although a relatively uninteresting city, is the 4^th largest in Turkey (after Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir) and the most important port in this part of Turkey.  I had read about Adana in Peter Pinney’s book Dust on My Shoes and his account had not been particularly favourable: “Adana is an evil-smelling city sprawling untidily at the junction of three turbid rivers, a cotton centre set on the cotton plains.”  Adana is now not as bad as Peter Pinney’s late 1940s description. We will stay tonight at the Tourist Camp.

 COMMENTS:     

                                    A voice that would make Slim Dusty shrink 

                                    Especially when raised and full of drink

                                     Kerry! Kerry! Where’s your T-shirt?  

                                     Maybe it got lost, with your last burp

                                     Mouth always gapping, lips wide apart 

                                      Are you just sleeping, or having a fart!

 

text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.