After our fantastic visits to the mosaic museums in Gaziantep and Antakya we left southern Turkey and drove north Cappadocia. Here is our route for the day.
After driving along the Mediterranean coast the road turns north and passes through the gorgeous Taurus Mountains.
When you’re in them they are very reminiscent of the Alps.
Gorgeous!
The drive through them lasted for about 90 minutes.
And then before we knew it we arrived in the Goreme Valley which is where the famous caves and fairy chimneys of Cappadocia are found.
Cappadocia bas been inhabited since the Bronze Age and at that time was ruled by the Hittites. In the 2,400 years since then Cappadocia has been ruled by the Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Armenians, and now Turks.
The area’s soft stone allowed inhabitants to easily dig cave dwellings.
This became important to the Christians that had settled in the area starting around 400 AD. Because of the frequent marauders that attacked Cappadocia, the Christians dug a network of caves into the mountainsides into which they would retreat for safety when attacked.
Believe it or not people continue to inhabit some of these cave dwellings.
The early Christians also built their churches into the caves and so today you can visit them and see the beautiful frescoes they painted on the cave walls. There are about 10 churches clustered together in the Goreme Open Air Museum, with just three standouts.
The Apple Church is fhe first.
Stunning, really. Because a round form of the chirch, seen in the hand of Jesus Christ appears in one of the pictures on the wall, resembles an apple, this church was called “The Church of the Apple“.
Next was the Chapel of St. Barbara.
A little more rustic in style but remember these are ten centuries old! St. Barbara was a popular saint among medieval Byzantines. Barbara was a Greek martyr who was imprisoned by her father in order to protect her from the influences of Christianity. Barbara nevertheless found a way to practice her faith and her father tortured and killed her.
The last real beauty is known as the Dark Church. After the Turkish invasion it was used as a pigeon house until the 1950s. Shocking.
After 14 years of scraping pigeon droppings off the walls, these newly restored frescos, depicting scenes from the New Testament, are the best preserved in all of Cappadocia and a fine example of 11th-century Byzantine art.
The Dark Church is known as this because there is only one small window to the outside and so it is dark inside. This actually is what has saved these frescoes.
It’s work to see these interiors. The hike to get to them is up a moderately steep hill and then many require narrow and low stairs to access, in some cases you have to bend over to your waist to scuttled through the opening. But once inside they are marvelous.
Another thing Cappadocia is known for are the hot air balloons that take off each morning and float around the valley.
They begin at sunrise.
And as time continues more and more fill the sky.
We watched them from the terrace of our hotel. So beautiful.
Like little jewels filling the sky.
If you come here, book your balloon ride early as they sell out. We had no desire to be in a wicker basket with 18 other people 1,000 off the ground and were happy to just watch them float around.
Tomorrow we start our march west to western Turkey and the Aegean. See you then!
3 comments
Thanks for this wonderful article. One other thing is that a lot of digital cameras arrive equipped with a new zoom lens so that more or less of that scene to generally be included by simply ‘zooming’ in and out. All these changes in concentration length tend to be reflected while in the viewfinder and on large display screen at the back of your camera.
I was wondering if you’d try a balloon. My money was on no, mainly because I knew you’d want to watch and photograph them. Gorgeous photos! What a magical day all round!
The cave dwelling and churches are amazing, but the balloons from your terrace are absolutely stunning! Wow!
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