Cappadocia is best known for its 100+ square miles of "fairy chimneys," those unusual geological formations that, over the past two millennia or more, have been hollowed out to become churches, monasteries, residences, villages, even underground cities; and now, major big-time tourist attractions. Over the ages they served as refuges for Christians hiding from Romans, from Persians, from Muslims, et al. They are scattered all over the landscape, but there are 8 or 10 concentrations, the most famous of which is probably Goreme, and its Goreme Open Air Museum.
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Another World Heritage Site
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It is difficult to convey the scale of Goreme--it is several acres but few distinct
"buildings"; this photo show a small bit of the complex
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Goreme was primarily a collection of abbeys and nunneries
and such; no residences, at least in the village sense; here's
Vicki sitting at a stone refectory table that could seat 40
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Some of the chapels were done in very primitive ways; iconoclasm
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Of all Goreme's assorted chapels and churches, our favorite was the Dark Church
(no relation to the Dark Lord, although it did have an addtional 8YTL entrance
fee); here the 10th and 11th century painting is impressive, even defaced by the
conquering Muslims (typically, they only scraped away the eyes; later hordes of
mostly Greek tourists, at other sites, would deface them completely with their
names and signatures)
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More Dark Church
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More ditto, with digital issues
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Old guys rule
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Ceiling view
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One last scene
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The Nunnery; now condemned, no entry
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Obligatory St. George/snake (sort of a dragon) in another chapel
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In the Tokali Church, also 10th-11th, a shade of blue most unusual for the time and
place
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The Goreme museum is adjoined by the usual bazaar of tourist shops, the most
interesting of which was the wine store; Cappadocian wines are respectable, if
not yet great; I am enjoying a pleasant red wine, lighter-bodied, fruity; the whites
I tasted varied but some, especially the Uchisar, were very good indeed; what?
your local wine store does not carry Turkish wines?!
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2 comments:
The Dark Church was one of our favorite sites in all of Turkey...so beautiful and unexpected. We have a wonderful book from there as well as fabulous photos. I am certainly enjoying your posts and photos...and am as jealous as can be!
Tawana,
Thanks for writing. Blogger has changed its features a bit, but I will look into the font size issue. I understand. But wait. How can you do all that intricate sewing? You're obviously not a semi-blind as I am. But I will work on it. How is the documentation coming? Seriously.
Mark
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