The town of Goreme. Isn’t it like something out of a fairy tale?
More of the beautiful Turkish lamps and carpets
Our first full day in town we explored on our own, but for the second day (Christmas Day) we decided to go on a tour. We are not typically “tour people.” You know, the ones that get herded from bus to attraction and look like sheep following the guy with the flag? We always pity those kinds of travelers, and prefer to forge our own way, but this time we decided to do a one day tour for the sites that were too far to walk to to save us the expense and hassle of renting a car. (This view of our hotel grounds looking out over the valley explains why there was plenty do see and do within walking distance.)
And it was a good day for a tour. It was colder and more overcast than our first day so it was nice to be in a warm bus, being driven from place to place. Then we’d hop out, take a few photos, look at the pretty scenery, and get back in the bus.
Thankfully our guide wasn’t a big talker — he’d say a few informative (and funny) things from the warmth of the bus and then set us free for a few minutes. There was only us and 3 other couples in our group so it felt almost like a private tour.
The first real stop of the day was at the Derinkuyu underground city. There are 100s of these kinds of cities in the region because the type of volcanic rock in the area is soft and easy to carve. We could even make marks in the walls with our fingernails.
These tunnels began as storage areas, but when the Ottomans (or some people group who was hostile to Christians) came to the area, the Christians retreated underground and could live protected for up to 4 months at a time.
The round stone is part of a system of security doors that could be rolled in place to keep attackers from entering the deeper tunnels.
We went down 5 levels underground by way of tunnels and steps
I didn’t go to the underground city last time “because of the baby” and because I was a little freaked out that I might get claustrophobic. It was totally fine. A few of the tunnels were small and you had to stoop to walk through parts of them, but most of the rooms felt big and airy. This is me happy that I’m not flipping out about being trapped in a tunnel.
Our family Christmas photo in the stables. I thought it was interesting seeing the underground stables for the animals since it reminded me that Jesus was probably born in a cave rather than the open wooden structure pictured in all the nativity scenes. Like the guide said, it probably smelled in there from all the animal waste and not a lot of fresh air (though more than you would think)!
The community also had grain storage, wine and oil presses, a church (on the deepest floor), sleeping caves, burial areas (they would eventually bring the bodies aboveground and bury them properly), and toilets. Our guide said they used to use huge clay pots and then cover the waste with ashes and then at then end of the underground stay they would bring them up and wash them out to be reused. That wouldn’t be a job I would want!
After we finished with the underground city, we headed to the Ihlara Valley.
In a similar way, this valley is lined with caves and hiding places where the Christians lived and hid.
Too busy to look at the scenery, Mr. Parkour and his teammate proceeded to leap on and off every rock on the trail.
Every. Rock.
Then we climbed 50 bazillion steps to the top edge of the valley. The caves are tucked in along the ridge.
The reason for the climb was to visit this old cave church with very old frescos on the walls and ceiling. The monks/priests used to use pigeon poop to plaster over the walls of the cave and then paint with natural paints/dyes on top of the “whitewash.”
The paintings are hundreds of years old, but weren’t protected until the 1980s. Everyone and their mother has scratched their names into the paint. The missing eyes and faces are all from when the Muslims came through — they remove them because human images aren’t allowed in places of worship in Islam.
tasting the snow!