Fırst mornıng ın kapadokya - Katy

We’ve had two whirlwind days in Kapadokya. Kapadokya is a region in the center of Turkey and is made up of many different cities; we’ve spent so few time in anyone city that we really feel like we’ve seen so much of the region. As much as possible, Erin and I are going to try to give a recap. Driving into the Kapadokya region was quite an experience, and unfortunately it is somewhat indescribable. It is much more dry and arid than the regions of Turkey that we visited previously and it is famous for its beautiful canyons and unusual rock formations. It is also famous because the rock is very soft and easy to carve, so everywhere we turn they have carved houses and churches and whole underground cities for thousands and thousands of years. The different sites we have visited span from 10,000 BC to 1300 AD (and it has been really difficult to keep up with what time period we are in).

Our amazing and extensive visit wouldn’t have been possible without the driven nature of our knowledgeable guide, Abbas. He is a Rotarian and was the past president of the club of Kapadokya. He speaks five languages, we think, and has been able to retain vast amounts of knowledge spanning every time period imaginable; perhaps the reason he was chosen to be the tour guide for the Prime Minister of Portugal during his visit to Kapadokya. His daughter, Ege, accompanied us on our first morning as Abbas’s assistant and we were instantly charmed. This beautiful 9 year old Turkish girl with long dark hair was attuned to our every need. She picked wild flowers for us, gave us chocolate and chewing gum, and would bring up the rear as we were hiking to make sure that no one was left behind.

Tuesday, we started the morning off with views of the sprawling canyons and ‘fairy chimney’ rock formations as we set off for our morning hike. Abbas, our task master, had us climbing up and down sandy paths, into ancient churches, through tall prairie grass, and in and out of our touring van. When he wasn’t leading us at a quick pace, he was quizzing us on the names of the wild flowers that he had been teaching us. We failed miserably at first, but got better as we started assigning different flowers to different people.

It was really unusual that there were so many ancient churches here and not so many ancient mosques. This region had been the location of several centuries of Greek Orthodox populations. After Turkey’s war for independence in the 1920’s, there was a swap of populations between Turkey and Greece and the Greek Orthodox living in Kapadokya where sent to Greece, while Muslim Turks living in Greece where sent back to Turkey.

The first church we visited was the Grape Church (710 – 729 AD) at the bottom of the first valley we hiked. The beautiful frescoes throughout all of the churches were truly stunning. Scenes of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, the 12 disciples, the angels Michael and Gabriel, the last supper, the Crucifixion, Abraham and Sarah; all in beautiful reds, oranges, blues, yellows and greens. On that first hike we walked up and down the valley walls dodging swarming bees and large tour groups. One of the most stunning sites was in the middle of nowhere. Abbas had us scaling up and down this small canyon and then led us into this small doorway on the side of the cliff. Once inside we found ourselves standing in this very tall, columned cathedral. While it wasn’t adorned with all of the frescos, the height of the cathedral was truly impressive, as well as the vaulted ceiling in the adjoining room.

One hour til dinner; I need get ready for our rotary presentation this evening.