Goreme - An amazing place where pinnacles of volcanic rock have risen right into the town center and make what are referred to as 'fairy chimneys'. Cave houses are scattered everywhere in the valley walls, it is really a place of awe and beauty. Got 
motorbikes for the day and booted around looking at the amazing valleys, ruins, castles, fairy chimneys and spent a few hours in an underground village. On the way to visit one of the underground cities, it started to rain, so we stopped at a small village to hide out and let it pass. A bloke came out of the small chai shop, that looked more like a RSL or hang out for old men, and invited us in for tea. We went in after parking the motorbikes and was served a tea. There were about 6 or 7 older men in this little establishment, none of whom spoke any English whatsoever so communication was limited to our few Turkish lines. Among this raggle taggle group, was a bloke over 6 ft and about 200 kg, another bloke about 4ft and about 35 kgs, a young fella serving all the older men tea, and a couple other more serious looking x-servicemen types chatting quietly over their apple teas. After about half an hour of us defrosting and drinking tea, I debated about getting my camera out of the motorbike boot and taking a couple shots, which I reeeaaaally wanted to do. . decided to get it out and I took a shot of the room, without anyone in it.. but of course within a couple minutes the short guy and the big guy called out “missus, missus” and I spun around to see that they had both set themselves up in a pose ready for the shot – refer to picture! The smaller guy had his hands in his pockets ready for the shot, and one of the other men said something to him in Turkish, which I assume was "take ur hands out of your pockets” and he took them out and put them very stiffly by his sides (very cute!). Of course that one photo shoot led to numerous others, one older guy ran out (literally) and brought in his 2 granddaughters for a photo . It went on for a while, until the short guy ran out, bent over with his head down in a very aerodynamic way for maximum speed and about 5 mins later he came racing back in holding a pigeon (see picture) which is shoved in our direction grinning from ear to ear .. he was soo proud of this pigeon, and very proud of himself for bringing it back in to the tea house! He offered it to us to hold, which we kindly declined, and he stood there proudly with his pigeon, insisting on a photo shoot. The visit ended after another few pictures and I got an address to send the pictures to, they insisted on us not paying for the tea. The shorter guy grabbed a tea towel and ran outside ahead of us to the motorbike to dry off the seat from the rain. We rode off with the whole group waving us off. Rode around for another couple hours in the very cool weather, with sporadic bursts of rain to add to the chill factor, then stopped at an underground city.
Nobody knows just how many underground sites there are in Cappadocia although the number has been estimated at around 300. Some say that there is one for every village and settlement in the region but certainly not all of the sites can be described as cities. Some of them date back to around 400B.C, they reckon its unlikely that the underground cities were ever intended as permanent, but they were clearly built to withstand attack and could support large numbers of people and their domestic animals, for long periods of time. The urban organization was very complex, with extensive networks of passages, tunnels, stepped pits and inclined corridors link family rooms and communal spaces where people would meet, work and worship. The cities were complete with wells, chimneys for air circulation (where it was safe to reveal the whereabouts), niches for oil lamps, stores, water tanks, stables and areas where the dead could be placed until such time as conditions on the surface would allow their proper disposal. Most importantly, carefully balanced moving stone doors, resembling mill stones, were devised to quickly block the corridors in the event of an attack. These were amazing, huuge circular slabs of stone that could be rolled along the floor to cover entrance and exit ways. At this particular site, there are only 4 levels of the city excavated with a further 12 stories/levels or so predicted to be uncovered over the coming years.
I was VERY nervous going in and at one point decided to bail out and head for the exit. But psyched myself back up and continued back on. At some points, the ceiling was so low that you had to just about crawl through hallways and corridors. It was pretty amazing to think that up to 5000 people lived in these underground cities, cooking, living, sleeping for .. long. The stone walls inside were especially used because it absorbed smoke from cooking and heating and the smoke didn’t need to be released into the air, which would of course show enemies where the cities were. It was a bit of a feat for me to get through the whole circuit of the city, my racing heart and panting breath were ringing in my ears for hours after! The complex actually had warnings for people with heart conditions or high blood pressure not to enter because of the tension you feel walking through. Really amazing and I was very proud of myself for having made it through! After that, it was back into town where I sat in solitude on the roof of the pension watching the sun set over the fairy chimneys – really beautiful and so lucky.
Pics - the top two are of the underground city. The next 6 shots are from the tea house and my new friends, pigeon and all! Note the sillhouette shot of me and my little mate, he was one short ma! The next 9 shots are of Cappadocia, the city of Goreme and surrounding valleys, took these shots on the motorbike riding day ... fucking amazig. Goreme is definitly a highlight for me so far.
motorbikes for the day and booted around looking at the amazing valleys, ruins, castles, fairy chimneys and spent a few hours in an underground village. On the way to visit one of the underground cities, it started to rain, so we stopped at a small village to hide out and let it pass. A bloke came out of the small chai shop, that looked more like a RSL or hang out for old men, and invited us in for tea. We went in after parking the motorbikes and was served a tea. There were about 6 or 7 older men in this little establishment, none of whom spoke any English whatsoever so communication was limited to our few Turkish lines. Among this raggle taggle group, was a bloke over 6 ft and about 200 kg, another bloke about 4ft and about 35 kgs, a young fella serving all the older men tea, and a couple other more serious looking x-servicemen types chatting quietly over their apple teas. After about half an hour of us defrosting and drinking tea, I debated about getting my camera out of the motorbike boot and taking a couple shots, which I reeeaaaally wanted to do. . decided to get it out and I took a shot of the room, without anyone in it.. but of course within a couple minutes the short guy and the big guy called out “missus, missus” and I spun around to see that they had both set themselves up in a pose ready for the shot – refer to picture! The smaller guy had his hands in his pockets ready for the shot, and one of the other men said something to him in Turkish, which I assume was "take ur hands out of your pockets” and he took them out and put them very stiffly by his sides (very cute!). Of course that one photo shoot led to numerous others, one older guy ran out (literally) and brought in his 2 granddaughters for a photo . It went on for a while, until the short guy ran out, bent over with his head down in a very aerodynamic way for maximum speed and about 5 mins later he came racing back in holding a pigeon (see picture) which is shoved in our direction grinning from ear to ear .. he was soo proud of this pigeon, and very proud of himself for bringing it back in to the tea house! He offered it to us to hold, which we kindly declined, and he stood there proudly with his pigeon, insisting on a photo shoot. The visit ended after another few pictures and I got an address to send the pictures to, they insisted on us not paying for the tea. The shorter guy grabbed a tea towel and ran outside ahead of us to the motorbike to dry off the seat from the rain. We rode off with the whole group waving us off. Rode around for another couple hours in the very cool weather, with sporadic bursts of rain to add to the chill factor, then stopped at an underground city.
Nobody knows just how many underground sites there are in Cappadocia although the number has been estimated at around 300. Some say that there is one for every village and settlement in the region but certainly not all of the sites can be described as cities. Some of them date back to around 400B.C, they reckon its unlikely that the underground cities were ever intended as permanent, but they were clearly built to withstand attack and could support large numbers of people and their domestic animals, for long periods of time. The urban organization was very complex, with extensive networks of passages, tunnels, stepped pits and inclined corridors link family rooms and communal spaces where people would meet, work and worship. The cities were complete with wells, chimneys for air circulation (where it was safe to reveal the whereabouts), niches for oil lamps, stores, water tanks, stables and areas where the dead could be placed until such time as conditions on the surface would allow their proper disposal. Most importantly, carefully balanced moving stone doors, resembling mill stones, were devised to quickly block the corridors in the event of an attack. These were amazing, huuge circular slabs of stone that could be rolled along the floor to cover entrance and exit ways. At this particular site, there are only 4 levels of the city excavated with a further 12 stories/levels or so predicted to be uncovered over the coming years.
I was VERY nervous going in and at one point decided to bail out and head for the exit. But psyched myself back up and continued back on. At some points, the ceiling was so low that you had to just about crawl through hallways and corridors. It was pretty amazing to think that up to 5000 people lived in these underground cities, cooking, living, sleeping for .. long. The stone walls inside were especially used because it absorbed smoke from cooking and heating and the smoke didn’t need to be released into the air, which would of course show enemies where the cities were. It was a bit of a feat for me to get through the whole circuit of the city, my racing heart and panting breath were ringing in my ears for hours after! The complex actually had warnings for people with heart conditions or high blood pressure not to enter because of the tension you feel walking through. Really amazing and I was very proud of myself for having made it through! After that, it was back into town where I sat in solitude on the roof of the pension watching the sun set over the fairy chimneys – really beautiful and so lucky.
Pics - the top two are of the underground city. The next 6 shots are from the tea house and my new friends, pigeon and all! Note the sillhouette shot of me and my little mate, he was one short ma! The next 9 shots are of Cappadocia, the city of Goreme and surrounding valleys, took these shots on the motorbike riding day ... fucking amazig. Goreme is definitly a highlight for me so far.
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