Ten of us set out on a Saturday morning at 7a.m. for Cappadocia. A three-car caravan making the trek over paved and gravel highways and arriving at our hotel in Urgup at 11 a.m.
Past a mountain that appeared to glisten in the sun, perhaps containing crystals, will go back sometime to discover just what we saw. Drove beside a large, salt lake, the crust on it so heavy that the birds were standing on it enjoying the sun. Cultivated land everywhere, tractors more plentiful than the cars and the trucks on the roads. Looked like one or several acres per family all being fertilized by hand, mostly the women of the family. If not fertilizing, turning the soil by hand, lonely figures in the vast landscape. All being made ready for the growing season. Vineyards, pruned close to the ground, tiny green leaves just beginning to show. Every inch of land used and tended well. Such care for the earth.
The hotel, brilliant white buildings accented only by polished wooden windows and doors. Marble courtyards and spotless grounds, a resting place that was an international village for so many different people. Tour buses filled with elderly Germans on holiday, Danes, Americans on R&R from Saudi Arabia, Turks on holiday and some curious Americans from Ankara, all sightseeing. All there to see the unique wonders of ancient civilizations past carved by time from the volcanic eruptions of Erciyas and created by earthquakes and the erosion of time.
After checking in, we hired a guide, a gentle man from the city where we were staying. He has spent some thirty years of his life showing the wonders of the region. His knowledge was exact and he made sure that we all understood just what it was we were seeing. As we had only engaged him for that day, he took us on a fast-paced look at the marvels of his world. Once we set out, we did not stop until about seven that evening. In and out of our cars, up and down mountains, down to underground cities with passageways sometimes only three feet high and one foot wide, seven or eight stories below the earth. Through churches large and small dating sometimes from the seventh or eighth century. Churches with frescoes still in brilliant color and intricate design. Frescoes in stone pinnacles so beautifully painted, you wondered at the ability to see inside and how did they reach to paint the high ceilings. Who painted these lasting monuments to Christ? How did they tap into this Universal creative ability? So many questions came to mind. Even now after returning home, these visions of this fairyland and enchanted stone dwellings seem to be of another world, another dimension in time. It must be one of the Wonders of our earth.
Along with the sights of civilizations past, we toured an onyx factory and watched as men, covered in fine onyx dust, cut and mold some of the many articles that we found on sale there. We did buy a large brown and white onyx mortal and pestle, must weigh at least ten pounds, and two small rose-colored onyx eggs. The prices were, of course, for the tourists, but having seen the men at work and where it had been made, we relented. The mortar and pestle were 20,000 TL and the two eggs that we had chosen, the owner said were a gift. Am sure that the price of the mortar and pestle more than made up for the 1,600 TL gift.
In the city of Avanos, we toured the pottery factories. All small little shops dug underground in the' stone. People still making pottery in the same fashion and design and color as they have done for more than a thousand years. In the center of town, in the town square, a statue of the potters. The main industry of this small village. Bought a small plate with a butterfly painted on it.
Our guide took us, in our cars, along a path that seemed to have never been made for cars to the side of a hill. There we stopped and climbed up to a vineyard and some distance away, an old stone dwelling that he was remodeling by himself, eventually where tourist might stay. It was on three levels and its charm was felt by everyone. Two pools outside where one could swim, a terrace on the second level overlooking the country, even showers and American style toilets. He served us tea and charmed each of us.
Our final stop for the day was a wine factory in the town where we were staying. The working part of the factory was underground like everything else in the area. Cement vats, rows and rows, some marked with white wine, others marked with red. Quality control and cleanliness seemed to have stopped at the front door. The aroma would have sobered a wino. Back upstairs and to the wine tasting. We hadn't eaten since we had left that morning and here it was after six p.m. This made the wine exceptionally potent. A tour bus with elderly German citizens followed us in. Then some spontaneous entertainment, local music played and sung by some of the people who worked there. A young man dancing a native dance and then joined by on the German gentlemen who sported a flower shirt, shorts, knee socks and casual shoes. He imitated and kept up with the young man and the dance through three or four choruses. Quite a treat!
Back at the hotel we all went for dinner and then to our rooms for a not shower and with total exhaustion, fell into instant sleep.
The next morning we were reluctantly up at seven for breakfast of cheese, olives, bread and jam. Reluctantly due to sore muscles and tired bodies. Checked out of the hotel and enjoyed the remaining sights and shopping before returning to Ankara.
It was a tour that we want to make again. This time to absorb the surroundings and become part of the history of times long past.
