Sunday, April 18, 2010
After breakfast, we boarded our buses for another excursion into the land of the cave dwellings. First stop was the rock chapels of Goreme, with its beautifully preserved 6th century frescos, and the monastic complexes. It’s amazing to us how they carved these entire cities out of the rocks. We learned that the volcanic rock is actually very easy to carve, and that as soon as it is exposed to the air, it hardens. So it makes for an excellent dwelling.
We were invited to lunch by a local rug merchant who plied us with drinks and Turkish pizzas while showing us their considerable collection of beautiful carpets. We also watched the rug makers at work. Several of us walked away with purchases. I’m sure the merchants were very happy they invited us.
We toured another city which was entirely underground. It was like a maze inside, with each passageway leading in several directions to more and more rooms and passageways. There were at least five floors. We could have roamed through there all day and never found the end.
After hiking around two more valleys with carved dwellings, we returned to our hotel for our evening dinner.
Don't let Joanne in those caves alone....
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