More Rock Sites and Carpets

All of the travelling and sightseeing is starting to catch up with me, and I slept past 9 am yesterday and was still tired. David and I had a quiet morning hanging out in our kitchen/dining area, him working on homework and me trying to figure out how best to get to Istanbul. Hugh and Topher went for a long walk through our valley with the neighbours and their dogs, which Topher said was so nice it was worth doing again. Hugh was prepared to do it again yesterday afternoon! We plan to go this morning before we head to Ankara. Hugh also got to meet a baby lamb from the neighborhood “farm” (pictured below).

After a late start, we set out to tour more rock sites, first driving to Mustafapasa to see some 18th and 19th century mansions built by Greeks living in Istanbul before the 1926 population exchange. We didn’t bother stopping and continued on to Zelve, where we visited another open air museum. This one was even bigger than the one at Goreme but there were only a handful of visitors. The kids had a blast clambering on the rocks and exploring the caves (see photos opposite and on following pages). This would have been a sizeable monastery and it was inhabited from at least the 9th

century until the 1950s. I don’t know why Zelve is not on the must see list, but we would highly recommend it!

The road between Zelve and Goreme is also one of the nicest stretches we’ve seen, and just up the road from the open air museum we were back in the land of tour buses and souvenir markets (and more fairy chimneys, pictured above).

We then headed back to Urchisar (photos opposite) and poked around a few souvenir shops while we looked for somewhere to eat. Finally we consulted the internet and found a place called the House of Memories. Despite the cheesy name, we decided to give it a try, and it was a great decision. We opened the door and practically gasped at how cute the restaurant was. The dining area was a barrel vaulted stone room with a wood stove and had seating on the floor on cushions for only four tables (photos on page 163). The waiter, who I’m guessing is the owner, was very enthusiastic about his job and

was constantly entertaining his guests by singing folk songs and presenting all of the dishes he served with a dramatic flair. The table next to us was being served meat cooked in a clay pot, which you usually have to order several hours ahead of time, but he had made extra tonight so we were able to order some. It was the most delicious thing we have eaten on the entire trip - except the baked eggplant with cheese maybe! We lingered over Turkish coffee (just as bad as Greek coffee) and raki (which tastes exactly the same as ouzo) as we were enjoying ourselves so much. The table next to us were Turkish and they insisted we try their food when it came, which was also delicious.

By this point it was after 8 pm, and most sensible people would have just gone home. Since it was our last night in the area and we had more carpet buying to do, we found our friend Vaysel at his brother’s pottery and carpet shop in Goreme. We drove with Vaysel to his shop in Kaymaklı, about a half hour away, and bought some large cushion covers. Once again he gave the kids gifts, two small pouffe covers that may or may not be leather. During the drive

back and forth to Goreme we got to know a bit more about Vaysel and his family (7 brothers and 4 sisters) and generally about Turkey. When we got back to the Goreme shop we had tea with Vaysel and his cousin, who spoke fluent French. The kids almost managed to get more gifts but they politely declined. When we said goodbye to Vaysel, he said next time we would eat together, as he would host us for a meal. I’m not sure we’ll be back any time soon, but it was nice to get to know him, and we were happy to do our carpet buying from him.