Early Morning Jaunt

I have a running partner! I think I mentioned that Goreme is situated in one of many valleys that make up the landscape in Cappadocia. From where I’m sitting on the roof terrace at the hotel I can see the fairy chimneys of Love Valley, Rose Valley, Honey Valley and Pigeon Valley (so called because of the many birdhouses carved into the rocks by farmers hoping to harvest pigeon droppings—apparently one of the best fertilizers in the world).

(Pigeon Valley, with Rose Valley in the background)

(Love Valley)

So today Ünal, one of the guys who works at the hotel, came by at SIX AM (his choice, not mine), and we scooted over to Pigeon Valley. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a more scenic run in my life. Probably about 90% of the people in Goreme are engaged in the tourism industry, and 5% are retired old men who spend all day sitting in cafes drinking Turkish tea, but the remaining 5% are still farmers. Most of their “gardens” are along the streams that run along the base of the valleys, so we spent a lot of time ducking under the drooping branches of walnut trees and skirting fields of pistachios, squash (they eat the seeds and feed the rest to the cows), chickpeas, and sunflowers. (Incidentally, the primary cooking oil in Turkish cuisine—which is pretty heavy on the oil—is not olive oil but sunflower seed oil…do they even sell that at home? Anyway, the upshot is that everywhere you go there are fields and fields of sunflowers.)

(Walnut Trees)

We made it all the way through the valley and (harrowingly) up the side to the city of Uçhisar, home to a “castle” that is the highest point in Cappadocia.
(Uçhisar)


In addition to sunflower seed oil, Turkish people eat a TON of bread…along the lines of a loaf or two a day. In the morning, the streets are overwhelmed by the smell of freshly baked bread; it seems like from the hours of 7 to 10 every corner market is temporarily transformed into a bakery. When we got back into town we feasted on hot, yeasty sesame seed rolls and fizzy pomegranate juice. Ünal didn’t have his wallet on him, but it turns out that Goreme is the kind of small town where you can eat now and pay whenever.

UPDATE: One of the stops on the "History and Adventure" tour I went on a few days ago was the Kaymakli underground city. Cappadocia has more than 200 of these warren-like towns, some of them as deep as eight levels and 50 meters. Most of them were first built by the Phrygians around the 8th century BC and have been enlarged over the years--Kaymakli is most famous as a hiding place for early Christians escaping persecution and Arab raids in the 7th century. People lived in the caves for months at a time, and archaeologists have identified rooms used as kitchens, churches, stables, and...wine presses (wine being very important for Christians). Anyway, the other day I was looking around my room and in a flash of inspiration realized that it DEFINITELY used to be a wine press. There's a sort of sub-cave attached to the main room that looks exactly like the areas used for stomping grapes, and a little hole at the base where the grape juice might have drained out. Look!