Today there are already more than 125 places of accommodation and dozens of hot-air ballooning sites in Göreme alone and my guess is that this place will continue to absolutely boom into the future as more and more people start hearing about it and want to explore the stark natural beauty of this stunning UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Yesterday we started by visiting the Open Air Museum, which is essentially a group of underground Christian churches, nunneries and monasteries, whose walls are painted with Biblical frescoes. Unfortunately, many of these wall paintings have been marred (allegedly) by the scratching and scraping of bored young sheep herders many years ago, who would have been oblivious to their historical value and lacked appreciation of their religious importance. These places of worship were originally built before the 4th century and the frescoes of the Last Supper and other Bible stories adorn the walls and ceilings throughout. Well worth a visit. No shots of the museum because photography is not permitted.
Following the museum visit, we asked if we might be taken to see some local crafts. We were first taken to a centuries' old family-run ceramics workshop where the owner, Mr Ali, introduced us to his cousin Rambo (I kid you not) turning the ancient pottery wheel to create some modern-day ceramics in the old tradition. While that was very interesting to watch, I wanted a hands-on experience in the true Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore style, so Rambo let me play with a lump of clay and didn't mind at all when I completely buggered up the bowl he was carefully guiding me to create. We laughed (me, more than he) and moved on to the showroom (of course) where we were "under no pressure, sir and madam" to purchase from Mr Ali's collection.
After lunch, it was on to watch the ancient art of carpet-weaving being practised by a new generation of women. The company's proprietor was very happy to show us how the beautiful rugs, kilims and carpets are made, starting with the soaking in boiling water of the silk cocoons and the subsequent spinning of the fibre into reels of thread suitable for dyeing and then weaving. It was absolutely fascinating and certainly opened our eyes to a process we had never imagined. Walking down the cobblestoned laneways of Turkey over the last weeks and having seen probably hundreds of carpet shops (from the outside), we have been quite cynical about the true origin of some of these floor coverings. We still retain that cynicism in large part, but it's true to say that many of them really are made locally. We were told that this particular company we were visiting supplies looms to 1400 local women who work to make rugs in their own homes and, subsidised by the Turkish government, receive 86% of the price paid when the carpet is sold. Believe it if you choose (we think it's probably true).
Today, after the hot-air balloon flight, we were again collected for more adventure and taken to the much-anticipated underground city of Kaymakli.
Back in Melbourne a few weeks ago I had watched a YouTube documentary of another underground city, Derinkuyu - our guide today told us there are around 35 such cities under Cappadocia, mostly built over periods of 50 or 60 years of additions and modifications to hide villagers from marauding and pillaging enemies. More info about Kaymakli is available at this website. It's fascinating to read about, and even more fascinating to visit this honeycomb maze of a city of narrow corridors where you have to stoop down very low, almost holding your ankles so you can move along the low-ceilinged passages. Here are some rubbishy photos which don't do it justice....
Also today we visited Pigeon Valley where in the past and still today, local villagers breed and keep pigeons for their poop, using this as valuable fertiliser for their crops.
Finally today we went to a small marbling workshop, where the ancient art of marbling paper and silks is practised by a very skilled artisan. The process involves making a mixture of water and a special type of glue, then dripping various coloured paints into the water and swirling them around with a fine needle. The piece of paper or silk is then laid over the surface of the water and dragged across and out to create the final product as if by magic.
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