Day 07 - Oct 14 Friday   Douglas Hart   doug.hart@speakeasy.net 
CAPPADOCIA : ZELVE - GOREME- NEVSEHIR

After a delicious breakfast at the Museum Hotel, we set off in our mini bus for Pasa Bagi and Zelve Open Air Museum, observing Mt Erciyes off in the distance.

Cappadocia was discovered as a resort destination by the French. The region is known for its good wine, and "Club Med" built a resort here with faucets that ran, not hot and cold water, but red and white wine.

Two nearby volcanoes that erupted many times created layers of ash covering a 100 square mile area. The various eruptions had different mineral content and consistency, thus creating multi-colored layers of earth. Slowly the rock and soil began to erode. A hard top layer of rock known as "Fairy Chimneys" would stop erosion underneath, and as a result, columns and cone shapes formed. The soft rock in this part of Turkey is like cheese underground. People started carving in the rock to store food since the underground temperature is so stable. Then they carved another level to contain their animals from winter cold. Seeing the animals more comfortable in winter, they started carving home to live in.

There is a fortress above our hotel that was built to protect the area from invasions. The region became more and more Roman. At one time it was called Caesaria. The Christians were more threatened so they started building underground cities. There are some 30 underground cities in this region. After 325 Christians started building above ground monestaries.

This is a region that produces excellent hand made carpets and pottery. Pottery will last thousands of years. The rock, when crushed, makes excellent soil for agricultural crops.

PASA BAGI AND ZELVE monastic dwellings date back about 2000 years. Archeologists have determined these dwellings will last about 2000 years before water and freezing temperatures begin cracking the dwellings. Most of the rock settlements were lived in until the 1950’s, when the dwellings became unstable. It took about 10 years to resettle all the residents. UNESCO now claims this area as a World Heritage Settlement.

Not many years ago Meli said Haydn’s Creation Oratorio was performed here, as the acoustics are perfect in these valleys.

The most common source of food in this area is wheat. Millstones were turned by donkeys. These are not cave dwellings, but are homes carved in the rocks. This technique is called "Geotecture" Geo = rock. This was a highly civilized culture.

There are even rows of small holes carved for pigeons to roost. (Pigeon hole!) The pigeon droppings were used as manure to fertilize their agricultural crops.

Cappadocia, or Katpakqua, means "land of beautiful horses". Paul passed through here (Ceasaria) so many Christians settled and hid in these rock homes.

To signal a greeting to determine whether the person was Christian, an upward wave of the hand starting from the chest and arching down formed one side of a "fish". The other Christian would signal by waving downward from the chest, then arching upward, forming the other side of the fish. The Greek symbols for Christianity was I X O (with a horizontal line through the O) Y E. I=Ios or Jesus (the fish symbol) X=Christos - Christ O=Theo - God Y=Yos - Son E (Greek S)=Savior. This could be drawn in the form of a double cross IXOYE. This became the station of the cross. It is not the symbol for execution. In the earliest church there were grapes painted on the wall, showing a world the congregation could easily "reach" since grapes grew in this region. "No separation between the elder and the congregation, between the clergy and congregation. This appealed to the early Christians. This early church dates to 300 AD. In the 3 valleys there was a population of about 1500. In modern times the Christians and Muslims live together in complete harmony.

Later that day we spent about 2 hours with Hussain, our bus driver, and his wife and mother-in-law. To show respect and greet an elder, the visitor takes her hand, kisses it, then the forehead of the visitor is placed on the elders hand. We were all served tea, a common sign of Turkish hospitality. Hussain’s family has their own cow, raise most of their food and own their own home.

After this, we visited a monastery, built in 380 AD, supported by wealthy sponsors from all over Anatolia. Here Jesus is portrayed with short hair, long hair and red hair. These are iconoclastic paintings. St Anne cell was small and used for training Monks. Here Jesus is shown with red hair. St Peter is shown with a rooster which easily identifies this disciple. The drawings and frescoes are from the 8^th century.

St. Onuphorus Church. Jesus shown blessing Onisimus who is next to Jesus on a horse. Constantine’s mother brought the sacred relics from this church to Constantinople. The soldier saint shown here is George. When the Turks allowed the Christians to express themselves openly in the 1200’s the frescoes became more elaborate. Jesus is shown with muscles, no thorn, no blood and with the sun and moon over the cross. Lazarus was wrapped in a shroud because there was no wood to make a coffin. The Muslim turban evolved from this shroud. Later visited the ruins of St Simon on the Pillar; he was a hermit and lived on this pillar for 20 years. Why???!!

That afternoon we visited a carpet cooperative and had a tour of the facility, where several women were busy making carpets. We saw how silk is spun out of the silk worm cocoon; ½ mile of silk comes out of one cocoon. Silk is the strongest natural fiber. The best silk comes from Burka and the best silk comes from the center of the cocoon. Washing the silk with soap makes it softer. The silk thread is spun with 300 filaments and twisted 200 times to make a strong carpet.

Master weavers have at least 5 years experience. Wool carpets are more easy to create than silk. In Turkey, they use the double knot; the size of the knot determines the thickness of the wool and the price of the carpet. High quality wool carpet will have 300 knots per square inch. Generally one woman works on creating the carpet, then it is sheared with a machine. There are many types of wool, but Mohair is the finest for making carpets. Natural dyes give color variation. Synthetic dyes are usually stronger colors. Indigo is a common dark blue dye.

Only the most talented weavers work on pure silk carpets because the thread is so thin; it takes 450 to 1050 knots per square inch to make a silk carpet.