Cappadocia – Caves, underground cities and depression beating food

We are now taking a short break from Istanbul to visit Cappadocia.

This area was the centre of the early Christian church

And it wasn’t because of the nice weather!

Or the lovely scenary

It’s cause there are lots of rocks

And the best place to hide when you are a repressed religion is inside caves

Imagine hiding in caves like this

Granted, it makes for an interesting tourist attraction in the future

But it is also a great place to plant your church.  Hidden from unwelcome visitors

And able to see them coming from far far away.  This is actually a view from Gümüşler Monastery built in the 10th century.

But there were older things to see so off we drove past the mountains

And to the Ihlara Canyon

This canyon was once home to over 100 underground churches like

The Agacalti Kilise (Church under the Tree)

Which is very popular because of its very vivid frescos.  This is over 1000 years old!

And so we continue our tour of the canyon passing many caves villages

But if you are really really paranoid about invaders.  Why not build your entire city underground?  These massive underground cities were self sufficient for several months and had lots of nasty traps for invaders.

And its a long way down…..

Unfortunately some monsters were still lurking around

And outside for some fresh air

I think things look better from the outside though

Where else do you get cave cities?

This is the huge inflationary bread.  Its good for economic downturns.

Chicken kebab!

See crockery pot?  Now there is a story about this pot.  You actually have to break this open with a samurai chop.  Lucky thing is that we picked up Naosuki-san who had some skills to help us chop these open.  The blind girl had a little trouble with it.  Just like the ice climbing occasion…

And of course finished off with some turkish tea!

And of course, having seen so many caves, you have to sleep in one.  Night!