Turkey 2005

21st century city and lunar landscape | 06 Jun 2005

Kiril flew home and I continued on to Ankara, a much more western city than Istanbul. I stayed at the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA), right in the middle of the diplomatic and Hilton-type-hotel centre of the city. Most of my time there was spent admiring the superb collections of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations.

From Ankara I drove (well, was driven) to Cappadocia, a landscape unlike any other I have ever seen. Millions of years of erosion of a volcanic landscape have resulted in a weird, lunar expanse of rocky outcrops from which people over the centuries have carved churches and even cities. Many of these churches were painted in the 10th and 11th centuries and the lack of light has preserved the glorious colours of the religious scenes. The underground cities, extending up to 50m below the ground, were gradually extended as persecution of the early Christians increased and they retreated further out of site.

Incidentally, the place I stayed in Cappadocia was the Kelebek (www.kelebekhotel.com) which has cave rooms, a roof terrace with heartbreakingly beautiful views and is generally a charming and romantic place to stay. What a pity I was alone...

Locations Visited: None specified.

Comment
Rachael wins the prize for having the most readable and interesting posting so far. You'd almost belive she was an archeologist.
Posted by: vaughn blah on 12 Oct 2005

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