Neile's Turkish Holiday

July 3rd

as transcribed from my journal

Then Christina and I went up to the Citadel while Matt and Jim went into the newer part of the city to shop for sandals and CDs (they'd gotten some musical suggestions from Nasmeen) and to see the big market and the mosque there. I wanted to explore the Citadel area a little further, so Christina and I took a taxi up the hill, then walked around and took a few photographs, fended off a few breadsellers, lace doily makers, etc. In one narrow lane a woman patted my back and hair. So had a child, earlier. My long grey hair seems to cause a little stir among people who usually wear their hair covered.

A piece of sculpture incorporated into the Citadel wall. There are several of these bits and pieces, including old Roman tombstones, in the wall. This one looked like the only one almost intentionally gargoyle-like. Most of them were just decorative borders and such. [Christina's caption: "Probably Persephone or Demeter (fruits, leaves in section of garland) used by practical Byzantine builders of hisar walls."]

 

When we stopped at a little market to buy postcards, an American came up and started talking to us--we were chatting about where he should go and he was interested in carpets, so Christina started giving him a tutorial in them and we went back to the area just outside the Citadel gates where Christina had bought the pillow covers the day before. Went into one big store and looked at a bunch, one of which caught my eye (it had a dark green in it that I knew would look good in my dark green study) but we went on. Went to another place where the owner had kilim downstairs and carpets upstairs, so up we went. He brought us apple tea and showed us some nice small carpets. Joe bought an antique tree-of-life carpet, and Christina a lovely silk-based wool brown-with-some-white one. About 40 years old. Very inexpensive. Tourism is down so much that the carpet dealers are offering good prices.

As we were heading back we were going to leave but I decided I couldn't leave the dark-green carpet from the first shop behind [now as I type this my chair is perched on it], so we eyed it up and down and pointed out some mending spots and they took it away to fix and we had a drink and played with Cissy, the shopkeeper's dog and talked about dogs and all (Christina and Matt had to leave their dog behind in Taiwan with some students they hoped were taking good care of her, so they were missing her). Did the paperwork, and took a taxi back down to the otel--Matt and Jim were sitting outside on the front patio with Joe. Quite a surprise. Apparently, Joe had run into them earlier at the market, and they had suggested he go to the Citadel where he ran into us. Then when he left us, he walked past the hotel where they were sitting out and he joined them. Quite a surreal series of events, but I guess North Americans do stand out here. Joe is an interesting man, a former NYC policeman, now a Private Investigator. He'd come to Ankara on business.

Anyway, we shortly had to leave for the bus station, which was huge and had all kinds of little companies competing for business. It seemed bustling to me, but Christina said it was a quiet day--midday Saturday. Matt went and bargained for our fares, and also that the driver and steward wouldn't smoke--it's apparently illegal for the passengers to smoke now, but the staff still can.) The ride was unusual--lots of service on the bus (snacks, hand cleanser) and a video playing on TV (in Turkish of course). We passed a big salt lake along the way, and lots of low, rolling hills. Rather like eastern Montana in the overall look of the landscape.

Arrived in Nevshehir, a bustling small city that like much of Turkey seemed to be full of buildings in various stages of construction or perhaps demolition--hard to tell. We took a little dolmus bus to Goremë. It's a strange ride--the landscape stays the same then suddenly to start seeing the peribaci ("fairy chimney" is the literal translation, and that is what they look like) as you drive into the valley.

A view of the peribaci in a valley by Goremë.

 

They are everywhere, and there are caves everywhere, used as stables, houses, hotels, just openings to places you can't imagine a use for. Matt went ahead to finish arranging the hotel, and we hiked up to it, the Sharihan, built into the hillside (or is it just a very big peribaci?)

 

	A view of Goremë at sunset from our pension.
	Another view of Goremë. the street down from the pension.

 

Anyway, ours are cave rooms. Jim and I took the deeper cave because I thought it would be more fun--it was certainly cooler, but we regretted it a bit as the mirror sucks and there's only one weak light bulb in a fixture that's fairly distant from the bed so reading at night is difficult, but it is actually damp and cool after the dry heat outside, and we're deep in a cave, which feels wonderful, and there are lovely simple carvings decorating the wall as well as a little alcove I sit to write this journal, with my foot on the spare bed.

I did something to my left ankle, as it is badly swollen--there is a bit of bruising on the front as though I'd sprained it but it doesn't feel bad at all except going down stairs when all the swollen flesh is compressed. Very odd. I don't remember anything happening to it at all. I'm grateful it doesn't hurt much but it looks terrible. [I couldn't wear my sandal on that foot--it was too tight and the elastic cut into my foot--but luckily Christina had both a pair of nearly the same sandals and larger feet, so I wore one of hers on the swollen left foot and one of mine on the right for the rest of the trip. The swelling didn't go completely away for a couple of months, and I never did figure out what caused it.]

Walked down to have dinner at the Sharif restaurant, one of a string of restaurants along the main street. The food is so good here--fresh everything and lots of fruit and vegetables. The people at the table across from us were feeding a white and mackerel tabby-marked cat, then a dog showed up and Christina fed it. Then we walked along the street, while Matt made a couple of phone calls, and then we were back up the hill.