Monday, January 09, 2012

Cappadocia - Day One

There really isn't much I could write about Cappadocia that isn't better conveyed in photographs. All these photos were taken in one day.




The striking rock formations which look rather mushroom-like are known as 'fairy chimneys.'



The Göreme Open-Air Museum is a Byzantine monastic settlement with a cluster of rock-cut churches. You can go into a bunch of the churches which have red-colored religious designs (i.e., crosses) and heavily damaged biblically-themed frescos that are difficult to photograph in the gloom.


Cut into the rock in the photo below, you can see part of a church. From that point, there's an entrance to the "Dark Church." Inside, very well preserved frescos are on every surface. There's no photography in there, and, of course, it costs extra. (Pay the extra!)





Did I crawl into that crevice? I can't remember. I suspect not even though I'm sure it goes through. It's not in the US, so scrambling up, on, along, and through (some very dark tunnels) with no safety precautions is almost always allowed.







4 comments:

Doug Rudd said...

Cool photos! They look a lot like New Mexico's Bandelier (and a bit less but still somewhat like Utah's goblin valley).

DY said...

Thanks for sharing these photos. It's amazing that these rock formations could come to look this way.

Any other travel plans on the horizon? Any other places on your list of places to go that you think you might not reach?

Jackie said...

Doug - Damn, I could have just gone to New Mexico instead of all the way to Turkey? ;) Google image searches of Bandelier and Goblin Valley look awesome. I'll try to put them on my mental 'to visit' list.

Jackie said...

DY - Nothing real concrete for the future. Maybe Israel sometime this spring. The top of my 'want to visit' list is Iceland, which I'm pretty sure I'll get to eventually.