Friday, October 5, 2012

Cappadocia In A Nutshell


There are incredible land formations here formed by volcanos, ash, water and wind.  They call them mushroom formations.  We call them penises.  You decide.

This area of Cappadoccia was settled by the Hittites.  The Romans spent time here as well. It was a Mecca of early Christianity.  That's an oxymoron.  It was a wine growing region and the early Christians dug out these cave formations to create monasteries and convents where there seems to have been a lot of sacramental wine drinking.  The earliest pottery included, besides many pots, a wine dispenser slung over the shoulder.  Constantine converted to Christianity egged on by his mother, an early Christian, around 400 AD I believe. 
These monasteries have early Malta Crosses and later Latin Crosses.  Around 1100AD frescos were added to the walls of these monasteries.  No pictures allowed.   Some of the faces have been removed because originally it was sacrilege to represent man as it still is in Judaism and Islam.
There are still cave dwellings but only those families grandfathered into the system are legally allowed to live there.

Wine production has resumed since tourism has arrived.  The area itself is a conservative Moslem stronghold so local consumption is a no no. The area was declared a World Heritage sight by UNESCO in the mid-eighties.  That started the glut of International Tourism.

Tourism which I may have already said is Turkey's biggest industry.  Six million people work in it.

On to the balloons later. 

No comments: