TURKEY December 26, 2009: Americans in Turkey – Day 10

Thousands and thousands of caves

Woke up to a colder, grayer, more overcast day than we’ve had in a while — making the region even eerier than it is in the sun.

Today was mostly a driving day with little short stops, in between sprinkles and mist. We visited dozens of small towns — Ortasehir, Goreme, Ayvali, Kaymakli (an underground city built for as many as 30,000 people with hundreds of rooms and chambers), and Ursehir — each with its own character.

Once we got to Kaymakli — before entering the underground cave city, — we decided to have a quick lunch — not such a simple task, since as a tourist town everything was closed as this is not tourist season — Kazymakli is not much of a town.. a bit seedy, rundown, and focused solely on getting tourists to see the underground city (which is quite an amazing structure).  Anyway, we stumbled on a large, new building (very uncharacteristic for this area and certainly for this town of just a few thousand residents) and realized that it was a hotel… so we figured having lunch there would make sense — no need to worry obsessively about water, etc. We entered the building, which was set back from the street, into a very grand lobby area, but it was completely dark. At first we thought that the hotel was closed but then as I approached the reception desk a woman came out from inside and greeted me. Still the lights stayed off. I asked about lunch and she said we could eat in the restaurant — she then proceeded to phone the restaurant staff to alert them that we were coming — just down the hall from the lobby. We entered a huge restaurant (seats for about 300 people) but it was dark too… Then a waiter appeared with menus, and about 10 minutes later as we sat in the dark, some lights were turned on. We’ve decided this is a very good eco approach to energy consumption… after all we were the only two people eating.

The waiter said he spoke English, but the conversation was really tough… We think he explained that they were only serving the snack portion of the menu, as he kept pointing to that… Then he said they had “pizola.”  Knowing that Turks have a pizza-like dish (called pide) we thought he was trying to use the English word “pizza” but not saying it correctly. He kept motioning that the dish was a circle.. so we said fine. Then he came back to tell us that they only had the chicken. So two chicken dishes it was.

From there and after the cave city (which we didn’t explore thoroughly as Mike was a bit unsure of the electricity after seeing the hookups, and was certain we’d get stuck in the lowest level of the cave city (about 8 stories below ground) without any light.. and that there could be an earthquake. Frankly, I was glad he made the call. I’m a bit claustrophobic and had other concerns. In any case, I can tell you that these civilizations that built these cave cities must have been very, very short, because I (at 5′) had to hunch over to get through the passageways. My guess is that they were about 4′ tall. I would have been a giant!

We then meandered through many more towns and valleys, climbing and winding through gorges and deep ravines and up to towns perched precipitously on hills…  We made several detours, pretty much visiting every nook and cranny of a community… many so well off the beaten path that signage just didn’t exist.

We had heard of a restaurant in Ayvali where they prepare a fixed menu each night in very traditional old-style ovens. We decided to seek it out. We found it (after a few mis-trials) up a very winding narrow stone path with hairpin turns. It looked quite cute. But it had a padlock on the door. A woman was tending chickens on the side of the building. I decided that she was probably no more than 50 years old, but was so hunched over she could pass for 80; she was very friendly and just chatted away in Turkish to us. Eventually after we had smiled nonstop for about 10 minutes she motioned for us to wait. We assumed correctly that she was going to get someone else to help us. It was the owner, or so we think. He didn’t speak any English either, but did speak German. We knew enough German to understand that the restaurant is closed in the winter — only open from March to October.

We then meandered back to Goreme (taking the long route by accident) to schedule a bath and massage at the local hammam for tomorrow. It’s an old hammam in the traditional style, except that it is co-ed. Should be interesting. (Given that it is not tourist season, my guess is that it could be just Mike and me, but who knows)

Tonight we need to study up on communal hammam etiquette. (When we lived in Finland, we learned sauna etiquette; not sure it’s the same. )

We then drove to Mustafashapa, where one guidebook had mentioned a unique restaurant where all cooking is done on the tandir in the center of the room. Initially we couldn’t find it. It’s called Old Greek House (because it is located in an old Greek house — very clever branding).. We saw a sign for Upper Greek House and figured it must be the same place and that “Upper” and “Old” could be lost in translation. We climbed uphill and came upon a totally charming house amid the rubble… and just as we pulled up, a Mercedes stopped. Turns out to be the owner. We inquired about dinner for tonight and he explained that he owns the Upper Greek House and the Old Greek House. Dinner would be at the Old Greek House. He led us there, and we said we’d be back at 8. So, that’s tonight.

As I said earlier.. it’s all about the food.

It’s about 6 miles from Urgup where we are staying. Found our way to the “Old” Greek House — at about 8 pm — quite a feat in the dark. En route we were stopped by a police road bock.. Not sure what they were doing — there were at least a dozen cops and a police van or two.. Once they realized we only spoke English and we just said Old Greek House, Mustafapasa.. they just moved the road block and let us through.  Well, once again, a very exclusive dinner at the Old Greek House (which by the way is a totally charming 300 year old building with very high vaulted ceilings and many many rooms).. just Mike and me.. no other diners. My guess is that this place is quite busy in summer months (or I certainly hope it is.) Not sure why they remain open in winter, but we were glad they did. They had a staff of four preparing and serving our meal, and I can attest to the fact that by the time dessert arrived, they were all standing at the door in the main room waiting to leave. Can’t say I blamed them. Food was good and lots of it. They served either a 5 course, or 6 course or 7 course meal. We decided to get just one 7 course meal and share.. I cannot imagine how any single person can eat that meal.

We rambled back to our little cave house..

Best —
Fern