Day 36 ( 12 July): Cavemen
I went on another tour of the Cappadocia region today. This time I was lucky to have it be just me and a Turkish family. We went to the Goreme Museum (which has a lot of churches carved into 'fairy chimneys'), a whole town where people lived in cave houses until the Turkish government resettled them in the 1980s, we saw a fortress/look-out for the town, went to 'Pigeon Valley' from where we could see Mt. Erches (one of the volcanic responsible for the rock formations in the background), and to a couple more valleys and viewpoints.
Observations:
1) "Green living" is not a new concept. While it may be a fad or a new reality to find people trying to save energy in their homes the concept is not new. One of the advantages to the cave houses was that they stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
2) Sometimes you have to get creative to fill needs. The inhabitants of the area in olden times created cave dwellings for pigeons so they could collect their dung and use it as fertilizer.
3) Ataturk is everywhere. He (real name was Mustafa Kamal) was the father of modern day Turkey and largely responsible for Turkey's stability and economic success today. Among other things, 1) he got rid of the Arabic alphabet for the Turkish language so outsiders could learn it easier and 2) gave women the right to vote and the right not to wear head scares if they choose not to.
Weird/amusing sightings:
1) Lemon juice based multi-purpose solvent. Just like in the movie 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' where the father uses Windex for everything, the Turks have some kind of lemon juice based spray that they seem to use for everything from making rooms smell better, to washing hands, to washing dishes.
2) Fashion is always more important than function. I saw aJapanese girl in stiletto heels trying to roll a suitcase up a hill that is not even passable for cars as it is rough dirt and loose rock.
Observations:
1) "Green living" is not a new concept. While it may be a fad or a new reality to find people trying to save energy in their homes the concept is not new. One of the advantages to the cave houses was that they stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
2) Sometimes you have to get creative to fill needs. The inhabitants of the area in olden times created cave dwellings for pigeons so they could collect their dung and use it as fertilizer.
3) Ataturk is everywhere. He (real name was Mustafa Kamal) was the father of modern day Turkey and largely responsible for Turkey's stability and economic success today. Among other things, 1) he got rid of the Arabic alphabet for the Turkish language so outsiders could learn it easier and 2) gave women the right to vote and the right not to wear head scares if they choose not to.
Weird/amusing sightings:
1) Lemon juice based multi-purpose solvent. Just like in the movie 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' where the father uses Windex for everything, the Turks have some kind of lemon juice based spray that they seem to use for everything from making rooms smell better, to washing hands, to washing dishes.
2) Fashion is always more important than function. I saw aJapanese girl in stiletto heels trying to roll a suitcase up a hill that is not even passable for cars as it is rough dirt and loose rock.
posted by Traveling Brian at 7:31 AM
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