Last Cappadocia Chapter
The third and last day I woke up in time to say good-bye to all the new friends I had made. Many of them have invited me to visit them some time in the future. Before they left, Asli and her family invited me to walk around Mustafapasha with them. Their destination was a particular street, the old 'main drag' hundreds of years ago.
Some of the dwellings have been frozen and heated so many times that half the rock has fallen off, as you can see here. There were some places closer to the bottom that I peeked into, but there wasn't much there.
Asli and her family had a long drive ahead of them, so they left soon after. I continued walking around and found this old church.
Here is what the inscription above the door says:
This is the inside. Notice the blue marks on the columns, left over from frescoes. I couldn't actually get inside.
After my walk, I spent some time shopping and lounging around the hotel. The hotel staff had closed everything up, I guess because there weren't any more guests coming for a while after Bayram. Ismail had been speaking to me for two days in English, but for some reason he switched to Turkish this last day. As a result, I misunderstood him when he told me to catch a bus out of Mustafapasha to Urgup at 3:45. I thought he said he would take me. So at 4 o'clock I approached him and he explained what he had said earlier in English. Oy yoy yoy!
He quickly flagged down a passing car (not very many of these in a town of 600) with two army guys, one of whom spoke English. They very kindly took me all the way to the bus station. A couple hours later, I boarded the bus and started on the 16 hour bus ride back to Trabzon, which was made easier by talking to my seat companions. The first was a young woman studying to be an English teacher and the second a man studying to be a Special Ed teacher.
As I got off the bus in Trabzon, a man approached me asking if I am Nicole. Neslihan couldn't meet me at the bus station, so she arranged for someone to make sure I got on the shuttle bus that took me to her place. They fed me soup and unlimited amounts of lahmacun (la-h-ma-june), a Turkish style of pizza (kind of). There isn't any tomato sauce and no cheese, but it has meat, tomatoes, and other things on a thin dough. It's really good.
With food in my belly and my head as heavy as lead, I went home and crashed.
Aaaaah, to be home!
Some of the dwellings have been frozen and heated so many times that half the rock has fallen off, as you can see here. There were some places closer to the bottom that I peeked into, but there wasn't much there.
Asli and her family had a long drive ahead of them, so they left soon after. I continued walking around and found this old church.
Here is what the inscription above the door says:
I am a church of the most August Royal Couple Constantine and Helen. In the times of Sultan Ahmet entirely built, in times of Abdul Medjit I was adorned as befits me. And in the era when the renowned Paisios was Bishop through efforts and expenses by the public of Sinasos erected from its foundations 1729, repaired in 1850.
This is the inside. Notice the blue marks on the columns, left over from frescoes. I couldn't actually get inside.
After my walk, I spent some time shopping and lounging around the hotel. The hotel staff had closed everything up, I guess because there weren't any more guests coming for a while after Bayram. Ismail had been speaking to me for two days in English, but for some reason he switched to Turkish this last day. As a result, I misunderstood him when he told me to catch a bus out of Mustafapasha to Urgup at 3:45. I thought he said he would take me. So at 4 o'clock I approached him and he explained what he had said earlier in English. Oy yoy yoy!
He quickly flagged down a passing car (not very many of these in a town of 600) with two army guys, one of whom spoke English. They very kindly took me all the way to the bus station. A couple hours later, I boarded the bus and started on the 16 hour bus ride back to Trabzon, which was made easier by talking to my seat companions. The first was a young woman studying to be an English teacher and the second a man studying to be a Special Ed teacher.
As I got off the bus in Trabzon, a man approached me asking if I am Nicole. Neslihan couldn't meet me at the bus station, so she arranged for someone to make sure I got on the shuttle bus that took me to her place. They fed me soup and unlimited amounts of lahmacun (la-h-ma-june), a Turkish style of pizza (kind of). There isn't any tomato sauce and no cheese, but it has meat, tomatoes, and other things on a thin dough. It's really good.
With food in my belly and my head as heavy as lead, I went home and crashed.
Aaaaah, to be home!
posted by nicole @ 7:44 AM
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