Cappadocia Wednesday Part One

Woke up at 6:00am to the sound of dozens of hot air balloons floating right by our hotel! Dave, Vince, and went to the roof to check out the views and get some pictures. There must have been low winds today as the balloons were moving very very slow (unlike our ride yesterday which covered a satisfying 15 miles or so).

After our hotel's little breakfast buffet we went to the Göreme Open Air Museums which is about 1 mile from our hotel. It's a collection of about a dozen cave churches used by Orthodox Christian monks. They were carved and used between 900 and 1200 AD. There are some amazing paintings of saints and the life of Christ, however, we were not able to take pictures inside. We did get a few of areas that weren't under the picture restriction. There are various types of paintings there - crosses and patterns directly on the walls usually in red ochre and also paintings of figures on a plaster that is applied to the walls first (usually the more sophisticated art). The artwork made a lot of reference to Saint Basil, Saint Gregory, and Saint George (plenty of dragon slaying pictures). Bonus to anyone that knows why Saint Basil was really important to these people.

Worth noting - it's really noticeable that almost all exposed faces in the art has been scratched off. Not exactly sure what happened in these specific churches but there are three different reasons this was done:
1) other Christians during other periods when the church itself outlawed or discouraged using images (read: iconoclast controversy)
2) later Muslims once the area was under the Ottoman Turk empire who forbid any human image in religious pictures
3) other locals that were frightened by 'the evil eye' which btw is why the blue eye image is so popular here - to ward off the chance of someone being jealous of and stealing from you (pretty understandable considering how this area continuously was raided over the centuries by passing armies).

Thankfully some of the paintings have been protected and preserved (some by many layers of pigeon poo) so we can view them today.

Sorry about all the history stuff! It's super interesting to us and important to be able to explain what makes each site relevant.

We had a quick lunch (crepes, sandwich, and milkshakes). Dave and Vince headed out on a three hour hike and Amy headed back to the hotel with Diana and Charley. Team DC is headed back to Istanbul today and Munich, Germany early tomorrow. What a treat to travel with them!! We are reminded daily why they are our good friends (not just because they are weird like us but that's part of it).

Safe Travels, My Friends...see you in a few weeks!!!