Fairy Castles and Hot Air Balloons: Cappadocia, Day 2

Amazing experience. If you ever get a chance to go on a hot air balloon ride, take it.

There are no words to describe just how incredibly cool this was. So I’m not going to try.

And just know that inside this:

is a lot of this — with the frescos in varying conditions from place to place. All very beautiful; thousands of years old; and layered with legacy and meaning. These spots didn’t become preserved until fairly recently; the folks that moved in, after the Christians, were Muslims, and scratched out the eyes of the saints and Christ figures when they moved in, to keep from having people watching them, and because representations of human figures are not OK. But they left the rest; representations of St. George slaying the dragon; stories of Joseph and Abraham and Moses; and of course, of Jesus Christ.

And of course, there was the whole story of the tranvestite saint…who knew? And I had 8 years of Catholic school, too…

And there were the usual opportunities for shopping:

Given the overall, ahem, “shape” of the natural environment, it’s no wonder that there is apparently a very strong market for this stuff, below, whatever it truly is (turkish delite? some cardomon spice? I have no idea). There’s a lot of subliminal environmental messaging going on, and random shops like this, coupled with those interestingly shaped volcanic rocks certainly helped me to better understand the, ahem, strong masculinity expressed within Turkish culture:

Cappadocia is a fascinating place to visit. Lots of good red wine; friendly folks; and interesting sights. And, even when it snows, the weather is fine.

~ by mimi on July 24, 2008.