Kapadokya!

Yesterday was action-packed. We started out by leaving our hotel in Kayseri and heading to the Kapadokya region of Türkiye, specifically to the towns of Nevsehir and Avanos, to tour the underground cities and tunnels! The tunnels were originally carved out from the volcanic rock by Hittites about 4,000 years ago, expanded upon into rooms and cities later by Byzantines and Roman-era Christians seeking to escape persecution around the 7-8th centuries, and later used by Seljuk Turks as an armory or place to store their weapons. The caves were not only an adventure, as we explored 4 of the 6 floors, but a much-needed respite from the heat! The tunnels and rooms stay temperate year-round, being cool in the summer and warm in the winter. 

After we explored the underground city in Kapadokya we stopped en route to lunch to get a fantastic panoramic view of the "rooftop chimneys" (one of the variety of rock formations native to the region). We then had a buffet-style lunch, perfect for a day of exertion and adventure, at Avanos Restaurant, before seeing the famous Red River and visiting a pottery workshop famous for its Red River clay ceramics. Brittany even volunteered to try making a bowl using an ancient Hittite method of wheel-throwing a bowl with a kickwheel device. After Brittany's demonstration all of us toured the workshop and even got to see the master artists at work! 

After the pottery workshop we went to a national park and saw a variety of fairy chimneys-some shaped like mushrooms or animals and some with multiple heads-and cave houses! Then we headed to the Goreme Open Air Museum to tour ancient cave churches and rectories and view their pigeon houses. Many of the churches still had their original red ochre paint motifs and decor while others were decorated in frescoes. Some even had graves in them!

After touring the churches some of the group members treated themselves to hand-churned Turkish ice cream (dondurma) before we began the 1+ hour drive back to Nuzhet Hotel in Kayseri. After a rest break we gathered again and made our way to the Iskender Elmacioglu Restaurant, a beautiful place offering up traditional Kayseri fare. We were joined by some of the sponsors of our program in Kayseri, successful businessmen and figureheads from the city. 

All in all, it was an exhausting and amazing day!