Cappadocia lies on a high plateau in the centre of Turkey, but the landscape makes you feel as though you have somehow landed on an alien planet. Its weird "fairy castles" and "chimneys" look like giant toadstools or conical hats, and some of them look more than a little phallic. But "fairy castles" they are, according to all the tourist literature. The formations are the result of volcanic activity: a thick layer of ash has been compressed into soft white stone, then a layer of lava has become a cap of hard grey basalt. Over time, gullies have formed through erosion, leaving these tower-like structures behind. The landscape is rendered stranger still by human activity over at least three thousand years. Dwellings, churches and storehouses have been hollowed into the rock and underground cities form a warren beneath the earth, some of them nine storeys down. It was fascinating to tour one of these cities: reservoirs, ventilation systems, stables, kitchens and food stores, waste management and places for worship were all carved into the stone, along with great stone disks which were rolled into place to cut off the tunnels, blocking the cities from enemies and trapping them within a section of tunnel, effectively burying them alive.
Balloon rides are a popular way to view the landscape, and these add to the spectacle: on a busy day, you can see a hundred or so multi-coloured balloons rising from the stark white peaks into the vivid blue of the sky. We went on a hike through one of the valleys, with the strange white and pinkish peaks rising on either side, a truly surreal experience.
The town of Konye lies close by, famous as a centre of Dervish worship, and home to the great Dervish poet Mevlana, also known as Rumi. Here we had the opportunity to see a Whirling Dervish devotion, a strange ceremony and not at all what I had imagined. It is definitely not a dance of rapture or celebration, but a sombre and intense analogy of death. The tall hat represents the tombstone and the white clothing, the shroud. The whirling and gradual raising of the arms signifies the soul leaving the body. The whole performance is a memento mori. Accompanied by rhythmic traditional drum and lute, the performance is mesmerising.
2013 is winding to a close. Next week we will head home via Istanbul.
