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We're ready for another day of sightseeing on the bus!
This is a great photo showing the oldest and newest homes in Ankara today. As of now, it is illegal for Ankara citizens to live in the homes in the bottom part of the picture, as it is very unsafe with all the earthquakes and high winds in the area. Instead of just kicking the citizens out of their homes, the government seizes and destroys the homes and sell the land to construction companies to build flats (at the top of the hill). When they are finished, the displaced people get a spot in these buildings for a reduced rate; other spots are filled with people who have never owned a home before, and the rest are given to the companies to sell for profit. The result is more access to housing, more jobs in the areas, and lower rates of injuries from collapsing homes!
This region of Turkey is known for their ancient extinct volcanoes, so volcanic rock is very common. This quarry on the way to Cappadocia is basalt. The color is pretty interesting with the greenish-gray.
Turskish farmers also grow canola plants here, the plant used to make the oil we use in salad dressing and cooking. Apparently it is created from the seeds inside the yellow flower.
We made it to Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire beginning around 1600BC and ending mysteriously around 1100BC. All of the sites here were absolutely breathtaking, even if you are not into the history of it all.
This man, who sold most of us some sort of necklace, bowl, paperweight, or stone tablet, is engraving some of the figures carved into the walls of the open air temple (two photos down). The work these people do in this area is absolutely gorgeous and all hand crafted one knife stroke at a time.
King Hatoshile I of the Hittites sponsored the building of the open air temple just a few hundred yards from the ancient city center of Hattusa. Since almost all the buildings and fortified walls were built mostly from sun-dried mud brick, none of them have survived the 3100 years since the Hittites' fall. Across the whole site, only the stone foundations remain.
Though it is a bit hard to see with the shadows, there is a carving of two of the main gods of the Hittite world. The man on the left with the tall pointed hat was Teshup, the equivalent of Zeus of Greece. The woman across from him is the sun goddess names Hippatu. You can faintly see that she is standing on a leopard, a sign of strength for female goddess and rather common during this time period.
This carving at the open air temple is of the twelve gods of the underworld, which is very common of most ancient peoples before the birth of Christ. In fact, in Muslim and Christian culture the number 12 is significant in determining holidays and the number of significant figures, etc. Plus, the Hittites would borrow the names of other group's gods and goddesses after they conquered them, meaning they had 8-12 names for the same figure.
So sorry about the poor quality of this photo, but you can still see a few of the major details. Here, the two main gods' son, Shuluma, is holding King Todalya IV around his shoulders and grabbing his wrist as if to point him in the right direction. The Hittites were an incredibly religious people, as seen with over 30 temples in the town that has a circumference of only 4.5 miles. Also, their king and queen were the head priest and nun for the empire, so they were rarely not present as religious ceremonies throughtout the year, even if a military expedition was occuring.
Heidi and Michalis bought us all a wonderful picnic of bread, cheese, chips, cookies, fruit, meat, and all the fixings. After filling our bellies, this was the result (we loved it so much, expect some more later on).
This is a reconstruction of what the Hittite walls could have looked like in 1200 BC. These guesses were based on a model found on the site, showing a tower with the round arches on top. Now imagine these for 4.5 miles, and you get quite a city.
Here lies the foundation of the Great Temple in the center of the lower town (the entire city is built on the side of a mountain). It was here where animal sacrifices were made to the gods, regular town worship was held, and where special ceremonies attended by the king and queen were held. There seem to be many, many rooms surrounding a small open courtyard on the inside.
These terra cotta pots rest in the temple's depot, or storage facility. Here, most of the temple's and city's wine and beer was stored here in these jugs and sold accordingly.
These incredibly beautiful photos show the foundations of what used to be either temples or homes built on the hillside. Most literature says these perfectly square foundations were for temples, as homes likely would not have have a foundation out of the ground like these.
Taken from the highest point of the city on the northern side, this picture shows what is left of the king and queen's palace directly to the right of the massive boulder. I hope you can truely see how high up this is and how far we could see down the slope, which is certainly beneficial for the guards of the city.
There are three main gates in the city, each with guards standing watch in towers and on ground level. In the evenings, the city guards would seal the entrances to prevent invasion and only those guards could unseal them in the morning. This particular gate was known as the Lion's Gate (for obvious reasons), symbolically created to protect the city.
This gate was the doorway into a tunnel leading to the outer wall of the city on the north side. It is unclear why this tunnel was made, as no others exist on the property, though one possible reason is for a relgious ceremony, as this does rest on the highest part of the city.
Here we have the Sphinx Gate, another of the gates symbolically carved out to fend off invader, both spiritually and physically (these sphinx have been remade and the originals are displayed in a museum in Ankara.
The last of these gates is the Warrior's Gate, showing the strength of the Hittite soldiers in battle and at home.
And all of us giving thanks to our own king and queen, Michalis and Heidi.
Finally in Cappadocia, these cliffs of volcanic ash essentially surround one side of the city. Though they are hard to see, there are little homes carved into the soft rock where locals used to live (until it became illegal about 60 years ago).
What a goregous view! This tan colored rock formation is the same volcanic rock as the previous photo, except the vertical strips in the wall and the narrow shoots seemingly coming out of the ground. This is all caused by rain and wind erosion of the soft volcanic rock, such a pleasure to see!
Us in front of this beautiful formation.
A panoramic shot of rock formations and the city of Cappadocia. A great cap to an awesome day.
The small town of Urgup is now one of the centers of the restoration and reformation of old cave dwellings. Now, they're turning these old caves into luxury hotels (for a pretty penny I'm sure) and local housing.
These formations are called "fairy chimneys," the chimney coming from the shape and the fairy as local Urgup legend says these chimneys come alive at night and play tricks on the local people. They are made after volcanic eruptions that occured about 20 million years ago. As the ash and lava pile up (and boulders explode from the volcanoes creating the caps), the wind and rain eat away at the rock, creating these formations.
And now for the HIGHLIGHTS!
Adriana- "Heidi, so you have any antacid?"
Heidi- "Acid?!?!"
Cue sudden laughter...
We stopped at a market to buy food for a picnic lunch. Heidi shouts at Michalis, "I need money!" I say, "Show her the money!"
This turtle (we called him Apple) was literally the fastest turtle I had ever seen. The reason why? We think he is the Paul Revere of turtles, yelling, "the Americans are coming!"
And big thanks to Amy for her presentation about the Hittites at the Great Temple!
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