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Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - A Day With Bernd
Benny met Bernd in the market. Bernd is about our age and he came to Cappadocia from Germany. Five years ago, following eleven years of traveling in Cappadocia, he finally decided to settle in Goreme. Together with his beautiful partner, Nilgun he manages the Tabiat Pension.
Nilgun used to work for an aircraft company. She now spends her time between managing the pension and pursuing her artistic passion, sculpting.
We regretted not staying at their beautiful pension. It was not mentioned in our travel guide.
The day started with a delicious breakfast at the pension. Probably the best breakfast we ate in Turkey so far, with vegetables, selection of cheeses, yogurt, egg, bread, honey, cherry marmalade, sesame sauce, walnuts tea and coffee.
Before going on our walking tour Bernd answers some of our questions and gave us a general background about the people of Turkey. Eighty million people live in Turkey and it is one of the seven countries of the world that can feed its population with its own produce. You can find in Turkey the highest educated people next to a farmer riding a donkey who does not read or write.
Even though the surroundings around them is changing, the Turks are a nomad society. Many of them still live as they did when they were nomads.
In 1923 Ataturk replaced the Islamic rule with Swiss-based civil code. During that time there was also a population exchange. The Greeks in Cappadocia were moved out and Turks from Greece moved to their homes. A sad story for both nations.
How is it possible that when the surroundings is changing, the Turks did not change into a settlement society?
Bernd theory is that the reason is the family structure which is very strong and set in Turkey. The older makes the decisions for the younger. Families are 200-300 people. If somebody tries to change, the family will punish him. That is how the society is regulated. The family is your social security and at the same times your prison. There is no choice or discussion.
Because the Turks in Cappadocia still have the nomad mentality, they have nothing in their homes. They sit and sleep on the floor. No decorations in their houses. The carpet is your home and that is the reason that carpets are so important here. Inside your home you do whatever you want, the outside belongs to everyone. You are welcome to pick up apples and grapes from the fields. They have so much produce in the fields, they cannot pick up everything. They use squash only for the seeds, and throw the pulp away.
His neighbor asked Bernd: “why do you grow flowers, you should grow vegetables”.
In a nomadic society women are the producers and men are the traders. Information is passed in teahouses. Time is not important.
They eat to be full. Eating is not for pleasure. They eat to fill up the stomach. They eat a lot of bread and noodle with oil.
When you ask a Turk: “How was the food?” they will answer: “It filled me up”. A very simple structure, a basic simple menu. The soil is so fertile here, but they have only five kinds of vegetables. At the bakery, there is only one kind of bread. There is plenty of milk, but only one kind of simple goat cheese.
They are nomadic in culture, but on the other hand, they do not move. When they visit somebody, they would say: “I am going to sit”. When they stay at their home, they say: “? sit in the house”.
There are rules in Turkey, but nobody follow them. A nomadic society uses what they have without thinking about the future. There used to be many oak trees in the area. There is none today. All was used for construction or fire. People use whatever material is available. The locals even burn plastic bottles.
We started walking up the street. Benny and ? walked in this street few times before but had no idea what was behind the caves. We walked into hidden churches, a mill-house, old caves that were used as the laundry house, we passed Roman graves. There were pigeon holes everywhere.
Houses have flat roof to dry vegetable and hang laundry. One wall in the house is heavier than the other, depends on the direction of the sun. Stronger stones were used around the doors. The animals are kept downstairs. Upstairs, is the summer room? Notice the head of the animal over the door, to keep the ghosts out. We saw a local man carrying out wagon full of animal manure out of the cave house.
On the way we saw a sign: For sale – 7 room cave.
Through Bernd stories, we relived history. We walked into churches from fifth century to the year 1200 AD.
In the mill house Bernd told us that the stone is upright and not horizontal. It was easier for the donkey to turn, but it took much longer. Time has a different value in this part of the country.
We stopped at the laundry room where the women used to do laundry. For many of the women it was the only chance to get out of the house. It was also an opportunity for young girls to show themselves. Young men waited outside to look at the young maids.
We passed a church that before 1923 was a Greek church and is now being used as a mosque. It is probably from the 8th century.
The Turks only arrived to the area in 1071 from Mongolia. Brend said that 80% of the questions about Cappadocia can be answered with one simple answer: pigeons.
We walked into other churches that were used by Hermits. They were usually twenty hermits in one church. That is the reason that there are so many around.
The last church was Yusuf Koch, where we watched beautiful frescos. The walls and ceiling are covered with painting of saints; many of them are holding books. The paintings are all in natural colors: reddish brown, yellow, bluish-green, black and white. Bernd told us that the blue was a very expensive paint; it was made of lapis that was brought from North Afghanistan. Paint making was an art and a secret. Some people specialized in paint making. The artists signed name next to the painting. Fresco mean fresh. The wall was coated with white clay and while it was still fresh, the painting was put on.
We ended the day with a visit to a family where we were served with Iran, Yogurt mixed with water. Very refreshing and tasty.
They used to say that Cappadocia was the one place where you can feel close to God. Brend also said that the stones talk to us and it is up to us to listen. Bernd also said that one lifetime is not enough to know Cappadocia. He is very passionate about Cappadocia. It was the most interesting day that we had in Turkey since we landed here three weeks ago.
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