Carpets in Cappadocia

For my final post about our adventure last spring in Cappadocia I would like to tell you about a marvelous place.  It is a place where they make, display and sell (to those who can afford it) some of the loveliest carpets I have ever seen.  Ladies, who have learned carpet-making from their mothers, come to perfect their skills. They stay for a year (I believe), complete one carpet, and take a loom home with them when they leave so that they can continue earning money.  The wool and silk that they use is spun there. We even got the chance to see them harvesting the silk. They put the empty silkworm cocoons in hot water and them pick them up with this little broom.



Pulling the cocoons.

Once they are able to find an end they hook it to a machine and it pulls the thread out. That's not the best description, but it was pretty cool to see.

 

 

It was amazing to watch the women working on the carpets. Only the most talented are able to work with silk because it is so fine it requires both more skill and precision. The wool ones looked difficult to me, but the ladies were working like there was nothing to it.

 

 

After seeing the workers, we were led to a viewing room where they laid out various carpets for us to look at. They even encouraged the kids to get down and crawl around on the carpets.

 

 

 

 

There were so many other fabulous carpets, truly works of art, that I don't have pictures of. We are definitely going to have to go back...

 

 









Eating in Cappadocia

I love Turkish food, as is evident by my weight gain in the last 20 months. The bread, the spices, even the lamb (which I've never cared for before).  The food in Cappadocia was a little different than what we get here in Adana, but it was still yummy.

At our first stop, the underground city, we found these great snacks. They're spiral-cut potatoes on a skewer and they're fried up like potato chips. Simple, tasty, and just a little different for novelty's sake.

Later, we went to lunch at a restaurant in Goreme.

I can't seem to caption the pictures. :(  We started with the requisite bread. You know bread is good when Ben digs into it.  The boys were so excited that they were each able to get their own pizza...until it showed up with sliced tomatoes on top.  Lizzy got pasta. Keri got cigar borek (cheese wrapped in a very thin dough). Ben and I got testi kebap which is cooked in clay pots which they open at the table for you.  His was lamb. Mine was chicken. They both had tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms in them. It was all very good.

The great food continued for the next day and a half, but there's no more pictures. I really am going to miss Turkish food when we leave.

Pottery in Cappadocia

Turkey is filled with beautiful, hand-painted pottery in stunning colors and designs.



 

 

 

Ben actually prefers the designs that are less colorful. I believe they're Hittite designs, but I can't remember for sure. We bought a vase and plate similar to the pattern on the ones in the far right of this picture.

 

 

We were able to watch a potter at his wheel...which he spun with one leg while shaping the vase. It was pretty cool.

 

Then, he offered us a chance to try. Lizzy, Alex, and even Ben gave it a shot. They had fun and did a pretty good job.