European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 4, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Women in Gore me weave a carpet Turkey is famous for its handmade Wooten carpets. New Day turks Call these volcanic Rock formations Quot fairy chimneys nowadays Board the first of three coaches that in 16 hours will land me in the Middle of the country in Central Anatolia. My destination is the town of Dreme in the Region called Cappadocia a name that appears in the Bible but not on the map. The Day before 1 left new York an English Friend who has travelled widely in these parts said that if i were going anyplace in Turkey it had to be Cappadocia. He described a surreal sounding landscape of weird volcanic Rock formations inhabited by troglodytes and a network of underground cities dug out by byzantine christians in the fifth and sixth centuries that could sustain tens of thousands of inhabitants enduring the latest siege by whomever. Unable to visualize this terrain i resolved to Check it out. July 2 walking through the Small town of Gore me trying to avoid Donkey carts of Hay being driven by peasant women with scarves and shawls covering their hair and sometimes their whole Heads save their eyes which they Avert from my own. Later i find out Why i carry the curse of the evil Blue Eye. In front of the mosque where the afternoon prayer blares from speakers mounted on the minarets men Bathe their feet at a Fountain. These Odd blobs among the one Story Rock buildings these must be the fairy chimneys Quot two to three Story tall Rock Mounds shaped like drip castles mushroom stems Phalli with Cave Homes carved out of them. And the Little Valley out in Back of the pension with Hillocks resembling custard coloured snowdrifts or hardened Sand dunes also showing evidence of one time habitation they would be the volcanic Rock called no wonder they Call Cappadocia the magic Valley it s like being in a hallucination that s still there after you blink. I Force myself to rally from an after dinner Nap and catch up with the crowd from the pension that has split for the disco in Urup the nearby town that is the tourism capital of Cappadocia. Shortly after Midnight the do clears the dance floor a carpet is spread out the crowd clusters around it. _ a Middle age belly dancer in glitzy Gauzy White harem gear keeping time on Finger cymbals to Eastern music with a modern drum machine Backbeat emerges from the wings and takes Over the room with the bearing of a drop dead diva demanding attention and approval and earning it. She balances a Cane horizontally across her breasts and another across her belly dancing up acid Down while holding them in position. The audience of turks and in the know tourists hoots and hollers accenting this seasoned entertainer s overtures with k. Percussive applause. I party the next couple of hours away with a couple of Young danish women a couple of american women and a slew of turkish men who have no cultural compunction about dancing with others of the same gender. As the night winds Down our group of a half dozen is sitting around listening to one of the turkish a men go on and on about wanting to kill and being willing to die. It seems Clear that if neither Opportunity presents itself he would gladly Settle for fighting or fornication. Since i am not the danish woman he s targeted concerning the latter i become the object of his intentions regarding the former. I decide to move first thing the next morning this maniac is the manager of the pension i m staying in. Now i was on my own in Cappadocia having jettisoned myself from the orbit of the group i d been figuring would provide me with contacts and companionship. Resolutely and probably unwisely one in Gore me. This one Cost $4 a night. Resisting the option of taking a tour instead i thrash around More or less senseless of direction for a couple of Days sightseeing shopping for carpets becoming quite turned around in one of the area s out of this world valleys on a Day of Indiana Jones bushwhacking Complete with Rock tunnels caves snakes lizards weird Birds slip slide Cliff faces and a bog of mud that wanted to suck me Down like Quicksand. I d eluded the madman but Cappadocia was leaving a sour taste in my Mouth. A july 5 rescued from this Daze by a Batch of australians and a gentler sort of turkish Man. Spend the night in a fairy Chimney pension $4making it official i am a troglodyte. The tuna pension is operated by an australian woman and a turkish family. When i arrive 10 Twenty something aussies Are in residence All planning to Light out the next morning along with a couple of Young danish women for an overnight camping trip in the Lohara Valley. The tour Leader is a 28-year-old Turk named Ali. I sign on Natch. Fed by a River that flows from the snowfall at the peaks of the nearby volcanic mountains somehow this trip turned into a geologist s grand tour the Lohara Valley would be a Fine location for a filmmaker scouting for Paradise. Enormous poplars Shade the riverbed where children play in swimming holes and Village women gather jugs of water. Shepherds Graze their herds on the Grassy slopes and peasant Farmers cultivate modest plots in the Flats. A Trail wends comfortably through the Crevasse the Walls of which Are practically honeycombed with caves and churches dug and decorated with frescoes by byzantine monks from the fourth through 13th centuries. July 11 after several Days of hiking a couple of late night parties and a12-hour overnight bus ride i m pooped by the time i get to Istanbul. Not in the mood for shopping or sightseeing the main activities. Hit a couple of evening concerts Laurie Anderson s Boring Here too pay some brute to slap me around like a piece of meat in a steamy turkish Bath. Call an american woman i d met in the disco in Urup the week before. She s kind enough to agree to meet me for dinner give me the Lowdown on what it s like living in this complicated country. Turns out she was born in the Bronx raised in Queens and was two years behind me at Fordham. How embarrassing. Had to go All the Way to the Middle of Turkey to find a Date for Homecoming. November 4, 1993 stripes Magazine 5
