After another breakfast (which is starting to be a bit routine now) at the hotel, we packed for the potential day ahead and waited to see if the taxi driver would actually show up. Five minutes ahead of our agreed time, the driver called to make sure he was at the right place!
We went out to meet him and clarified that we were only spending 100 TL (Turkish Lira) and gave him a list of places that Tammy had made - he agreed and off we went.
He drove us to a couple stops and let us out for pictures, then took us to another open air museum in Zelve and agreed to just wait while we walked through the museum.
A couple pics of Fairy Chimneys
Outside of the Zelve Open Air Museum
A mill stone room - really make the term “another day at the old grind” hit home
We’ve seen these niches all over the valley area and heard that they were made for pigeons. For several days we wondered why the Turkish (or pre-Turkish) would have spent that effort for pigeons - the taxi driver finally told us...to get fertilizer for the gardens.
A “winery” - grapes and human stompers go in the opening, juice comes out the little hole in the lower left which is then fermented.
A lizard tourist - several around in the rocks
A mosque carved into the hills and added on to later
Then the truth that we suspected came out about our thrifty tour guide. Our next stop was in the town of Avanos (which was the driver’s wife‘s home town). The town is famous for its clay which is unique in the world and is used for fine pottery, so we thought we may be seeing an example of that. Instead we pulled into a building and were greeted by a couple people that were...selling carpets! They did show us some of techniques and materials used, but ultimately we had to wiggle out of a sales pitch again :-/.
Next he drove us through a yard of bricks/blocks made from clay - yard after yard of it. Then stopped at another building...a pottery showroom. While a little disenchanting, the tour was very informative and the 8th generation owner showed us everything in great detail. Then he had one of the potters turn some clay on an antique “kick wheel”. When he was done, they gave Don a turn!
We looked at all the incredible pottery and found one dish similar to this that needed to come home with us. After a bit of negotiating we were the proud owners of some authentic Avanos pottery :-). We assume that the driver gets some sort of kick back too...
After one other unsanctioned stop at a jewelry shop (which we made quick work of), we were back to the sightseeing tour.
Our tribute to the famed Pigeon Valley
The last stop was at “a friends restaurant” - no big surprise. We had a dish popular in Cappadocia called “Testi Kabab” that they cook for hours in a sealed clay vase that is served flaming, then broken open at your table. It was both theatrical and delicious!
A view from the restaurant after dark
While the day of being delivered to vendors wasn’t our ideal tour itinerary, we chose to embrace it as a part of the culture and experience and had a good time, met nice people, got plenty of tea/coffee and came out with a beautiful piece of pottery to remember our trip with!
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