CAPPADOCIA DAY 1: LUNCH AND GALIP POTTERY DEMONSTRATION

Our lunch was in a fairy chimney, presented by a family who runs a restaurant there.  Our guide explained that the government outlawed living in most of the chimneys for various reasons -- they are dangerous and can cave in, the area is a UNESCO Worldwide Cultural Site to be preserved, and perhaps they want people to modernize by moving into modern housing in towns.  So this was an opportunity to see how people lived in the chimneys.

This particular family had lived in the chimney complex and had had their restaurant there.  The family was forced to move out, but still runs the restaurant.  

I was first interested to see that the chimneys, which appear to contain the dwellings inside, actually provide for outdoor spaces and gardens. 

This was our walk into the restaurant between the chimneys.

This is the chimney hole for cooking inside the tower. 

An oven. 

Homes in the fairy chimneys are easy to build, since it is easy to carve into the soft tuffa stone; if you want storage space, just carve it out of the wall!  

 
Our dining room. 

We had a tour and demonstration of Galip Pottery, where the artist and his wife – really, both of them artists – showed us their pottery wheel and described the various techniques for different pottery styles.  They had samples of Byzantine and Ottoman designs, as well as more modern pieces.