Cappadocia
It is not every day that you get to meet a real Fred Flinstone. Fred runs a restaurant in a cave in the Rose Valley in Cappadocia. We were wandering through the Rose and Red Valley admiring the homes built into the Fairy Chimneys when we happened upon the rock cafe in the strangest of places. Suddenly after serving us our coffee he “yabadabadooed” out of the cafe running down the rocks like a gazelle and abandoned us. We waited but no “Fred” so we left our money and eventually turning a corner caught sight of him miles away. I have the wonderful memory of him waving “goodbyeeeeee” in the distance. We climbed into homes and churches by way of a ladder. We visited rock churches. Each family (big families) built a church so this area has lots of churches, some with lovely paintings.
A chapel dedicated to St. Simeon (Simon), and a hermit’s shelter is built into one of the fairy chimneys with three heads. The entrance of the cell is decorated with crosses. Saint Simeon was living in seclusion near Aleppo in the 5th century, when rumours that he made miracles started to spread. People lived inside the chimneys and used a ladder to get in and out. In times of war and conflict they withdrew the ladder making it difficult for the raiders to capture them.
Fleeing from Roman persecution the Christians found the soft volcanic ground and built an enormous underground city of eleven floors with churches as a shelter for people and animals in times of war. Derinkuyu underground city is believed to have been built by the Persians.
