2013-09-23
We woke up in our village home with the smell of Turkish
French Toast. Breakfast was ground up Poppy seeds, French Toast , cheese and
olives all from the farm. (They eat a spoon full of Poppy Seeds for good
health). We said good bye to our
wonderful hosts. The lady walked with our bus throwing water on the side. This
is an ancient tradition for saying happy journey: like may you find water at your destination. It
was very warm and sweet.
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| Village Home |
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| Grandma at the Village |
We drove north and our destination was Cappadocia. It was
about 150 miles through the varied terrain.
We drove through the Taurus Mountains, first through the vegetable farms
which gave way to wheat, lentils and pumpkin farms. There is a vast
agricultural economy in Turkey and they are the major exporters of all sorts of
food items.
Our first stop was the city of Konya. It has been a booming
town since antiquity. Many biblical references and sights are in this area.
But, the main importance of this town is the tomb of the Sufi Saint Rumi.
During 1200AD, when this part of the world was in wars and torn with famine and
violence Rumi was the voice of love, peace and connectivity of all. He preached
here and died here. His tomb and the museum are well preserved and thousands of
devotees come here for praying .
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| Rumi Devotees |
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| Rumi Museum |
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| Colorful Building |
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| Rumi Tomb |
After Konya, we drove further north on parts of the silk
road. Turkey has been at the cross road since ancient times. Camel caravans of
merchants travelled between China, India and Europe, trading spices, silk and
china. Around 1000 AD the emperors had
established the Sarays (resting place for the Caravans) at the distances
covered by the camel caravan in a day.
We visited one of the Saray and I was surprised by the size and
durability of the structure. Everyday hundreds
of people and animals took night shelter .
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| Caravan Saray |
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| Caravan Saray |
Our journey north brought us to the volcanic land of
Cappadocia. Three volcanoes have given this land a unique landscape and the
natural caves formed have sheltered humans for 100,000 or more years. Humans
lived here in caves during prehistoric times and settled and farmed around here
since then. I will report more on this tomorrow but the place does look
magical.
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| Volcanic Mountains |
It is interesting to see the similarities between India and Turkey.
The food, the language and the warmth is very familiar. But, again , the
trade routes have been established for thousands of years and traders brought
cultural exchanges in addition to the goods.
As Rumi said, “ we are all connected in more ways than we
realize” and as scientists we know that
we live on a tiny blue planet and share a common history with everything that
is.
Good night….
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