Selime, Turkey, Wednesday 16th April

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Keith was out and about to buy bread when he saw about 300 children approaching. Would it be 300 “Money, money, bon bon, bon bon,” or “We are citizens”? Dressed in the school clothes of bright royal blue dresses with lace collars for girls, the same blue tunic smocks with grey pants for boys to 11 years. For older students to about 14 the uniform was navy jackets, ties, grey pants and white shirts for boys, and kilts with white blouses and jackets for girls. They were out with their teachers to clean up the town. There was plenty of scope for them and they could have filled their black rubbish bags twenty times over without making much difference. Keith went over and congratulated the teachers on their efforts and hoped they understood, despite them speaking very little English.
I was not feeling 100% so we opted for a quiet day in Selime. The town is spread along two kilometres of main road with an impressive town hall next to a square which has a café, two shops and an internet café. There are three other general stores, all very small, over the two kilometre stretch. Each house is separated from others by cultivated fields, and although there are many tractors around, we saw people ploughing with horses and riding donkeys. The river runs at the bottom of the valley behind the buildings and has crops of coppicing willows and other trees as well as wood lots of poplars, all along its banks. On the other side of the main road, the houses run back towards the walls of the gorge where, even now, the caves and dug out houses are used for storage and animal shelters. Many houses in the central village area are made of stone or mud brick, sometimes with concrete additions. More modern houses are concrete and there is a strange sprinkling of stately homes similar to our hotel, which, we were told, is 200 years old. Language here is reasonably difficult so we do not understand the history of this little town’s development although, naturally, I am intrigued.
The weekly market filled the vast concrete square. Vendors sold a wide range of fruit and vegetables, clothing and hardware items. We bought super glue and sewing thread and, since they were not touristy items, the vendor checked, with gestures, that I knew what the thread was for.
We relaxed as we strolled along the child free river banks, and tried to catch a glimpse of the frogs that we startled into leaping into the water. We had a very relaxing picnic lunch on the riverbank then walked further towards the end of the village. Some men were fishing, throwing a circular weighted net in by hand and drawing it out again after only a few seconds. Eventually we reached an area with a billabong where the frog calls were deafening. The water was crystal clear and we were easily able to distinguish three different looking types of frog. It was like stepping into a nature program. The inflation of the sacs to make the noise was obvious and the calls were loud and long. There would have been nearly a hundred quite large frogs at an amphibian version of the bachelors and spinsters ball. Many of them appeared to be intoxicated with their movements and mating was clumsy and unsubtle. It was a free for all so we can only imagine that the different appearance had to do with age rather than species or gender.
For a complete change of pace we visited the dug out Christian cathedral and monastery that are high in the rocks above the road. The informative sign was in English but we were not able to follow it. Instead, we were guided by the very friendly ticket seller who gave us directions, the main one of which was keep to the right. It was very exciting entering the chambers cut into the rocks with perfectly arched ceilings and alcoves all showing each mark of the workmen’s tools. The floors all seemed to have the same circular holes with a little channel leading to them. Black grease lined many ceilings. Entering a tunnel, we headed up hill and emerged at a landing. We took photos and then headed down. We were impressed but hadn’t seen any part with columns. Looking further, we came upon chambers being used as animal shelters by the people living in the stone and mud houses which back onto the rock walls. We checked the sign again and sought advice, and thank goodness we did. Keeping to the right after the tunnel and the terrace, we walked up a narrow passage and then climbed stairs leading from a chamber up through the interior of the hill. We emerged much higher up at a terrace with the grand cathedral and other buildings leading from it. The cathedral had carved out columns dividing the church into three spaces. It was very grand and had some frescoes in the arches. Tombs were cut into the floor in some side chambers and once again, there were the circular holes with the channels.

Going through a short tunnel into a very dark room, Keith found a ladder leading up to some worn stairs with very steep, deep steps. They led up through almost vertical tunnels with rooms opening out at various stages. He climbed so high that when he returned, his legs were shaking. Meanwhile I contemplated the many carved holes that I knew to be pigeon lofts. When people lived there, pigeons were a valuable source of food and their droppings were collected and used as fertiliser on the fields.
The ticket seller was studying English and was happy to talk to us. He said that people, including his great grandparents, had lived in the cathedral and monastery and surrounding rock residences until the 1950s. The government encouraged people to leave, partly because of the poor hygiene with up to ten families sharing a toilet, and maybe because there was an increased awareness of preserving national culture and treasures at that time. The round holes and the blackened ceilings dated from residential use, when a fire would be lit in the hole and a flat metal plate would be placed on top to cook traditional Turkish bread on.
Across the road, we saw the impressive tomb of Selime Sultan, surrounded by a walled cemetery. This district is interesting because it was an area where Christians have found sanctuary and where St Gregory and St Basil were leaders in Christian thinking, but is now an Islamic region. The churches are difficult to reach, being in walled valleys, and they were not affected by the iconoclastic movement (when the Romans adopted Christianity and brought eastern features, in particular not having icons). The Seljuk’s were tolerant of different religions and the Arab invasion did not impact on this region. It was only in the 20th century, with the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, that the Christian populations disintegrated and the churches were no longer used and some of them were defaced.
The next village to Selime was only across the river so we visited and climbed a ‘Magic Pudding’ kind of hill where no matter how sure you were that you were about to reach the top, another section would always appear. The views across the valley were spectacular with cones of tuff remaining after softer material had been eroded away. On the hill we were on there were some of the famous fairy chimneys which have a hard tuff section protecting a column of softer material below. It was easy to see why the edge of Selime was chosen for some of the scenes in Star Wars.
Returning to our side of the river and the restaurant, we were welcomed and plied with tea in the sunshine outside. We ate an early dinner and by the time we walked home, a high wind and dust storm were raging up the valley. It was almost impossible to make headway, particularly with the amount of grit in the air. Luckily I had my scarf from Egypt with me, and since it is see through, I was able to completely cover my head. Keith relied on his glasses for some protection.
Eventually we dashed into the calm of our stately home’s entry hall. Later I put my new thread to good use and set about remaking the top of my new skirt to fit me better. Keith worked on the blog and emails with the boys letting him use the hotel’s computer.

On various prominent clifftops Turkish flags have been painted.