Walking with Nevzat Photos

The door on the left is to a chapel, on the right, a church.

Inside the church

The yellowis bit is part of a cross, now damaged, on the ceiling. It's surrounded by medallions and what appear to be twisted vines.

The church door.

Nevzat showed me where his family has land, where he used to ride on the thresher when he was a kid because it was fun. This little church is on one of those plots. You can still tell where fruit s and vegetables were planted on the now relatively abandoned land. He said that when his grandparents were alive, the church was intact, therefore the interior wasn't exposed as it is now. One day, part of the church fell down. They cleared the rocks from the church wall, and continued farming. Unfortunately, there are no photos of the undamaged church.
If you look carefully, you can see that the small windows are blocked. Clever little birds made their mud nests in them, with a little entry tunnel.

I refused to climb into this chapel. To be precise, my knees refused. Nevzat found toe-holes and made it up the slope without trouble. Most Turkish names mean something; rain, freedom, warrior... I think in the remote past, Nevzat meant slightly crazy goat.

I asked how the monks managed to get up the hill. Apparently, it was much easier these many centuries ago because the ground level has sunk considerably.

Nevzat took this picture. I can't take credit for it.

Rock formations

The lower floor was used for bees.

In a chapel

A chapel dome

I can't tell you the names of the little churches and chapels because they have none.

A house

Once a chapel, then a dove cote, now eroded.

Looking towards Uchisar

A four-story dove cote in Pigeon Valley