Day 13 - Ürgüp

05.28.2011

Personal:

- Kaymakli underground cave dwellings that were used for protection from invasions and as communities and homes until the 1950s

- Uҫhisar Kalesi – most of us climbed to the top of this castle, which seemed like the highest point in Cappadocia

- Lunch in a modern Karavansaray

- Pottery/Ceramics demonstration (also in a structure carved into the rock)

- Downtown Ürgüp

- Gym – one treadmill, one bike, and one total fitness machine haha I miss MAC/Forrest Fitness Center

- Dinner buffet at hotel

- Whirling Dervishes ceremony – demonstration of Sufism (outlawed religious order) in a 1259 Karavansaray with an outdoor lightshow of the history of Cappadocia; ҫay after the ceremony

Research:

- Sufi orders were outlawed in 1925 and the ceremony became a spectator sport; research the history of Sufi politics