I knew we were getting close to Cappadocia when there started to be houses carved into the walls of the rock alongside the road. Soon, we found the Gumusler monastery, apparently in use from the 11th century onwards. It is well known for its church and the frescoes contained within. It was also just a plain neat complex to see.
This carving into the rock is literally right alongside the road.
It is based around an interior courtyard, presently full of various pits that had specific uses when this was in operation. One, for example, was a communication channel to speak with those in rooms under the surface.
The artists managed to pull off some impressive frescoes in the church.
The scoring of the rock that was done to be able to apply plaster and paint was intricate as well. This scoring formed a very cool effect that I liked even a bit more than the flat paintings.
Upstairs we found some more paintings, these were more rudimentary and had animals as their subjects.
Finally, a bit spookily, there was this open grave that had a handful of very clean, very human bones inside of it. One definitely looks like a femur. Weird.
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