Two museums open to the air and to exploration

Amazingly enough, we were back from the balloon ride at 9am and still had a full day of attractions in front of us. On tap for the midday were a couple of open air museums.

First up was the Zelve Open Air Museum of Ruins. This was a mind-boggling set of three valleys, were previous inhabitants had carved dwellings out of the rocks themselves. Amazingly, it was an active habitation under the 1950s when the government decided it was too fragile and too risky for people to continue living there. It has now been opened as a museum where visitors can explore the houses and other buildings used for the better part of the last millennium.

We set out on some adventures.

We found one house that had a clear chimney flute for the kitchen. It was also clear that it would have been rather annoying to live here, as the soot from the cooking had accumulated into a black dust all over the walls. Finally, there was evidence of the danger in these rocks when we saw how thin the floor was in one room.

In the back of another house there was a stairwell into the darkness. Using only the puny little light on my camera flash, I ventured into the nothingness. It turned out to be a tunnel that connected up with the valley next door! A shortcut!

There was also a very neat little window into the valley I had just left, from way up high.

Returning to whence I came, I was afforded a much bigger view over the valley. And a great opportunity to team up with Jenika and Liz for some whole body shadow puppets.

What a cool museum.

After lunch, we headed south to the Goreme Open Air Museum. The more famous of the two, this was known for the quality of its rock churches and, in particular, their frescoes.

Though the quality of the buildings and paintings was higher, I found it less interesting. It seemed like a very well-trod complex and had paved sidewalks every place. Not much of a chance of the feeling of discovery, here. That said, there were some neatly done buildings and interiors. One interesting fresco had a painting of a hermaphroditic saint, another of a saint fighting a very large serpent. No photos allowed of frescoes, to reduce damage, so we're left with these rocks.