(TJ) After another long bus trip we arrived in Cappadocia and its strange landscapes. The region is known mainly for cave dwellings and a few underground cities. We stayed at a hostel that was built right in to a cave. The first day we went to the open air museum which houses the remains of many old churches/monasteries founded by Christians generally between 11th and 13th century AD, they still have some early Christian art (some very primitive, I could of done better) on some of the better preserved chapels.
(Michelle) Upon entering Goreme, we jokingly thought that the idea for the landscape of the original Star Wars movie must have come from here, and we heard later that that may actually be the case. We kept one eye open for the sand people just to be safe. In the open air museum cave churches, along with the primitive art (see photo of TJ above in front of the art he thinks he can beat), there
was some unbelievably beautiful cave art as well. The funny part though was that for every person painted on the walls, the eyes were scratched out. We surmised that maybe once Christianity wasn’t so popular anymore in this region, somebody decided that would be a funny way to vandalize the Christian art.
From the pool on the roof of our cave hostel, we were introduced for the first time to the prayer call. Goreme is a small enough town that there is only one mosque announcing the prayer call over the town’s P.A. system. It is definitely loud enough to stop you in your tracks the first time you hear it. We looked around, but we didn’t see much reaction from the locals, although I am not sure what reaction to even expect.
(TJ) After another long bus trip we arrived in Cappadocia and its strange landscapes. The region is known mainly for cave dwellings and a few underground cities. We stayed at a hostel that was built right in to a cave. The first day we went to the open air museum which houses the remains of many old churches/monasteries founded by Christians generally between 11th and 13th century AD, they still have some early Christian art (some very primitive, I could of done better) on some of the better preserved chapels.
(Michelle) Upon entering Goreme, we jokingly thought that the idea for the landscape of the original Star Wars movie must have come from here, and we heard later that that may actually be the case. We kept one eye open for the sand people just to be safe. In the open air museum cave churches, along with the primitive art (see photo of TJ above in front of the art he thinks he can beat), there 
was some unbelievably beautiful cave art as well. The funny part though was that for every person painted on the walls, the eyes were scratched out. We surmised that maybe once Christianity wasn’t so popular anymore in this region, somebody decided that would be a funny way to vandalize the Christian art.
From the pool on the roof of our cave hostel, we were introduced for the first time to the prayer call. Goreme is a small enough town that there is only one mosque announcing the prayer call over the town’s P.A. system. It is definitely loud enough to stop you in your tracks the first time you hear it. We looked around, but we didn’t see much reaction from the locals, although I am not sure what reaction to even expect. 
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