A lively market town, Ürgüp is unoffical capital of tourists Cappadocia. The newer part is uninteresting, but the Old Town, in several clusters at the foot of Temenni Hill,
is an outstanding labyrinth of caves and old-style Cappadocian stone
houses. Some of the finest small hotels of Turkey are cut into rock in
this unlikely setting.
An entire cave neighbourhood in the Kayadibi district is now being overhauled in a cultural recyling project on massive scale
Living in Rock
A typical house has a frontage built in
more or less elegant masonry. In the back, it blends into cave rooms cut
into the crazily undulating cliff. Further up the hill, where the poor
lived, the masonry disappears altogether.
Some caves are several hundred years
old. Most are fashioned with sculpted niches, columns, buried ovens
(tandır) and wine pressing basins. Some have private chapels.
Cave living went out of fashion after
the ’60s, when modernity demanded moving on and up into cement. More
recently, urban (and expatriate) trend-setters have rediscovered it with
glee. A few hollows of Ürgüp rock, with a small courtyard in front, now
sell for 100.000 dollars and up. Carving them into a comfortable house
costs another 100.000 or so.
The result is often brillant-cosy,
embracing, strangely soothing houses that a cave is the natural dwelling
of man. The absence of all tremor is a revelation. Having a mountain on
one’s back gives an unexpected sense of security. The imagination soars
when freed from the dictatorship of straight walls.
Tags: buried ovens, Cappadocia, Cappadocian, Cappadocian stone houses, cave rooms, central Anatolia, Central Anatolia travel, labyrinth of caves, Living in Rock, Nevsehir, Old Town, soothing houses, stone houses, Temenni Hill, Ürgüp
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