The Göreme Open Air Museum.

Painted frescoe in Karanlık Kilise (or the Dark Church) built in the 11th century.

A

fter we had settled into our room at the Kelebek Pension, we headed out for the Göreme Open Air Museum which is a complex of 10 painted cave-churches and chapels carved out by Orthodox monks between 900 and 1200 AD.

To Cappadocia - Göreme.

Early this morning, Lei and I took a Turkish Airways flight from Istanbul to Kayseri ("Kai-ser-ree"). From Kayseri, we boarded a bus for the hour long drive to the village of Göreme ("Ger-rem-mey") which is located within the boundaries of Göreme National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site). Göreme was our base for our days visiting Cappadocia.

Dizzying dervishes.

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ur evening entertainment for tonight was to watch a performance of the sema by the Whirling Dervishes. We had reserved seats for the performance held at Istanbul's Sirkeci ("Sir-kay-sea") train station. We were instructed to show up about 1/2 hour before the start of the performance which we dutifully did. We were then directed to one of the rooms located off the main platform. A room at a train station - most certainly an unusual location to see a dance performance. Luckily for us, we arrived early enough to score front row seats.

Here's lookin' at you.

L

ei is convinced that I am obsessed with Evil Eyes. Maybe I am as I found myself taking photos of them at every opportunity. When I compiled the photos that I had taken on this trip, I didn't realize how many Evil Eye shots I had actually taken and litle did I expect that I would be capturing little pieces of artwork and not just amulets. Setting aside the fact that pretty much every souvenir sells them incorporated into keychains, bracelets and as the traditional glass plaque which by the way, I now have two, I also I found them hung up on walls, hanging from trees, embedded into walkways and frequently, incorporated into other pieces of art.