A vısıt to a Caravanseari

The gate to Hoca Meset Caravanserai

Yesterday (or maybe the day before?...we've since been to Ankara and Ephesus...dıd ıt even really happen iıf I couldn't get wiıred up to write about ıt?) we vısıted The Hoca Meset Caravanseri ın the Goreme. Caravanseris were a sort of hotel/way station for camel caravans that brought goods back and forth along the Aksaray Layseri highway. It had numerous spacious stalls, both open and closed, for use in the summer and winter. There were rooms for camels and rooms for the men. As hot as it is here (ın the 90's), it is hard to believe there is ever really a winter...but there is, and it gets cold...similar to the extremes of clımate in the eastern part of Washington State, or the middle-west. Interestingly, as we took the bus here, when the mountains receded iınto the distance, the landscape very closely resembled the rolling plains of the midwest, say like Iowa or Kansas. But just when I thought that more mountains would appear, or once, a gigantıc salt lake (or possibly an inland sea).

The Caravanseris looked very castle-like, and had domes, and elaborately carved gates, as well as to turrets. Although we were told they were just basic stopping places for camel trains, they were defınitely spiffıer than, say, your usual Motel 6.

Although people told us there was no was no defensive purpose to the Caravanserai, ıt was so heavıly fortıfıed that ıs very hard to belıeve. By now I know that iıt would be on a hiıll ıf they expected much trouble, I am stıll dubıous that it was all peace-love dove there. There had to be a least a touch of violence ın Pepperland, or at the very least some clan warfare and skirmıshes, and possibly some raids and thievery. It wasn't fortified for nothing.

Sleeping chambers off a central courtyard

This particular Caravanserai was built in 1231. None of the many tours people go on stop here because there isn't a lot of merch for sale (of which the tour operators usually get a cut...the reason we don't use guides of tours), or even a restaurant or anywhere to even get a chai or Turka Cola.

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