Photos from Turkey

In early 2002, we traveled to Turkey with our friends Ken and Kristen. Kristen owns O’Bannon’s rug shop (map) in Shadyside, and she usually makes annual trips to Turkey to purchase rugs for her store.

The trip was shortly after 9/11/2001, and this fact definitely increased our anxiety level about the trip. However, any fears we had about anti-American sentiments were, as we soon found out after arriving in Istanbul, completely unfounded. We encountered so many wonderful and hospitable people as we met in Turkey. From the Karavan rug shop owners in Konya who let us use their store as our home base and tea lounge, to the bus driver who didn’t speak or understand a word of English, but made sure we got off at the correct stop in our attempt to find the town of Sille.

Our trip started in Istanbul, where we met our tour guide, Elizabeth, and where we spent several days at the Kybele Hotel. We visited rug shops, and of course, toured the city. The highlight for us was definitely Hagia Sofia. Even though the interior is under construction and the dome is being restored, it is still the most amazing cathedral I have ever seen. The sheer scale of the building is like nothing that we see here in the US.

From Istanbul we travelled by train to Konya, where were spent much of our down time at Karavan rug shop. The owner, Huseyin, and his staff were absolutely wonderful people. Of course, they wanted to show us their rug and kilim selection, but their hospitality beyond that was completely genuine. They regularly had tea waiting for us, helped us travel around the city, even driving us various places, took us out to dinner, and gave us plenty of sight-seeing information. In fact, it was one of his empoyees who recommended that we go to Cappadocia, which turned out to be the highlight of our trip. We also took a quick day-trip to Sille, which has many ruins and caves that appear to have acted as ancient Christian churches. While in Konya, we also visited Mahmet, a felter and rug-maker. He and his sons live in yurts outside his workshop, and make felt, from which they make rugs, hats, jackets, and other clothing. Again, he and his family

Finally, we travelled to Cappadocia, where we stayed at an amazing hotel (I forget the name!) carved directly from the rock. Huseyin actually arranged for a friend of his, who owns a tour company in Cappadocia, to meet us, and give us a driving tour of some amazing sights. There’s so much to see in Cappadocia, that my photos don’t even begin to do it justice. The highlight for us, though, was definitely the cave churches. The interiors of the cave where painted in incredible detail, and the colors were so vivid, even after centuries.

All in all, this was one of the most enlightening and fun trips we have ever taken, and much of that is due to the people we met while we were there. Thanks to all the people we met, especially to Huseyin and everyone at the Kaavan rug shop, to Elizabeth our fantastic tour guide, and to Ken and Kristen for suggesting that we go in the first place.

Tags: briancavalier | turkey | travel