Sobessos

Church at Sobessos

 

Fine Cappadocia day!

I declined the chance to go down into the underground city at Kamakali. I've gone down that hole twice before. It is worth the trek, but although I am not claustrophobic it does tend to bring it out of you.

 

Later on the most interesting thing was this ancient Roman city (pre-Byzantine) that they are digging up out of a farmers field here. The first remarkable thing is that they found this at all. Apparently when a farmer reports thing like this in his fields, reporting it means the land is taken away. Although they get paid for the loss, they use the field for food and no one else is ever willing to sell off another orchard here. So, there are disincentives.

 

They think it's Sobessos - an ancient capital city here. Above is a picture of a nice mosaic uncovered in one large building. Its a nice image of the conversion of an old Roman hall (temple?) into a Byzantine church with the church walls and altar build right on top of the old floor with its tile mosaic. There's also a nice old Roman bath set beside this with it's raised floor for heating.

 

We had lunch in an old Greek town deeply impacted by the population exchange back in the 1920s. A family run place - wonderful food out on a covered terrace. Then a trip to a small park with some sweet panoramic overviews, some pottery in Avanos and back for a swim and a nice meal. Good day!

 

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