Avanos

9 October 2012

I stayed in the beautiful relaxed Anatolian town of Avanos and made trips to the underground city of Ozkonak and the caravansarai at Sarihan.

In both places I was lucky to meet knowledgeable people who knew these structures well.

At the underground city, I met the village imam who had first discovered the entrance to the tunnels in 1972 and opened up the first rooms. We crouched as we walked through the tunnels joining the underground chambers,and he showed me the holes down which hot oil was pored. This was used on any intruder who happened to gain entrance to the chambers.

 At the Sarihan caravansaria, I was lucky to meet the son of the family who have restored this brilliant historical structure. He pointed out all the design work, the restoration detail and explained the loop holes that his family's company jump through to get permission from the government to do this work. Some of this seemed to involve doing business deals over dinner with copious amounts of raki!

 Emre's knowledge and passion for Turkish architecture and restoration was inspiring. The projects his family are working on are extensive and include a major development in Kyrgyzstan. Emre told stories of how he was asked to find a Bentley for the president of Kyrgyzstan and arrange for it to be delivered from Turkey. All in the name of business!   and at 30...... Looks like he has a very successful and impact full career ahead of him.