May 10, 2008: Ilhara Gorge, Turkey

After the sightseeing in Goreme, we were excited at the prospect of possibly setting new routes in the Ilhara Gorge. Actually, we were just tired of the cold (Goreme got a tad chilly at night) and were looking to go somewhere, anywhere in fact, that was within the 75-77 degree temperature range we craved. Yes, at this point anything outside that narrow range is too hot or too cold. Ilhara Gorge unfortunately did not meet our requirements.

Except for maybe this place which looked like a cozy place to curl up and sleep:

The gorge was beautiful and had a lovely little river running through it, but it was neither warm nor really an option for putting up new routes -- primarily because it was impossible to walk more than 20 feet without seeing another church carved into the cliffs.

Apparently, early Christians built secret churches in the Ilhara Gorge in an effort to avoid persecution for their faith. With so many of the churches practically built on top of each other, though, I couldn't help but wonder how many of them were contemporaneous with one another at any one time.

Carved hand and footholds to get to the second level of one church:

Obviously some were built later than others, but it seems possible that some were fully operational at the same time and not really so secret. Was it like competing congregations? Regardless, some of the frescos were pretty well preserved.

With no prospect of climbing -- especially with the apparent daily rainstorm -- we voted to head to Olympos and the beach (!) a day early.