One day, Unal wanted to take me to a pottery shop, where he knew the owner for some quality pottery. I had been eyeing the ones in the little touristy gift shops, btu Unal assured me he could take me to a better place. So off we went to Avanos, just a 10-15 minute drive from FCI. I immediately liked Avanos when we entered it because of the nice almost glass river that you cross to get to Avanos. Avanos is a little bigger than Goreme, and has more of a city feel to it than a small town in the middle of nowhere.
We ended up at a place called Chez Galip. We watched a man (not Chez) make a piece of pottery before we looked around. It was fascinating, he was so fast! In less than 10 minutes he had a beautiful pot ready.
I fell in love with basically everything in the place. All the pieces are handcrafted and handpainted with some beautiful intricate designs.
What made this trip a little unusual was that there was also this underground hair museum. The owner, Chez Galip, started the collection 30 years ago when a woman he was in love with was leaving, he asked for a lock of her hair. Since then, over a million women from all over the world have come to leave a lock of their hair. I found this place disturbingly creepy, and yet I felt compelled to leave a lock of my own hair. It just seemed like I was supposed to. Every year they choose one person at random to come stay in Cappadochia for 2 weeks all expenses paid. Maybe I’ll get lucky who knows. The place was definitely creepy and yet fascinating at the same time. Apparently it’s in the Guinness Book of World Records.
When I first entered the room, I knew there was something strange about it because Unal said he wasn’t sure if I would like it. I saw the little pieces of paper with names scribbled on them and I thought maybe they were part of some kind of vigil or memorial. I didn’t even notice the hair, until I looked up and so long strings with locks attached to it hanging down which definitely gave me the creeps.
Any way it was an interesting trip. Went in for pottery, walked out leaving a lock of my hair behind.
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