Cappadocia Tours, Turkish Carpets and Kilims

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CAPPADOCIA ARTS & CRAFTS

Cappadocian Carpets and Kilims

You can visit a local centre for authentic traditional handicrafts where local women still make and sell the most beautiful Turkish carpets, kilims (traditional flat-weave carpets) and sumacs (a special type of silk-embroidered kilim with nomadic motifs). Visitors can watch carpets and kilims being made in designs passed down through generations. In fact it is generally agreed that some of the designs from the wall paintings at Neolithic Catal Hoyuk can be seen in the motifs still used today! The dyes used for the wool are all natural, and one of the workers will explain the processes and you will be able to see behind the scenes - it's truly fascinating.

Pottery, Ceramics & Tiles

The red, iron-ore bearing clay deposited by the longest river in Turkey, The Kizilirmak, or 'Red River', known to classical scholars as 'The Halys', has been used to make pottery in Avanos for thousands of years. During the second millennium BCE, Avanos was inhabited by Assyrian traders, and it was later taken over by the Hittites, who called the river the 'Marassantiya'. Some of the techniques and designs used by potters today date back to this period. At one time every house had a potters wheel, and no family would give their daughter in marriage if the groom could not make pots! Equally, the girls needed to know how to make carpets! Today, the best of the traditional ceramics and tiles on sale in Istanbul and other major cities are made here. You can watch potters spinning their traditional kick-wheels with their feet, and even try throwing a pot yourself.

Soganli Dolls

The locally made doll is the emblem of Soganli village, but this symbol originated from a tragic event. A local woman lost her baby and, unable to cope emotionally, made a rag doll to take its place. Later on, the women of the village developed the art of making these dolls while their men were out on the mountains grazing their animals. A Soganli doll is a must for every doll collection.

The trip to Soganli is especially interesting because it passes through villages where traditional Turkish life is still lived today. You will see local people in their traditional clothes, working around their homes and fields. You are also likely to see the women of at least one village making bread in their traditional communal village oven.

Onyx Souvenirs

The beauty of onyx, a type of microcrystalline quartz, has been appreciated throughout history. The word onyx comes from the Greek 'onux' meaning 'fingernail'. The story of how onyx was created goes like this: One day, Cupid was very bored and, for amusement, set about cutting the fingernails of the sleeping Venus with an arrowhead. He succeeded in doing this without waking her, but left the nail clippings on the sand. The Fates intervened and turned the fingernail clippings to stone (onyx), so that no part of her divine body would perish. We can assume that Venus painted each fingernail a different color because onyx comes in various shades of green, yellow, blue, pink, red, brown, beige, grey, black and white!

The Bible mentions onyx several times: it is one of the precious stones on a cherub (Ezekiel 28:13) but is not powerful enough to buy wisdom (Job 28:12). In Islam, Bektashi dervishes wear a 12-pointed onyx star they call the 'stone of submission'. In folklore, onyx is the mystical birthstone for December, one of the many birthstones for February, the lucky charm for Leo, and the anniversary gemstone for the 7th wedding anniversary. In addition, black onyx is the anniversary gemstone for the 10th wedding anniversary, perhaps because it is supposed to have mystical properties that help a person change their habits!

In Turkey, Cappadocia has the onyx mines where the highest quality onyx is found (brown-veined green onyx is the highest quality, followed by brown-veined beige). Local artisans are experts at making items of jewellery as well as beautiful vases, chess sets, and numerous other attractive artifacts and knick-knacks. Watch a demonstration of how this very hard and brittle stone is cut, shaped and polished, before seeing the many beautiful onyx products.

Workshops often sell other traditional and precious items such as hand-beaten copperware, meerschaum pipes, and jewellery made with precious and semi-precious stones, silver, and 22 and 24 carat gold. Local specialties include Hittite-style jewellery and traditional Turkish woven silver bracelets and necklaces.

For All Your Cappadocia Tours Contact Us

All our guides are members of TUREB (Federation of Turkish Tourist Guide Associations), which is affiliated to WFTGA (World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations).

All guiding services are brought to you by Honeycomb Tours, Adnan's own travel agency based in Cappadocia, a TURSAB member (Association of Turkish Travel Agencies), License Number 5361.