From Ankara to Cappadocia: the road less traveled

But who ever hears anything about the Ahis, a group of medieval mystics who have been described as the Muslim equivalent of the Masons if only because, like the Masons, they were a secretive bunch of believers with strong links to the trades rather like the Western guilds. The Ahis drew their ideas from those of Ahi Evran (1171-1262), thought to have been a tanner who had arrived in Central Anatolia from his birthplace of Horasan. He died in Kırşehir, where his shrine is now an important place of pilgrimage.

Kırşehir is not a town that receives a lot of tourists even though it sits on one of the main roads from Ankara to Cappadocia. Most drivers -- and all the buses -- prefer to take the more westerly route that passes through Şereflikoçhisar even though the only attraction along the way is Tuz Gölü, the great Salt Lake. Here it’s possible to hop out for a tea break before attempting to walk towards what looks like a stretch of water quite close to the road but is more like a mirage in the desert, receding ever further away from you as you walk towards it. If you head out east through Kırıkkale, however, you can break your journey in a succession of small towns with enough in each of them to while away a couple of hours.

It must be admitted from the outset that Kırşehir is not a beautiful town. The shrine of Ahi Evran, for example, may date back to the 13th century but overlooks a grim, dipped arena rather like an abandoned municipal swimming pool with a statue of the evliya (Muslim saint) on its far side. Crude restoration has done little to beautify the shrine. However, right in the town center there’s one breathtakingly beautiful building, the Cacabey Cami, which started life in 1272 as a theological school and observatory built for Nüreddin Cibril Bin Cacabey, a local governor in Selçuk times.

To see the mosque at its best you should walk around it until you see the wonderful striped portal that looks as if it has somehow strayed from Gaziantep. The elaborate muqarnas (stalactite carvings) on its top side are typical of the Selçuk period, as are the carved stone balls that protrude from each side of the entrance. Less typical are the elaborate carvings at the bottom of each corner of the building and the convoluted stone pillars rather like carved balustrades that flank the mihrab. The cells where students would once have studied still open off from the sides of the central area which is fitted with an open-topped dome allowing light to flood into the interior. Finally, a striking brick dome still retains some of the turquoise tiles that would once have highlighted its patterning.

Sadly, this wonderful mosque has been robbed of its setting by ugly commercial development. But before you throw up your hands in horror and rush on, Kırşehir does have one more surprise up its sleeve in the shape of a small local museum that contains several particularly interesting exhibits. Downstairs in the archeological section, for example, are a collection of tombstones that give the lie to the idea that there was no figurative representation in medieval Anatolia. Two of them depict human figures, two of them lions, while one is shaped like a sheep, a faint echo of similar tombstones from far away Elazığ. Those who are heading on to Cappadocia may also like to look at the small silver coins that date back to the days when the province was actually a kingdom (c. 300 B.C. to A.D. 17).

Upstairs, the museum houses a hat and staff said to have belonged to Ahi Evran, but most people will probably be more taken with the reconstruction of the interior of an old Kırşehir house, the delicately carved wooden wall paneling recalling an age with a more highly developed sense of aesthetics than the present one.

Heading south from Kırşehir you soon come to Hacıbektaş, another small town that is closely associated with a holy man, in this case the eponymous Hacı Bektaş Veli, who arrived in Anatolia from Iran some time in the 13th century. Like Ahi Evran, Hacı Bektaş Veli was a mystic who developed a distinctive philosophy, expounded in his book the Makalat that blended elements of the Sunni and Shiite versions of Islam. His ideas underlie much of modern-day Alevi belief and his shrine in Hacıbektaş is the site of a huge annual pilgrimage from Aug. 16 to 18 which includes much singing and dancing. Feasting also played a big part in Bektaşı rites, and in the complex around the shrine to Hacı Bektaş (now a museum) you will be able to inspect what must surely be some of the largest soup cauldrons in the world.

The building housing Hacı Bektaş’s tomb is far more beautiful than the one housing Ahi Evran’s, and it contains a fascinating collection of dervish bits and bobs as well as some beautiful calligraphic panels. The area immediately around the shrine resembles a Turkish take on Lourdes in France, with all sorts of religious paraphernalia for sale, including extraordinary triptychs depicting the Caliph Ali, Hacı Bektaş and Atatürk in 3D. Once you’ve finished inspecting it all you might want to stroll around the back streets in search of the last crumbling mud-brick houses. Here, too, there’s a small museum as well as a house once used by Atatürk that shows off one of the typically elegant interiors of the early 20th century.

As it nears Gülşehir, the last small town before Nevşehir and central Cappadocia, the road crosses over a particularly beautiful, peaceful stretch of the Kızılırmak, Turkey’s longest river. Gülşehir town center is dominated by a large mosque complex paid for by Karavezir (Black Vizier) Mehmet Paşa in 1778. But much more important is the wonderful church of St. John on the outskirts, the first -- and one of the best -- of Cappadocia’s many medieval rock-cut churches. Stairs wind up to a wooden gallery which allows you to get close enough to inspect the details of the spectacular frescoes which include a rare (for Cappadocia) Last Judgment scene. A little further along the road and you’ll see signs to the Açık Sarayı (Open Palace), actually a sixth or seventh-century monastic settlement hidden amongst the Disneyesque rock outcrops. Look for lines of horseshoe arches cut into the rocks to find the buildings.

Finally, look out for the Mantarkaya, a giant chunk of rock eroded into the shape of a mushroom by centuries of wind and rain. Shortly afterwards the road will sweep you into Nevşehir, the administrative center for Cappadocia, The Damat İbrahim Paşa mosque complex, built in 1726 for the grand vizier to the tulip-loving Sultan Ahmet III, is worth a quick look, as is the local museum which contains an impressive etching of what the town used to look like before all its beautiful old houses were torn down to make way for apartment blocks. But by now most travelers will have their sights too firmly set on the fairy chimneys of Göreme, Uçhisar and Ürgüp to want to linger.

WHERE TO STAY

Most people will want to press on to stay in Cappadocia.

Kadıroğlu Hotel, Kırşehir.

Tel: 0386-212 1200

Grand Hotel Terme, near Kırşehir.

Tel: 0386-214 4797

HOW TO GET THERE

Intercity buses connect Ankara with Kırşehir. There are local buses from Kırşehir to Nevşehir via Hacıbektaş and Gülşehir.