Tekkekoy Caves

All I heard was old caves in Tekkekoy. It was about a 20-minute ride from the center of Samsun. “Koy” means “village” in Turkey and although Tekkekoy keeps its village name, it looked like a small town with its small streets full of buildings. Yet, its people preserve their sense of locality that is most strong in villages: everyone on the street stared at me as if I was a tropical animal they have never seen before.
I asked a couple of people where the caves were and ended up walking up and down on both sides of a small brook. Finally I was told that the caves were far and I should take a cab. By that time I was also very uncomfortable because of the way people stared at me and didn’t want to go on a desolate dirt road towards the mountains alone. On my way to the center of the town where I could find a cab, a few 8-9 year old boys started following me on their bikes and asking me who I was. I did say something but I don’t remember now, except that I tried to be kind in my discomfort.
Men usually stare at a lonely woman regardless of their age or appearance in Turkey. Sex is a taboo and anything female attracts their attention a little too much. But the way I was stared at in this town was a different kind: I was “the other”, the foreigner, someone they don’t understand. A foreign, mature aged and single woman wearing a skirt talks about going to the caves in the mountains. This obviously didn’t make any sense to them.	Second half of this climb was hard	Roads: Thousands of years apart yet parallel
In about 5 minutes it didn’t make much sense to me either. What was I thinking wearing that skirt knowing that I was going to see caves? I’m a hike lover, how come I didn’t guess it may include some climbing? I was picturing in my head one single big cave that was on a street level, maybe even inside the village among the houses. It turned out that there were hundreds of caves carved into a very large area far from the town on the hills.
The cab dropped me off right under the biggest (and closest) cave and told me if I need help I should shout to the nearby house. There were steps climbing up to this rock/hill and quickly I realized that coming down will be way more difficult than climbing these steep, very narrow and irregular steps. The caves were quite amazing. These cave settlements are said to date some 60.000-10.000 BC. For me this is way more than I can grasp.
Many findings dated before the use of metals. The steps and some of the rock roads are also old, and of course the steps were fixed-renovated. Luckily they weren’t turned into some polished extensive granite steps, at least not yet. The caves are just what they are in their natural environment. For me this especially makes them quite beautiful and protects
them from being carelessly “packaged” and sold to tourists like me. I admit that I would have liked to be able to climb and go inside of the many other caves that were way too high up on the cliffs, yet personally I’m ready to sacrifice that to their untouched beauty. My American self here is quiet and she knows not to ask for any signs explaining the history of the caves. On my way back to the Tekkekoy I met an old man. I was staring at his beautiful calves when started talking to me. He told me that some company just signed an agreement/lease to “make over” the caves, with lights, a restaurant etc.
The blackberries were delicious on my way back Soon enough the kitsch and mundane will put their shadow on the ancient and quiet beauty. I can’t help but remember my dear teacher Brugh telling us once how some people are disturbed by plastic Jesus figurines sold next to a beautiful ancient church and how, in reality, those two complemented each other. Light and shadow in balance.