Sinassos,the inscription above the church door

Sinassos,the front of the church

Sinassos,St Constantine and St Helens church

Sinassos ,ornate stone decorations

Sinassos, old Greek mansion in the square

the translation in Turkish and English

the cross at the upper front

the tween headed eagle of the Greek Orthodox church

Sinassos,the church and the square from further up

Sinassos,the steep parts of the village with crumbling houses

Sinassos,another Greek mansion

complex structure of another ruined house,half rock cut and half bouild

this is not a water aquaduct but a path linking the steep parts of the village together

an ornate front entrance

Mustaphas house by the church

the front door,the house is 195 years old

one of the rooms

the medrese and mosque near the square

the west side of the village

a ruined mansion with balconies and ornate ironwork

another grand mansion,this one is actually in Urgup

While most of the group were walking in the pidgeon valley that afternoon, i escaped to the quiet village of Mustaphapasha (Ersin kindly let our coach driver Kemal to take me there and back).A predominately Greek village before 1923,it has 5 Greek churches a very large number of great mansions ,several mosques and a medrese.The mansions belonged to the upper class of the Ottoman Empire( a merchant class of mainly Greeks) that controlled the fish and caviar trade as well as shipowners.They became refugees in 1923 ( in the so called exchange of populations).some of them settled in the Athens area , the rest migrated to the USA.The descendants of the refugees from Athens visit the village every May as guests of the Turkish villagers(on St Constantine and St Helens day) for a mass at the synonymous church.The village is quiet compared to other parts of Cappadocia,i saw only two Danish tourist,the rest were all Greek.It occupies a valley with the steep parts of the village connected by an aquaduct type bridge.the main church is by the square near the main mosque and medrese while the other churches are outside the village.the rock cut houses are mixed with the normal houses as everywhere else in Cappadocia.The local people were very hospitable,i was offered coffe by a local shopkeeper and a tour of his house.