Where usually one finds a booth with a guard in it (or not), in this case the villagers seemed to have developed a system where ostentatiously kids would open a gate that had no other function than to enable them to ask for money. Here you see one of what was a small crowd. The booth would have been more expensive, so I willingly paid some.

A regular c ontrib utor to this site adds: "During the tourist season there is a ‘bekçi’ (guard) – generally an older villager – appointed by the Directory of Museums, who sells tickets to the visitors. He has to hand over these entry fees to the Provincial services (the number of sold/missing tickets being the reference), but gets a fixed allowance for his work. In winter, appointing and paying a guard is not profitable; so, there is none. But – if a visitor shows up unexpected – that gap will be filled up by a younger and innocent looking version of the summer ‘bekçi’.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen
Source: Personal visits to Altınkaya (1992 – 2004) ."