Perge and Antalya

Wednesday 22 September

Today's travelling took us through a pass in the Toros mountain range and across wide open plains toward the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Much of the flat land was planted in citrus and other fruits, melons, tomatoes, peppers, chilli, cotton and corn. Vast areas were under plastic "glass houses". It amazes us that the population of Turkey is fed at all by the relatively small cultivated area of Turkey (apart from countless miles of olive trees) and equally amazed that so much meat is eaten here when we have seen no more than a few dozen cows, no sheep, no pigs and maybe a few hundred goats throughout the whole of our travel. It seems not a lot to go around a population of 73 million.

We had our lunch near an irrigation lake where a breeze was a welcome relief in the about 32 deg heat then drove another hour or so to Perge - another city which has not been occupied since the earthquake-prone 11th Century but whose history goes back about 3000 years and includes some time as being the main city of the area. It originally also had a port (like Ephesus, it is now about 3.5 miles inland). It was part of Alexander the Great's empire around 340BC and occupied by the Romans for hundreds of years once the King Pergamum bequeathed it to his friends the Romans in his will (feel free to correct me if I got that story wrong, I have heard so many stories of conquered, destroyed or rebuilt cities in the last couple of months, I may get mixed up). Since the Romans built over the top of and extended the original city of Perge the only feature remaining from pre-Roman times is two towers forming the gate to the old city. These are currently under re-construction by a Turkish archaeology team. The main (Roman) "street" is a clear feature and a second major street of the Roman city is about to be excavated. The usual constructions of a Roman city - the Gate, the Agora, the Bath house, a Stadium (now collapsed), a central "main street" were apparent but, of course, mostly in ruins. I know they just look like fancy broken rocks, but they are starting to make more sense now after seeing so many Roman remains. This whole experience was so much pleasanter than the two previous buried cities as the crowds were much less today - although the heat from the sun was just as great.

We drove on to the city of Antalya where we now spend two nights. This hotel has reliable and free internet wifi so we should be able to update again tomorrow night as well. We are planning to have a more relaxing start tomorrow as we have a day "free" but hope to visit the Museum (which has some of the statues which were rescued from Perge) and we may even get a dip in the Mediterranean.

Pamukkale

Tuesday 21 September

This morning's trip began with a visit to a leather manufacturer who put on a fashion show before inviting us in handle and buy their designer garments. Unfortunately, their goods were exclusively jackets and as Glenda was only looking for a handbag they didn't get a deal out of us. However, this still took up the first 1.5 hours of the day.

We passed through Aydin and Denizli on the way to Pamukkale including a stop for lunch at an unknown location. First we visited another ancient city, (Hierapolis) and the travertina beside it. This site was again a mostly flattened archeological site (much of the city had been destroyed by large earthquakes in the 11th century??). It was smaller than Ephesus but it seemed much larger to us because we were able to view most of it at once when we climbed the hill to where the amphitheatre was located. Hierapolis is currently undergoing restoration by Italian archeaologists and a lot of work has already been done on the amphitheatre stage section. It was very hot and after walking back down the hill we welcomed the opportunity to walk through the water which was pooled in the travertina area (the travertina is made from calcium deposits which have formed marble terraces on the hillside) to give our feet a bit of a cool down. On camera the calcium terraces appear like snow (but with about 30 degree temperatures surrounding you!) and the name Pamukkale means "Cotton Castle" or "Cotton Fort". Although we had nearly 2 hours there, we still did not have enough time to visit the museum, which is located in one of the old Roman bath houses.

After checking in at our hotel for the evening we then went for a walk to the local village where there was a general market in progress.This was a lot better to watch than many of the touristy markets we had been to as the local people were out shopping and the goods on sale were a mix of food and merchandise. One of the pictures shows a street merchant selling barbequed corn.

Ephesus and Kusadasi

20 September

For us it was another day in 30+ degree temperature while it sounds like many of you are trying to stay warm against the snow. Today started with a 7.15 am departure and our first visit of the day was to the Virgin Mary's house 7km south of Ephesus. This is reportedly the house where she spent her final years under the protection of the Apostle John and where she died. It was a quiet and peaceful spot but once again the regular row of souvenir stands was apparent as we left the site and, surprisingly, it seemed to qualify to have its own police station.

We then travelled back down the hill to the Ephesus site and spent approximately two hours walking around the various parts of the ancient city. It was very impressive in terms of what still remains and gave some idea of what the city might have looked like. However, it was quite hot and very crowded (maybe this is what it was once like) but we would recommend visiting this place at a cooler and quieter time of the year to be able to fully explore.

Although the current site is quite a few miles inland, it was once built on a harbour (this is the street going down to the original harbour) and has had a number of incarnations as a city over about 1000 years.

We then had a demonstration of carpet making followed by the obligatory selling show but managed to leave without another carpet in our possession (that is not to say that we weren't sorely tempted by some of the beautiful rugs but just couldn't justify it).

The afternoon offered an optional tour or some free time so we chose to spend the afternoon with the other kiwi couple on our tour and walked into town and had a look around the local markets. It was only about 30 minutes each way and was quite pleasant on the way back as the weather had started to cool a bit (still probably mid 20's but more bearable).

Have just finished a relaxing dinner and getting ready to pack up for an 8.15 am start tomorrow. We head off in the direction of Pamukkale (where the thermal pools are) and stop at Hierapolis on the way.

Bergama

Sunday 19^th

After a rapid pack up of our belongings and a quick breakfast in a crowded hotel dining room (which was evidently even more chaotic earlier in the morning, i.e. before 7.15 am, as several tour groups were leaving at the same time) we headed off toward Bergama (about a 3 hour drive). We visited the ancient site of the Acropolis at Pergamum which had many more intact structures than Troy and gave a much clearer sense of what the complex might have looked like in earlier times.

We saw the library ruins (which reputedly used to contain 200,000 parchment scrolls, many of which went to the library in Alexandria as part of Mark Anthony’s wedding gift to Cleopatra in 42 BC),

the Altar of Zeus, (currently moved and living in Berlin),

the Temple of Trajan,

the Theatre and the Upper Agora.

Pergamum is also where Galen (the physician) was born in AD 129 and where he established a famous medical centre, the Asciepieum.

After this we had another three hours driving toward Kusadasi via Izmir where we stay for the next two nights.

The hotel fronts directly on to the Aegean Sea. From here we will drive to Ephesus in the morning and then possibly have a free afternoon to do with as we wish.

Gallipoli

Saturday 18^th September

Today seemed quite hot as it was in the mid to high 20's. Spent the first three hours on the bus travelling in the direction of Gallipoli. With a fairly strong mix of NZ/Australian passengers on the tour there was a strong historical link to the area. We visited ANZAC Cove , ANZAC cemetery, Lone Pine Cemetery and Chunuk Bair . Despite my limited knowledge of the events around the Gallipoli event I still found it had quite an impact just standing there imagining the young men from NZ and Aus who had travelled half way round the world (or as the NZ monument at Chunuk Bair notes that they came “from the uttermost ends of the earth”) and found themselves involved in a battle in a foreign place that they had very little connection with. The memorials were nicely done, and the place was very peaceful. (for those who do not know the wording of Ataturk's memorial it says:

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives…

You are now living in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours…

You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace, after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

We then took the ferry across the Dardenelles to Cannakkale and travelled on to Troy to visit the archaeological site there. This was a bit disappointing as it was a bit rushed and there are a few parts of the site that have little more than partial walls left (although we appreciated the complexity of the dig as they have been excavating up to 9 different levels of the city for about a 100 years or so).

The reconstructed Trojan horse was basically an amusement figure for children to play on (and a couple of adults who wanted their photos taken in the horse).

Istanbul Day 2

Friday 17 September
Heard the Imams/Muzzeins calling followers to prayer at around 5 am (think this adds to the flavour of the city but this view might change my mind if I have a constant two weeks of early morning starts). They have several going at once (via loudspeakers) but they appear to be timed so that as one finishes a sentence or two the next one starts. They do not overlap and you can clearly hear the distinctive voices in each section.

Today we started with the tour group and visited a couple of new places and a couple we visited yesterday. We started at Tokhapi ("Cannongate") Palace, followed by Haga Sophia (which used to be a church, then a mosque, and is now a museum), and then back to Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque) and the Grand Bazaar.

They seem like quite a nice group of people on the bus tour (although vary a bit in terms of age and mobility) and will no doubt get to know them better over the coming days. There is another kiwi couple on the tour and quite a few Australians. We got back to hotel at about 6 pm and then had to find an internet cafe as our hotel charges $24 an hour for internet access.