Turkey Tour Starting April 7, 2002

This is my journey through Turkey. I went on a 9 day tour and throughly enjoyed it. Turkey has more historical sites than Greece does. After my trip last June to Greece, I had to come see Turkey!

I flew into Istanbul April 6 from Cyprus. My Cyprus air flight was cancelled and I had to take an earlier flight at 5:20 am with Olympic airways to Greece. Then onto Istanbul from there. As I flew off, I kept thinking about the people I met throughout the trip in Cyprus. It was much better this time than last June.

After I arrived in Istanbul, I was picked up by JJ and taken to Hotel Kent. I didn’t sleep at all the previous night and so took a nap and then got up at 7 and by 8 was eating my first meal at a nearby Mexican fast food restaurant. It was a California chain!
 

Day One  Sunday April 7, 2002

 I was picked up at 6:30 am and taken back to the airport to catch my flight to Ankara. I met some Americans, Dorothy and her husband from San Antonio at Ankara airport. We are on separate tours but doing the same route so saw them through out the day. At the airport I was picked up by Ahmet. The only other person on the tour is Tom from Portland. He is a Protestant minister. I didn’t tell either of them what I do....yet.

Our first stop was the Anatolian Museum. Only 5% of Turkey is on the European continent. The part we flew to today is part of the other 95% which is on the Asian continent. The museum had pieces dating back to pre bronze age, Paleolithic. 
We then went to the Attaturk Mausoleum.  This was the man that was responsible 70 years ago, for making Turkey what it is today. After WW1 it was split up in many different bits going to different countries. He was a lieutenant in the army and refused to accept what the Sultan had agreed to and pushed back the invaders and made the country the size it is today.  He also leaned the country away from socialism and in 1936 they became democratic and changed their language from Arabic, using a form of the alphabet with 28 letters, not like our 26 letters. Turkey as it is today is only 70 years old.

We then headed towards our hotel and stopped along the silk route at Caravan Saray. This was the most restored of them and in its day it was a trading place. People would sell their goods and stay over night along the silk route to trade. This one was originally built in 1700’s and soon after, trade found a faster means of getting places via shipping so the silk route slowly decayed.

Our hotel is the four-star Peri Tower, translated means Fairy Tower.  We then went to see the Whirling Dervishes. This is their way of mediating and we were the only ones that were there. Deeply religious and they twirl to get closer to god.
 

DAY TWO April 8, 2002

We are in the region of Cappadocia, in the town of Neveshire. The first thing we did was head to Goreme where we saw “fairy chimney’s” from sandstone from volcanic ash thousands of years ago. In the 8-13 century BC people made homes in these malleable formations. The Arabs tried to persecute the Christians to convert them to Muslim and so they moved into underground cities. 13th century they were inhabited by the missionaries. Cappadocia was the region the wheel was first invented in 5,000 BC. The Hittites invented it for pottery.  Ozkonak was inhabited 6-10 century BC by missionaries and for shorter periods of time to avoid the Arabs.

We went to Zelve where there was the most erosion, the most fairy chimney’s.  Avanos is the richest village and about 2000 BC its where the Hittites lived. We then went to the Goreme open air museum. Saw many churches in the sand stone. Old frescoes that were ruined over the centuries by Arabs or Greek orthodox as a way to please their god.

In the evening after dinner Tom and I went to an ethnic show.  They had the dervishes but nothing like last night. I am glad I had that experience first. Then it got better with dancers with the red river dance and the wheat dance. The men picked it up with their Russian influenced dancing… more northern dance influenced by their Russian border.
 

DAY THREE  April 9, 2002

We left Cappadocia and drove thru Conya for lunch and visited the Dervish Museum/Mausoleum. Rumi, the creator of the Dervish’s was a mystic that lived in the 13th century. We saw his commemorative tomb as well as all the head dervishes since Rumi. In actuality his body was buried with just a shroud` as they believe they should go back to the soil. The green turban means spirituality and the bigger the turban the higher they are in the order. After lunch break we got back on the road and landed in Anatalia. We drove 510 K. We went from a very cold climate to the Mediterranean Sea and a warmer climate! Thank GOD!!!
 

DAY FOUR April 10, 2002

We left by 8:30 am to go to the Anatalya museum. They had the most amazing Roman sculpture exhibit and tombs. Lovely marble work! It included 5-2 C BC Greek civilization, 2 c BC to 4c AD Roman civilization and 4c-12c AD Byzantine civilization. Then the Saljuk's came in.

We then went to the site these statues and works were excavated, in Perge. Paul came to this city to talk to people about Christianity. The Saljuks ended the city because they didn’t want the spread of Christianity to continue so they destroyed and dismantled the city. Greeks stayed in the area and only left in 1923 when the war of independence started. The Turks in Greece were made to come back to Turkey and the Greeks in Turkey were told to return to Greece even though their lives/families had been in Turkey for centuries.

We then had lunch and then went onto Asbendos, which is the worlds best kept ancient theater.  The Greeks built them into hills where as the Romans built it to stand independently. Today I saw two visions in the theater. One was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline holding a scroll reading something to a crowd. Previously in Perge I didn’t really see anything but heard children playing and did see a dark haired child running after a ball.

We then came back and had our own free time. I went out into Anatalya and found a place “Sema Kuafor” where I got a pedicure, hair trim and a wax. It took about 90 minutes and only cost 28,000,000. That is about 20 bucks US. I had my picture taken with the 3 who worked on me and then tipped them 10,000,000. It was a great experience. For the pedicure it was a lot of callous filing, and then one coat of toe nail polish. For the waxing it was a sugar wax cold that was rubbed on my legs by hand first and then used over and over on my legs and underarms. Not exactly the most sanitary but very interesting and she had me stand on a cushioned bench while she worked on my legs. I then went into a shower and rinsed the excess sticky stuff off. As for the haircut, the owner did it and dried it. It looked great! They were very nice people.

I then came back and changed for dinner and headed for the cyber café I went to the night before. Its one million for an hour, that is less than a dollar. Last night I was there for 2.5 hours. Tonight only 45 minutes but managed to get all the emails with business done.

One thing I found interesting in talking with Ahmet, banks don’t give loans to people because inflation its too risky. So to build housing, they get say 100 people together and each year they pay say 1000 to start the process. They pay that amount over the next 4 years and then it will be paid off and completed with each having their own flat. Many do this. How it works with penthouse and bottom as to whom gets what, it’s a lottery. Who gets the top pays more and the one on the bottom pays less to even it out. So say the last two years the penthouse person pays 1500 and the bottom person pays 500. This is in US currency.
 

DAY FIVE April 11, 2002

We left Anatalya and headed to Pamukele, which translated means “Cotton Castle.” We stopped in Yesilova for some pictures in a country market then continued onto Denizli for lunch.

We then continued on to Hieropolis. This is a town that has the biggest necropolis…the biggest area of dead bodies in the Roman Empire. It was right near an area with hot springs noted for its healing ability. Sick would come far and wade to heal themselves at the spring and would wind up dying. Thus it was the biggest graveyard in the ancient world. There were layers upon layers of tombs, mausoleums and burial sites.

The Roman bath was converted by the Byzantines into a church where St. Paul came to preach about Christianity. He was supposedly killed there by Arabs and the church destroyed. Thus came the end of the Byzantine rule. I picked up killings inside the church and saw clearly a picture of a priest with dark purple or maroon robes. He was concerned about a book that had a bunch of names in it. It couldn’t get into the wrong hands so he buried it to the right of the altar.  We also went to the old city and saw the hot springs and surrounding limestone pools and ruins of an old theater. I bought a silver anklet to remind me of Turkey.

We then went to our hotel Colassae. We had hot springs there, which I decided to try the “mud” pool… after I had my massage. It wasn’t really a mud pool, but was an outdoor hot spring, which was different than the indoor ones that were in concrete like a pool. I met a woman name Gerd from Denmark. At dinner that night she came up to the table and joined us after we had eaten and talked for a bit.  So the guys left and she and I talked for a bit and I wound up doing a reading for her which she said helped her a lot. She took me to her room and showed me her carpet and some whistles she bought for presents. After I had said good night she later brought one over to me as a gift. It was very sweet. I saw her at breakfast then we had to hit the road to Aphrodesias. We gave each other a big hug goodbye and promised to email each other.
 

DAY SIX   April 12, 2002

Once in the van, we drove a few hours to Aphrodesias. It was a major ancient city because of the marble in the local hills. It became a major art center with art schools and artists creating for the whole of the Roman Empire.  Like most of these ancient cities, they were first Greek in origin but then after the Romans conquered they expanded and improved the city.  This city was amazing as it had a HUGE football field length pool that filled the center oblong inside the agora, or shopping area. What amazed me the most here were the numerous engraved in marble backgammon boards. They were in the baths, theater and stadium! I didn't know the Romans had invented Backgammon!

All of the sites we have gone to are works in progress as excavations are still uncovering homes, shops, temples and sacred sites. It’s amazing to see how the work is being done and it’s so painstaking and tedious. Various countries are coming in to do the excavating as the Turkish government can’t afford to do it all themselves. So its open to schools and professionals to do the work along with Turkish teams.

They also had a football size stadium. We went to the local museum and saw the many marble statues already excavated though the extremely big ones were not on display because they were being cleaned.

We had lunch along the way to Kusadasi. Here Tom went off to see another museum and I continued on with Ahmet and went to buy a Turkish rug. I did a reading for him in the vehicle and then we went in and I wound up putting this beautiful rug on credit card. I got it for $950 US. Ahmet talked them down and I got it at a guide price, normally $1800 talked down to lowest for a tourist would be normally $1200. So I got a great deal and decided to not pass it up. We then went onto a leather factory and I bought two beautiful leather coats. One longer black one and a shorter dark blue one. What is nice is they are totally burn proof, water proof and wrinkle proof. They’re awesome lamb skin and very very soft. Abdullah our driver, went to pick up Tom and he too came and bought a jacket.

We then drove to the 5 star hotel on the cliffs along the Aegean sea called Adakale. It was lovely. Tom and I caught a ride into town with Abdullah and I went shopping and did the internet. I bought 3 gold charms for $40 US to go on the anklet I started in Egypt.  Tom ran into me and bought a gift for his wife.

Met everyone for dinner then afterwards Ahmet bought me a drink in the bar and I continued with the reading. He said that he knew a lot of people who would be interested in what I do if I wanted to come back. We’ll see!
 

DAY SEVEN April 13, 2002

We left Adakule hotel and drove to Ephesus. This is the second largest and important city in the Roman Empire. The first being Rome. It was originally started by the Amazons about 1500-1200 BC. Then the Lydian’s who are Greeks from 1200 to 3rd C BC. It was the Lydian’s which were the most important as they created version 3 with the most renovation. The picture here on the right shows the excavation in progress. Under the green hill are ruins yet to be unearthed. There was running water in the homes, central heating and cooling even! Then the Persians defeated the Greek Lydian’s for 100 years then Alexander the Great came in 4 C BC, and at the age of 20 conquered them and rescued it for the Greeks.

Ephesus number four was created by Marcus Arailious when he defeated the Greeks in 4th C BC. Then the Byzantines and version number 5. Each of these cultures built a new Ephesus on or near the previous one…so through out antiquity there were 5 different versions of the city. The version that is being excavated at present is version three. It’s absolutely amazing to see the homes the library, the theater, the parliament, streets, the fountains and writing. There was even a whorehouse and apparently the mosaics are a bit x-rated. Soon it will be able to be seen, as it’s the whorehouse that is being excavated now.  We spent 3 hours at the site and then drove to Mary’s house.
 

The virgin Mary was apparently living near John as when Christ died, Jesus asked John to watch after his mother. John was buried there and the Italians came and took the bones back to Rome. I lit a candle in Mary’s house and asked that Tom, Ahmet and Abdullah and myself be happy. We then went to see one of the ancient seven wonders of the world. It is no longer standing but it’s the Temple of Artemis. Over the years, it was dismantled by the Byzantines and Saljuk’s. The marble was reused in the Byzantine castle and church and the Seljuk used it to build a mosque. We then drove thru Saljuk, a city named after the people, which could technically be called Ephesus version number six.

We then drove to a little town called Sirince. It’s in the surrounding hills known for its fruit wines and had lunch and shopped some more. I bought two tablecloths and 3 evil eye key chains for gifts. We then drove to Izmir and stayed in the Anemon 4 star hotel which is Turkish in its style. After we got in we had 4 hours before dinner and so I went for a walk and bought more clothes. Earlier today, I bought a dress and a blouse at Ephesus. So this afternoon I bought another dress, a vest and blouse, then two more dressy blouses. It was a great shopping expedition. While walking I saw a beggar crawling on all fours across the street. A police officer stopped traffic for him too. I wound up giving him money, he deserved it after all he went through just to cross the street!

I wore my new green embroidered dress to dinner and did my hair and then came back and caught up with packing all the new stuff and this diary.
 

DAY EIGHT   April 14, 2002

We left Izmir and headed towards Asklepion. It was a hospital built in 5C BC by the Greeks and then the Romans. It was for mental maladies as well as minor physical ones. They had running water throughout the entirety of the grounds. I tell you the Romans were so amazing!!

We then drove by one of the 7 churches mentioned in the bible. This one was associated with John but it’s not known which one.

We then went to Pergamun built atop a hill. It had the second largest library in antiquity. Anthony fell in love with Cleopatra and when the Alexandria library in Cairo burned, then the largest library in antiquity, he promised to give her the library at Pergamun. The fire destroyed half of the books, then when the Roman library was added, it too was later damaged and destroyed so no books remain. When Aristotle died, the Pergamun library bidded on his books and got them. The Alexandria library wasn’t pleased. The Egyptians decided to punish the Romans and not provide papyrus to them. It took a few years but the Roman’s then created parchment! This really threw off Egypt’s monopoly and ruined their papyrus industry. The thing is, the Egyptians had discovered parchment earlier but didn’t let on as they wanted the corner market on papyrus. No one else could make papyrus except them, yet anyone could make parchment as it was from the skin of sheep. This badly hurt their commerce.

We then drove the 220 K to Troy after lunch. This site is newly excavated in the last few years after about 50-60 years of no excavation. There are 6 different layers of the civilization over the years as the Greeks built right over the top of the previous city and the Romans continued doing the same. It was always a smaller city with only about 12,000 inhabitants. It was Homer who wrote the Iliad that made the battle of Troy a legend. It was a German man who became obsessed with making the story true to actually start excavating the area to find the lost civilization of Troy. He actually found Troy number two, not number 4 like he had thought. Finding the fourth version of Troy would prove the Iliad a true story, and it was also the wealthiest version of Troy. He died thinking that he had found it and a happy man. It was 15 years later that they discovered that he had found version number 2 of Troy.

We then drove to Canakkale and stayed at 3 star Akol Hotel. The worst one yet though it has a view of the Dardanelle’s and says it’s a 4 star.

Time to pack for Singapore. I have truly enjoyed this trip through Turkey and the people I have met.
 

DAY NINE  April 15, 2002

We got up at 5:30 to be at the ferry at 6:30am. When we got there it was not running because the fog was so thick. So I worked on my pictures and we waited for the fog to lift to take the ferry across the Dardanelle’s to get to Gallipoli. About an hour and 15 minutes later we went and once on the other side it actually looked worse. So I think we were lucky. The ferry took us from the Asian side of Turkey to the Europe side.

We went to Gallipoli and Anzac Cove, which was the first place the Australians and New Zealanders landed during WWI. It was so sad I wanted to cry after reading what Attaturk had said to the bereaved families on a monument left at the site.  I got some sand from the landing beach to bring back to my Australian friends the Wallace’s. Anzac day is April 24th and I thought it a moving present to them along with a book about Gallipoli.

The inscription reads:
"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now lying 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 far away 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."  Ataturk 1934

We then drove in the cool fog to Lone Pine. This is where many died and was the bloodiest part of the battle. The pine on the current site is believed to be the grand pine of the original one during the battle, coming from that original pine’s seeds. There were workmen there putting up bleachers at the site for Anzac Day as there are ceremonies that day at the site. Ahmet said that the NZ’ers and Aussie’s blamed England and not the Turk’s and that during the war the English, Turks, Aussies and New Zealanders would play footy together, play cards and then go back to shooting.

We then looked at trenches on the Turk side and then drove by a monument to a Turk and Englishman. After a battle both side retreated and there was an English soldier crying out for someone to get him as he still was laying out on the battlefield. A pair of underwear on a stick came up on the Turk side and a Turkish soldier climbed from his trench unarmed and went to pick up the English soldier. He carried him over to the English side and then went back to his trench.  This is what the memorial is commemorating. During the war they fought only 6 meters away from each other… not far at all!!

We then made the 330 k trek back to Istanbul. We stopped for lunch and Tom and I got our cards of thanks for Abdullah and Ahmet ready. Ahmet always looks after me, he gave me some coin to use the bathroom. In Turkey you have to pay to use the toilet. He is such a nice person!

In the van I finished up my pictures with Ahmet’s help and then we went to Tom’s hotel. I left my stuff there and then Ahmet and Abbo dropped me off by the blue mosque. Gave each a hug goodbye and felt sad in saying bye to Ahmet. Not 10 minutes later when I was taking a picture of the blue mosque a guy started talking to me about it and helping me. He then takes me inside the mosque and tells me the history of it. His name is Mesut. He wasn’t trying to sell me anything, but I was looking for some last minute gifts so took me to his family's shop. The then took me to the Yerebatan Sarnici, the water reservoir from Greek times, 1 c BC.  We then walked to the hotel where I picked up my stuff and caught a taxi to the airport.

I had 20 kilo over weight and had to pay Emirates airlines $280 US to get my baggage to Singapore! What a mess! I always feel robbed when I get charged like that. We sat and had coffee and a chat before I headed for my flight. What a lovely ending to a great trip!

It was such a wonderful trip. When I went I had no idea what to expect. I had visions of Midnight Express and was worried it was going to be stark, austere and drab. Boy was I wrong. The people were most giving, generous and kind. I truly enjoyed myself.
 
 

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