Ephasus, Pamukkale and Final Turkish Comments

I am still in Prague but it is cooler today and I had to send an e-mail to work so I've decided to stay put and see if I can finish my report on Turkey. And I have to tell you that it's getting very confusing because I am seeing so many great sights in Prague that I want to write about but I know I should finish the Turkey trip first. Everything is getting confused in my mind so don't be surprised if Charles Bridge from Prague suddenly appears in the middle of Ephesus in Turkey. Oh well, here goes.

I took a two-day bus trip from Oludeniz to Ephesus and Pamukkale. I really didn't know much about either of them before going but they sounded interesting so I decided to check them out. Both places were fascinating so I'm very glad I went, and the sights along the way were also very enjoyable. The bus picked me up at 5:40 a.m. (which is really early for me!) and yet I managed to stay awake all day until almost 11 p.m. Since I'm one who would normally fall asleep as soon as I'm riding in a car or bus, that says a lot about the tour and the scenery and, of course, our great tour guide, Nazim. And one night's accommodation and 5 meals and all entrance fees and the bus ride were less than $150 Cdn in total.

There were only 17 of us on the tour plus the bus driver and the tour guide, and everyone was very friendly and easy to get along with. That also helped make the trip very enjoyable. Nazim was our tour guide and he filled almost every spare moment with Turkish history or geography or just whatever he could think of. He provided lots of information (a lot of which you got in my last blog) and we all learned a lot. The bus driver was very quiet and didn't speak much English. However, he was a great driver adn we all appreciated his expertise as he wound all around the countryside and through switchbacks and hair-pin turns that almost took your breath away. The views were often spectacular but the sharp drops down the side of the cliffs were also noted by everyone. Again I have to comment on how hard these people work. The bus driver and tour guide started out at 4:30 a.m. and they didn't finish the day until almost 8 p.m. The bus driver of course got to sleep and relax while we were touring places and the tour guide did occasionally sleep on the bus.

We had two families on the tour and the kids were so well behaved it was absolutely amazing. Two days on a bus tour and I don't think we heard a peep out of any of them except the littlest at the very end as they were trying to wake him up. The one family of 5 was a Muslim family originally from Pakistan but now from England. I have never seen such quiet and respectful, yet fun-loving children (perhaps 3, 5 and 7) and the mother was wonderful with them and had the most beautiful smile. She remained covered at all times but did go in swimming with the family even in her long coverings. The father was very frendly and good with the children as well. There was another family of 4 from England and they were much quieter and reserved but again the kids (perhaps 6 and 8) kept themselves entertained and they were very well behaved. There was also a family of 3 from England with a teenage child. Dad in that group was most entertaining. And there was a young couple from England who were always there to help me if the going got rough or I wanted a picture from somewhere I couldn't reach. And the last couple was from Belgium where he runs a pub and she plays violin for Andre Rieu. It was interesting talking to her about her travels, especially their recent North American tour and her impressions. It may sound like a great time to see so many different places but the schedule weemed almost unbearable to me. Anyway, the whole point of this discussion was that it was a great group to spend two days wtih.

We travelled through rugged mountans and hills with incredibly winding roads. We saw rocks and pine trees forever. I really don't know how those pine trees survive at the top of sheer rock cliffs but they seem to do well - not tall but still surviving. And then suddenly we were on flat plateaus that were rich with agricultural activities and fruit and vegetables of every type. It was another hot day and there were people in the fields bent over the cucumbers and putting stakes in the tomato plants. I was hot in my air-conditioned bus just watching them. The corn was high and had my mouth watering for a good cob of corn, which I never did find in Turkey other than BBQ'd on the street. The landscape was totally different but the mountains were always in the background and soon you were right back in them. We went through dozens of small villages and towns and several larger cities. And then we were back in the mountains enjoying incredible views at every turn and the sea was never far from our view. Parts of the trip seemed like the Okanagan - dry hills and pine forests and dry dirt and pine needles on the forest floor. Part of it seemed like the prairies with grain fields and the mountains in the background, and part of it was of course the sea coast - sometimes beautiful beaches and sometimes rugged rocky coastlines. I'm not sure where I'd put the palm trees or the cotton fields or the olive groves in Canada but other than that it all looked pretty familiar.

Do we have pine honey in Canada? They had it everywhere in Turkey and now I'm seeing it in Prague too. Despite the fact that we have lots of pine trees, I just don't remember hearing of pine honey. Supposedly it is healthier than honey from flowers and because of the process used, it never crystalizes like the kind we get. That sounds like a real plus to me. I guess I'll have to check that out when I get home. Anyway, throughout the mountainous areas there were bee boxes everywhere and the bee keepers were often out there in their white suits collecting the honey. It's definitely big business in Turkey. I even had to try a honey pancake one afternoon for a snack. They spread honey on a huge tortilla (at least that's what it looks like) and fold it a few times and then grill it. It was good but I kept wondering what the cheese one would have tasted like. I tried one somewhere else a couple days later and while I was thinking chedder cheese so a kind of toasted cheese sandwich, what I got was chunks of feta and spice. It was good, just not what I was expecting.

When I asked about logging, having seen no evidence of any clear cutting or any other form of logging but seeing cut and often peeled logs at the side of the road, I was informed that it is done by individuals in the villages. The appropriate Ministry marks the trees to be harvested and then individuals buy licenses to do the work in their area. They then cut the trees and get them to the side of the road where the appropriate people come and take them away to the mills. In other words it's pretty low tech in the forests from what I could tell. Most of the homes are cement or brick so there is not a lot of construction from wood in the areas I saw.

I should also comment that a lot of the houses had two barrels and two solar panels on the roof. Apparently power is so expensive that most people opt to go solar, and when they have almost continuous sunshine that works well. In some subdivisions and indeed some whole towns, every house had the same set-up on the roof so someone came up with a good idea there. As to the power, I should also say that it isn't always reliable. My first encounter with a black out was when I was in the shower. However, our hotel had a back-up generator which very quickly kicked into gear so I was okay, and luckily someone had warned me earlier. I wouldn't say it happened every day but certainly the power was out at least every third day - sometimes just for a few minutes and sometimes longer. With a back-up generator you were okay but some of the smaller restaurants didn't do so well when the power went out at a peak dining time.

The other thing that was noticable during our travels was that there were very clearly labelled water stations. At these stations there were simply water taps that obviously tapped into the underground streams and people then had access to fresh water. Sometimes in the smaller villages you would see people walking for some distance and queued up to get the water. I don't know whether that meant they had no water at all in their homes or just no fresh stream water for drinking.

Most restaurants and stores were not air conditioned - at least not as we know it. Most of the restaurants we stopped at were used extensively by tour operators and would seat 100s of people. They were just open-air settings and the breeze was the main air conditioning although a couple of them did have misters about 6 feet overhead and if it got too hot they would simply turn the misters on and that was quite refreshing. The food was alwasy buffet style on this bus trip and it was excellent. All of the food in Turkey was great but much of it seemed very similar to what we eat. I wonder if it wouldn't have been different in a less touristy destination. They certainly eat more lamb and less beef, and they eat watermelon at every meal and aubergine in dozens of different ways. I didn't even know what it was so had to ask. If they had said eggplant I would have understood. Olives were also prevalent at every meal and lots of fish.

One other thing I noticed on the trip was the big white patches in the side of the green / brown hillsides. What they turned out to be was sections of marble that was being manufactured or mined - whatever you do with marble. They definitely had a lot of marble around as even washrooms in the middle of nowhere had the most beautiful marble floors and counters. Little restaurants and shops the same. It was obviously a very common and supposedly inexpensive building material. And judging by some of the ruins that I will eventually get around to telling you about, it has been a popular building material for hundreds of years.

Alright, let's get on to Ephesus trip. Just before we went to Ephesus proper we up to Panaya-Kapulu, 9 km up a very winding road to a beautiful green secluded area at the top of Nightingale Mountain (at least it was all green before the fire, which I spoke about in my last blog). This is where the virgin Mary supposedly came with St. John to live after Jesus was crucified, and where she died. The House of St. Mary has been restored and it is now a church that was dedicated to St. Mary in the 9th century. It is very small but beautiful. There are fountains below the church and lovely gardens all around. It is a very peaceful and secluded area and certainly would have been a great place for the Christians to hide away when needed. There is a Church of St. Mary at Emphesus itself but I did not see it so this is the one I will remember.

Ephesus proper is several miles from this mountaintop. Ephesus was a city of about 250,000 people and had an outdoor theatre for 25,000. It was built and rebuilt several times and controlled by many different groups - the Amazons warriors of Greek mythology about 2000 BC, the Ionians in the 11th century BC, the Athenians in 400 BC, the Persians in 300 BC and the the Romans in 200 BC, to name a few. At one time Ephasus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia and later Asia Minor. Some of the names tied to the city over the years include King Croesus, King Androclos, the philosopher Heraclitus and Alexander the Great. I'm afraid that other than the last one, they don't mean much to me! In early AD, figures from Christianity appear as well. Excavations have been taking place in the area for over 100 years and will continue for many more years as there is so much to uncover and classify.

The ruins are huge and you could spend days trying to cover the whole site. Harbour Street, Marble Road and Curetes Street are the main thoroughfares. These lead to the huge theatre where they do still have concerts with no amplification required because the accoustics are so good from centre stage. The theatre is built into the side of the hill and from the port or Harbour Street lt is the dominating feature of the city. The stage area is large and could accommodate both people and animals when required. While the young couple climbed to the top row of the theatre, the Belgium guy from our tour carried on a conversation with them and he was barely talking loud enough for the rest of us standing on stage to hear.

The Celsus Library, or at least the facade that exists, is very impressive with two stories of marbled columns with each story at least 12 feet high, and four statues on the front. You can almost imagine how beautiful it was in its time - 135 AD. Not much remains of Artemis Temple, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, but the area is marked out. Much of the entrance to the Temple of Hadrian still exists with its columns and orate ddecorations.

The brothel was obvioulsy a very popular place as it is in a prominent location and had large bath areas for cleanliness. There are also bath houses with several pools in them for differing temperatures. Oh yes, there were thermal streams in the area so there was lots of readily available hot water. And you had both private and public bath areas. Even the latrine which were made of marble have survived. For those rich or important folks, someone would heat the marlbe for you before you had to sit down. For other less fortunate people, you had to sit on the cold marble. But they did have entertainment for you while you were doing your business so that was a nice feature. And apparently back then the latrine was a very popular place for doing business or commerce transactions, as strange as that might sound now.

There is a marble relief of Nike and I have to confess that I didn't realize that Nike shoes had any connection with mythology, or if I knew it I had forgotten. The Nike symbol definitely showed up anywhere her statue appeared. Many houses have been uncovered both large and small for the important and less important people of the city. Most were off limits when we were there so we really couldn't see much of the detail. There were lots of faint frescoes but not many were totally intact.

The small theatre would seat 1,500 people and was auite intact. One source told us it was for smaller plays or concerts. Another said it was where the governing body met. Perhaps it served both purposes. There were market areas and churches and fountains and monuments and lots of gates. As you walked through the site it was hard to visualize how it all fit together so it was a good thing we had our trusty guide with us to tell us what was what. We only had about 2.5 hours here and stayed on the main route. You could easily spend an entire day or more if you were to wanter to all the various spots uncovered throughout the area. The currently excavated site goes for miles and miles. Who knows what else they will find and how big it really was. All I know is that it is definitely impressive with all the marble and stone and carvings. It's hard to believe that parts of it could be 4000 years old.

The only thing that could have made the visit to Ephasus better would have been some cooler weather. It was about 38* C when we were there so it was hot and there is not much shade. We went straight to our hotel after Ephasus but it was still a drive of several hours and we arrived at sunset. We were all looking forward to cooling off in the pool. So what did we do? We all met in the thermal pool and got even hotter!!! Actually the pool was quite relaxing so it was okay. And we were at a 4 star hotel so there was good air conditioning when we returned to our rooms. Following our dip in the pool we all went down to dinner and had a quick evening before we all collapsed from exhaustion. There were 5 pools to enjoy (2 thermal/3 regular and 2 indoor/3 outdoor) and lots of entertainment in the evening but I don't think anyone had energy for any of that.

The next day we got to sleep in until 7:30 and then we were up for breakfast and an 8:30 departure. It was that morning that we went to the Mosque, which I have already described. Then we went directly to Pamukkale, which was only a few minutes away and we spent several hours there. I wanted to see Pamukkale because of hte limestone deposits and the beautiful landscape. I had no idea that I was in for another archeological tour as well as the ruins of Hierapolis are in the same place.

Pamukkale is sometimes called the cotton castle and I can certainly see why. It is like piles and piles of white. It looks like snow or ice or a glacier and it's huge. There are beautiful blue / white waters and pools all over that you can wade through on hundred of terraces. The hot springs that flow through this area contain limestone particles and a high level of carbon dioxide. This water has turned the rocks white and created pools and terraces that go on for great distances. It's absolutely beautiful but almost impossible to describe. The terraces are very slippery so they suggested I not go too far out on them. Instead I wandered around the point and looked at the deposits on both sides flowing down into the valley and it was incredibly beautiful. Again I took way too many pictures but hopefully some of them will turn out well so you'll be able to know what I'm talking about.

The city of Hierapolis was founded by Eumenes II, king of Pergamum around 200 BC. They have been excavating the ruins for over 50 years and what they are finding is quite impressive. I took time to go into the museum which is housed in the old bath house which is huge. There are statues and sarcophagi from late BC and early AD years. There are also coins and pottery and jewelry. There are faded frescos from some of the buildings, especially from the theatre building, which had some very old scenes on them. Everything that has been uncovered was ornately decorated and very beautiful.

Again the area is huge. The theatre was about 2 km up the hilll from the pools and museum so I did not make it up there. It was large enough to seat 12,500 people and the population of the city was around 125,000. It will be interesting to see what this area is like after another 50 years of excavation because there is so much that has yet to be uncovered.

They have thermal pools here so I also managed to go in for a swim. The pool is actually over an old main street that was destroyed in an earthquake so as you swim around you have to climb over marble columns and ornately decorated pieces of marble. This area and the thermal pools have been used continually since Roman times and probably before so it's another piece of ancient history that I had never heard of. The city as they think it was laid out is quite impressive on a rectangular grid street system. The baths and pool were in the centre of the town with markets and homes around in other areas. On the outskirts of town (or where I imagined the outskirts to be) there was a huge cemetery with lots of old tombs and sarcophagi.

Pamukkale / Hierapolis was very impressive and I thought 2.5 hours was more than enough time for what I would see. However, I was wrong. I just wandered around the pools and didn't actually go out into them. I went through the museum very quickly but toured none of the actual ruins, and I only had a few minutes for a quick dip in the pool. You definitely need more time to see this place too. It was fascinating and certainly worth the visit no matter how short.

In case you are wondering why we didn't spend more time at these places and what we did with the rest of our days, well we travelled. Ephesus is a long way from Oludeniz and Pamukkale is several hours from Ephesus and Ephesus is even further from Oludeniz. The drive was broken up well with meals and breaks and other smaller tours though. We went to a leather outlet, an onyx factory and a carpet factory and they were all interesting and enjoyable although I never would have believed them to be.

The leather factory was first and they started with a fashion show with three models and some pretty upbeat music to show off their products. They had some beautiful stuff and this was a great way to get us interested. However, I have to confess that I was the only sucker who actually bought anything. I bought a light-weight, silk leather bomber jacket in a wine colour and it is quite lovely if I do say so myself. I certainly didn't need it in Turkey but I have worn it several times since leaving Turkey. And it rolls up into a little ball for packing and still looks great after so I think it was a great bargain.

The onyx factory was interesting because they showed us some raw onyx and then took it through a simple grinding (?) process to shape it into an egg and then polished it for us. The quality and colour of their onyx is superb, not that I'm an expert or anything, but it was gorgeous is blues and greens and other colours. The light would shine clearly through the pieces and the patterns and detail were exquisite. They had one that combined onyx and petrified wood and it was really interesting. You could have wine goblets that looked like wood but rang like fine china and were very sturdy. They also had some with shells and little insects in it and that was also very unique. I didn't buy anything here because it was all too heavy for me to carry around!

The carpet factory was also very interesting as they had several ladies in the shop working on various projects. Carpets are big business in Turkey and this particular company has several outlets and employs over 5,000 workers. The lady at the wool spinning wheel was so serene and relaxed looking that it was amazing. She was old but had the most beautiful soft face and gentle eyes and smile. The other workers were generally younger. They can stay at a station for half an hour only because of the way they have to sit so have to take regular breaks. They work 4 hour shifts maximum and can come in any time they wish so sometimes there are lots of ladies working and sometimes there are very few. They get paid monthly according to the number of rows they finish on their assigned job and I have a feeling that they don't make a lot. Some of them were working on small tapestries and others were working on huge carpets. I have no idea how they keep track of what they are doing. Of course they were doing a Turkish double knot because that's what Turkey is known for.

The carpets are cotton or silk or a mix thereof. They showed us the silk worms and the phases they go through. We actually got to hold a silk worm but most people dropped it immediately when it was placed in their hand because it is vibrating and feels very strange. I did not drop the poor thing but I must admit that it was a weird sensation. It was white and looked like a large jelly bean but it was softer feeling nad it vibrated. They showed us how they reached in with a special brush and gathered the threads and draped them over a spool to start gathering the silk threads. It was quite amazing. This factory had 60 rooms and they all appeared to be busy. They showed us at least 50 carpets as we were all together and then, if you express an interest in a particular size or type, they take you off to another one of the rooms that has just that type of carpet. It was quite a process but I don't think they made any sales from our group. If I ever want to buy a carpet in the future I would certianly keep them in mind though because they had some incredibly beautiful items.

Oh my, this is taking a long time. However, I think I am now done my two-day tour. Thus we only have one more tour to do and that is the Dalyan River Cruise. It had two different parts to it as well as the usual bus ride to and fro and lunch part way though. The first part was a boat ride up to the mud baths where we spent several hours. The mud baths were actually quite fun but also rather embarassing. We left all our stuff with our tour guide and wandered off to a literal pool of mud. It was very slippery so hard to get into, and even harder to get out of when you were totally covered from head to toe with mud. The mud was very thick and gooey and there was no way you could sink in the pool. You just floated around in it. In fact, it was hard to get your feet back down to the bottom and actually stand up again when you wanted to. Anyway, we rolled around until we were totally muddy and then got out. I have to thank another nice young couple for helping me with this process because it really was slippery and I would never have made it without their help.

You do get to wash your feet off but that is all, and I think that is just because it is so slippery that it's safer for everyone if your feet aren't muddy. Then you go stand around like a bunch of zombies for 20-30 minutes until the mud has totally dried. After that you get to go to the showers - just cold water coming from pipes, probably about 5 holes per pipe and 10 pipes in total so there were lots of people all washing off at once. Now let me tell you that this was not an easy task. The mud went everywhere and somehow you had to get it out. It took forever, especially if you were wearing a one-piece suit with any kind of lining in it. I must have had 20 pounds of mud shoved into the lining of my suit and it just did not want to come out. Luckily everyone was laughing and having a really good time so no one really cared that you were looking like a fool trying to get mud from places that were literally unreachable. Now you might ask why one would want to go through this whole process and that is a very good question. Apparently the mud is very good for your skin and your system in general. I don't know about the internal side of things but I must admit that my skin did feel very nice following the process.

The second half of the excursion was to go by boat to the mouth of the Dalyan River. The boat ride took you through reeds that were sometimes low and then sometimes very high. At times you could see nothing but reeds on both sides of the boat. It is an interesting river with lots of channels through the reeds. Along the river there are stone cliffs and in the cliffs there are Lycian tombs that were carved out back in 400 BC. There are different types of tombs: some with columns out front were for the rich and those with windows were for families, etc. They were very large and impressive and would be totally unexpected (if you weren't expecting them) because there is nothing around them to explain their existence. They just seem to be there with nothing else around them and they look very out of place. I guess that's what makes them so unique.

At the mouth of the river there is a beautiful sandy penninsula and we stopped there for some swimming. The sand was incredibly hot and the sea side looked quite rough so I decided to stay on the "inside" or bay side. It was very calm and clear and I had several great swims. The area was beautiful and I took lots of pictures. The end of the sandbar is where the river actually joins the sea and it is too dangerous for swimming because of the currents. You can actually see by the colour of the water just how quickly it drops off in places. the sand was fine and white and the water was warm and there was a beautiful sea breeze blowing so it was perfect. The only thing that would have made it better would have been some turtles but none of them came out for a visit.

While the mud bath was a fun and unique experience and the swim was nice, this was my least favourite tour. The 12 Island was my favourite for relaxation and a meditteranean experience and the Ephesus / Pamukkale was best from a new and historical perspective. Dalyan was only a couple hours in each place and yet took up a good 12 hours from beginning to end. It also probably didn't help that the boats were small and crowded and noisy where everything else had been so peaceful. I find I'm definitely turning into someone who likes peace and quiet. I think it has a lot to do with my hearing. The left ear may be totally useless for picking up and discerning sounds and conversations but it certainly isn't totally dead and it seems to just amplify other sounds so much that they become really distorted and annoying. Hence the peace and quiet really is enjoyable.

Now how on earth did I get off on that discussion. I really do jump around don't I? Well you'll be pleased to know that I now think I'm finished with my discussion of Turkey. All I can say at this point is that it was wonderful and I'd go back again any time. I only saw one small part of the country and I'm sure the rest is just as beautiful and interesting. I'd highly recommend this area to anyone.

Okay, that's it for now. Next time Prague and then perhaps a couple weeks rest as I actually have to work from the 12th to the 28th and will be with Okanagan College folks in Vienna, Bern, London, Athlone, Madrid, Hatfield and Brighton. It will be a hectic schedule so I and may not be sending many e-mails or blogs.

Cheers!

Jayne