"OLD STONES" or RELICS
And very apprehensive about the whole deal.
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| 1600 kilometres in a week |
Describing the trip to Nicky last night left us both in hilarious laughter at my lack of knowledge about the photographs I had taken (less than 200 in the week which must be considerably less when the group seemed to spend their time behing a numeric camera). What was the monument? What were we looking at. «Old Stones»
Changing hotel every night but once and visiting two if not more sites a day is exhausting to the say the least. With my knowledge of «old stones» by the end of the week I was seeing the same relic but in a different area.
There is an hours difference between central Europe and southern Turkey. The plane trip is 4 hours from Paris to Antalya. We arrived at 1am on a Tuesday morning. Having carefully read the day to day description, our first hotel was at 15 kilometres from the airport. The time to collect our cases and board the bus or buses as there were two groups doing the same trip (78 tourists in all and 34 in our bus), it was 2am. We are then informed by a rather grumpy guide that there was 1 and a half hours drive to the hotel. Did people sleep? I didn’t but did notice we were driving along the coast. Excitement. The sea! Upon arriving at a rather mediocre hotel and being given an equally mediocre welcome fruit juice, there was to be a scramble for the hotel rooms. One lift for the crowd. I was not in front. So decided to climb the stairs. Six flights later I found my room and by 5am heard the first call to «prayer».
The following morning I went to look at the beach which was a far cry from what I had seen in Portugal. But even at 7-30 the water was warmish. Would we be able to swim during the week?
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| Beach around 7-30 |
At 9 I took my case to the bus and the driver, a very nice looking Turk informed me after the initial introductions that he didn’t like «Maggie» but preferred to call me «Margherita». With that he kissed me on both cheeks which became a ritual every day. The group did not approve.
We were 5 women travelling alone but very quickly four of them integrated into the group. Accents are dissuasive with the French or I guess any nationality not used to hearing them. Those furtive looks did not help and two days later my accent was probably worse and opening my mouth at all was becoming an effort.
Our first stop was to see St. Nicholas in Fethiye. I started off with the Saint name of my daughter.
Saint Nicholas was born in Patara of Lycia about the middle of the third century, of devout and wealthy parents who provided him with a Christian upbringing and education. He was orphaned at an early age.
He is distinguished for his great faith, for his struggle in the name of Orthodoxy and especially for his charity.
His faith was so great, that with his prayer he calmed a stormy sea while on a trip to the Holy Lands. For this reason sailors pay homage to him as their protector.
Especially well known is his charity and his love for children. He used his great wealth to relieve all who were in need: poor families, widows, and especially orphans and poor children. For this same purpose he founded, as Bishop, a poorhouse, hostelries, and a hospital.
In the West especially he is considered as the great patron Saint of children and the cheerful giver of gifts under the name Santa Claus.
Well I had learnt something. Saint Nicholas had been born in Turkey and he was the patron saint of children and sailors. Extremely rich. I wish my daughter had had the same fortune.
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| Inside of his church |
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| The dome |
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| Inside an arch |
From the look of the statue in the main square he could also be «up-dated».
The group disappeared to buy, buy buy on the market stalls. I bought a toothbrush having left mine in Paris and it cost twice as much as in our local supermarket. Anyway, I was not interested in buying. I pointed out to a few people that on our market in Paris we had Turkish stalls and from what I could see there was nothing new for me to buy. Another foolish remark.
After lunch we moved onto Myra.
But there is something to say about the meal time package for the trip. The basic package was for the plane, hotels and breakfast. Less than 200€. For young people on a small salary this is fantastic. Then if you paid a little more you had dinner as well plus a couple of excursions. The ROYAL rate gave you the right to entrance for all the excursions, lunch and dinner as well. I took the Royal package as the guide informed us very abruptly that in many of the stops there would be nowhere to eat at lunch time unless you had the full deal. The group did NOT approve of the way he treated those who did not invest in the Royal package and made them feel it.
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| Waiting for the group and to talk |
From my point of view this was a good idea as I could wander around and look without having people around me. However, what was I looking at? Most of the time I did not know. The descriptions translated from Turk into English were so «word for word» that most of the time quite impossible to decipher. They certainly made me smile, but I didn’t learn too much.
MYRA
The date of Myra's foundation is unknown. There is no literary mention of it before the 1st century BC, when it is said to be one of the six leading cities of the Lycian Union It is believed to date back much further however, as an outer defensive wall has been dated to the 5th century BC.
The city is well known for its amphitheatre (the largest in Lycia) and the plethora of rock-cut tombs carved in the cliff above the theatre.
The tombs, I gather, were also built before someone left for the other side and in function of wealth and position. Was it here that we learnt that the head of the family killed the rest of the family in the tomb if invaders arrived? I can’t be sure.
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| The theatre |
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| Some tombs in rocks |
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| Leaving the theatre |
It may have been the following day that we visited another Roman and then Byzantine town.
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| Caunos - Roman and the Byzantine...Steps? |
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| Really steps this time |
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| I understand steps |
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| Baths |
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| Rock tombs |
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| And more |
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| A WOMAN skipper |
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| Izutuzu beach before the wind hit us |
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| From the bus with the storm about to break |
EPHESUS
In the late 80’s I had been on a cruise around the Greek islands and one stop had been to Kusadasi. I remembered a site which I had visited. For two reasons. There was the famous stone for the recognition of medicine. The snake curling around the staff.
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| Snake in Ephesus museum |
The other event I could remember was in the antique theatre. It was the end of the afternoon, the sun was setting. We were a group of 10 to 20 people. Suddenly a violin started playing. The silence that reigned for about ten minutes was magic. Later we learnt that the musician was Yehudi Menuhin rehearsing for a concert to be held that evening.
Then I was before that stone and saw the theatre. So, I had visited Ephesus some 25 years ago. There were only two photos I could find this morning and certainly they showed that the site was not «cleaned». Today the site has been polished and signs are all over the place. The history of Ephesus covers centuries. I am not about to summarize it as there are enough web pages to do that for me.
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| The stone I remembered |
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| Right hand side of same stone |
Just one or two points all the same.
The theatre was started in 41-45 AD and completed during the reign of Trajan in 98-007AD (reference guide book). Roman and holds 25,000 people. The accoustics as I recalled the music played all those years ago were excellent.
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| In the Theatre |
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| Down to the stage |
The Celsus library had not been cleaned when I was first there and today it shines in beauty at the end of the Curetes Street.
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| The library |
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| Curetes Street |
Originally built as a tomb in honor of Celssus the Roman senator it housed some 12,000 rolled papyri.What is nice too that on the first floor facade there are four female statues representing wisdom, fortune, knowledge and virtue. Women are not featured too often in such relics.
The latrines are quite something too. But I guess if everyone was sitting around and chatting in long clothes, it was taken for granted.
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| Just a few seats |
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| Market street |
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| The group in front of the library |
What charmed me was this sign.
The ODEON - a theatre too as we have one in Paris. But such a modern indication of where to find those «old stones» which was a theatre too.
And of course you can't escape it.....
What I really did love was the Ephesus museum which has a very rich collection of finds. Usually such museums are dusty and cluttered. This one had space and findings were beautifully presented both indoors and in the gardens.
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| Display window in museum |
The Eors collection is quite beautiful as are the marbles of Artemis. Her temple is in ruins at Ephesus .
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| Eros |
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| Eros |
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana.
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| Artemis in all her slendor |
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| Artemis |
There was another series of sites we visited that day. A Basilica, a Mosque and another temple. I was beginning to get a little bored with «old stones» but only because my imagination does not work this way.
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| Maquette of the Basilica as it was |
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| And as we see it |
Pamukkale was a breath of fresh air.
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| A breath of fresh air |
Tourism is and has been a major industry. People have bathed in its pools for thousands of years. As recently as the mid-20th century, hotels were built over the ruins of Heropolis, causing considerable damage. An approach road was built from the valley over the terraces, and motor bikes were allowed to go up and down the slopes. When the area was declared a World Heritage Site, the hotels were demolished and the road removed and replaced with artificial pools. Wearing shoes in the water is prohibited to protect the deposits. |
| Overlooking the Taurus range of mountains |
A small group of us climbed up to Saint Philips Martyrium where apparently he spent the last years of his life. There is some talk that he was beheaded and his remains are still there. I would like to believe that the pilgrims visited him and that there were areas giving over to them during the visits. But high up on that hill there was a peaceful filling and the small area touched me considerably.
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| Martyrium |
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| Martyrium |
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| Looking down from the Matyrium |
The description we were given of Hierapolis was scanty. I retained little or nothing at all. The theatre was extremely impressive as most of the theatres are. Especially as many of them are still used for productions or concerts.
The visit was coming to an end. Another hotel but I swam in the pool despite the 17 degrees. And the following day we were to see carpets, gold and silver. Industries which are important for Turkey.
We were informed that the main industries were financing these trips to Turkey and it was in our interest to buy. Of course the guide gets a commission but being made to feel guilty because most of the group did not purchase, carpets, gold, silver or leather goods and put group members off completely. I don’t blame them. I did buy a couple of things but had «budgeted» this before I left. Knowing exactly what I want too helps a lot. One of the sales men informed me that I was not a good customer as I knew what I wanted. They all preferred the «lookers» who they could persuade. It gave me the chance though to speak to three of the salesmen who were all born in France but had returned to Turkey to work.
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| Putting the wool into balls |
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| Silk worms take 45 days to breed and then silk is made |
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| Working with colour |
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| She worked very fast |
But it must be said that the Display given for the leather was quite something. Especially the male mode. I called out in a loud voice "very sexy".
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| On he comes |
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| I called out "sexy" |
Finally Perge which was also under reconstruction. I asked one of the engineers in the group if we had invented too much concerning the underground heating systems. No, he said, we learnt from these people. A couple of centuries BC.
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| Underground heating system |
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| The fountain in Perge |
What had I learnt from this trip? Fortunately I had been able to meet a couple of young teachers early in the trip and had joined them for meals and a birthday drink in one very kitch hotel.
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| Frank and David - both teachers |
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| The single travellers in Perge |
A little later the four single women accepted me and we did quite a bit together. So I guess if I make the effort I could travel in an organized group. I would again if someone joined me. Capaddoce is on the list. With such an organization I know what to expect. We were off every morning at an early hour and visited each site in excellent conditions. The hotels were palatial tourist traps on the whole but most of them very comfortable.
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| Laurel and Hardy and one hotel |
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| Some visits could have been interesting but unfortunately the lower part of the town was a sales trap |
I love Instanbul.
Some of the coast line is spectaculor. There were hours spent in the bus. In the southern part of Turkey along the Mediterranean and the the Aegean coast I could have been anywhere where there were «old stones». I did not feel that I was in a particular country. Is that because I was traveling in a group?
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