Fifth Post From Türkiye: Summer Vacation

I have been dragging my feet on this one. Not because it wasn't a fun vacation, because it totally was, but because we took sooooo many pictures and I dreaded sorting them and editing them. But since Jack comes home every night and asks me if I finished my blog post, I guess I better hop to it!

We had a few days of for the end of Ramazan (Ramadan), or Şeker Bayramı (Sugar Feast), so we decided to take our summer vacation to the Aegean Sea, with stops at oh-so-many Roman ruins as well. First of all we had to decide how to get to the sea, we thought about flying, or taking the over-night train, or even the over-night bus (10 hours sitting up on a bus! Yikes). We finally just decided to rent a car and drive ourselves. Which was a great idea (mine, of course!), since that would free us up to see more out of the way sights. So with bags packed and Harry Potter on CD we were ready.

Our first stop was recommended to us by a Turkish guy Jack works with. We have been wanting a bigger Kilim (woven rug) for our living room, and he told Jack about this town along our route where they have a weaving co-op where we could get a good deal. It was great advice! Of course we got a little mixed up in the town, but when we stopped to ask directions a local guy just jumped in with us to tell us where to go, then he jumped out and walked back to town. The shop was pretty cool and the lady there gave us a demonstration. We liked a few and ended up mulling it over during our trip and then stopping back to purchase on our way home.

From there we continued to our first "real" stop, Pamukkale!!

Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) is a natural hot springs and terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is really white and beautiful. There are also the ruins of the ancient city Hierapolis. People have been coming to bath in the waters for thousands of years.

Here are the highlights:

Swimming in a hot-spring filled with ancient Roman columns!

Walking on the natural terraces with about a million tourists!

Our Hotel's outdoor restaurant! The food was good and I want a patio like this one day!

Hieropolis, besides the hot-springs, it is also the city where the Apostle Phillip spent the last years of his life and where he was killed. There are ruins of a tomb that is reported to be his and a Martyrium for Phillip built in the 5th century as well as a theater and other building remains.

 Lizard!

 The tomb, with scaffolding of course.

Martyrium

Our next stop was Aphrodisias. 

This is a great sight and it is a little out of the way so there are not a lot of tourists around.

Highlights:

 Monumental gateway, or tetrapylon

 The Stadium

 Temple of Aphrodite

 (Umm, yeah, it was REALLY hot so I had to buy an enormous hat for shade.)

 The bouleuterion (council house), or odeon

 Baths (sad he lost his cheek!)

Wall of Faces (we named it that)

Next we went to Ephesus. You can read about Ephesus in The New Testament (hello, Epistle to the Ephesians) and it is believed that John wrote the Gospel of John here. Ephesus is a great sight but every tourist group makes a stop here so it can get crowded. We got there as soon as it opened and had a little time before the buses rolled in.

Highlights:

 The Theater (this was amazing, so huge!)

 Road to the Sea

 (except the bay silted in so the sea isn't there any more. Side-note, why am I standing like such a weirdo in this picture?)

  Library of Celsus

 Public Toilets (really public!)

 Jack couldn't pass up the opportunity and didn't let the rope stop him!

Lion Faces.

Did I mention it was hot?? Because it was soooo hot. Jack actually allowed some time for swimming at the beach. We tried a beach that the locals recommended first, but it wasn't great, so we went to a different one we liked better. The locals think it is too windy, but we thought the breeze felt good. I only got pictures at the first beach. 

Near Ephesus is the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers. I think the story goes that some early Christians were walled up in a cave they were sleeping in because of their beliefs and then 180 years later they woke up and became saints. I am not very clear on this obviously but we went to see it anyway.

 Oh, man! A turkey in Turkey!

 Just because it's cool!

A lady making some Yufka.

We also went to the House of the Virgin Mary. According to legend, when John came to Ephesus he brought Mary with him and in the 1800's a nun had visions of her house and they found the foundations of this house in 19th century. Now it is a pilgrimage site. 

 There were a lot of people there. It was a little crazy. There were all of these tourists wandering around and a poor priest was trying to hold a service.

 Water believed to have healing power. Jack drank some, we shall see...

Wishing Wall

Dude, this post be getting long! But I must forge onward!

We went up to Şirince, an old Greek village in the hills. We had heard from lots of people and guide books about this quaint town, were we would see little ladies doing needle work that they would be willing to sell to us. Well maybe that is how it was 10 years ago, now it is touristy to the extreme! It was also packed with people. However, if you wander off the main road it is still quaint and beautiful.

We hit three other sites in one day.

Priene, which was probably my favorite. It is up in the mountains, with lots of pine trees, it was quiet with only a handful of other visitors.

 Temple of Athena

VIP

Miletus (mentioned in the Book of Acts chapter 20), has the most amazing theater, with the tunnels intact and open to explore. I am also pretty sure a local goatherd shelters his goats in there!

Didyma was our 3rd stop, mostly it is just the Temple of Apollo that you can see. But it is/was enormous. The pillars really are amazing!

Another example of excellent Turkish to English translation on a sign.

We spent an afternoon in Kuşadası. It is beautiful harbor city, with lots of touristy shopping for people getting off the boats from Greece.

 Do you want to rent a boat?

 We heard this castle was cool so we walked across the causeway to see it and it was, of course, closed.

This kid was like, "Hey, where are you from?" When I told him I was from the US he insisted I take his picture and then I had to take a picture of his friends. SO here they are America!

We stayed in a town called Selçuk. It was a great place to stay and had some sites of it's own as well.

 Basilica of Saint John

 Just hanging out, knitting.

John's Tomb????

 Our hotel had a rooftop restaurant, where you could sit to watch the sunset. This is how we look after a day out.

 There is a Roman Aqueduct that runs through the town. It is topped with stork nests. And this is a typical site in Turkey, men hanging out shootin' the breeze with their çay (tea).

 İsa Bey Mosque built by the Aydinids in 1375.

 

 The Grand Fortress

 Temple of Artemis (once one of the Seven Wonders of the World now only one pillar is left)

View toward the Aegean.

So basically our vacation was totally awesome and Trum gives it 2 thumbs up.

The End or as they say in the Rowe Family, DEE DAW!

Fourth Post From Türkiye or How We Spent the Fourth of July or Our Trip to Konya

Konya!

We had a few days off for the Fourth of July. We figured we better make good use of the time, so we decided to go to Konya for the weekend. 

Konya is rich in history and significance. It was the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate and the Karamanids. It is also the headquarters of the Sufi Mevlevi Order and it's Whirling Dervishes. As you can imagine, Jack, was VERY excited to visit this city. We had a good time, saw lots of cool stuff and even learned a little bit. Just what you want for the Fourth of July!

We don't have our car yet so we decided to take a bus to Konya. This is the way most Turks travel between cities and it is pretty convenient. Jack booked us on kamil koç, which he says is the best. It was really nice, with drinks and snacks and Turkish TV or movies. The seats where pretty comfy and it was cheap as well, which is always important. 

Mevlana Museum

 The museum is the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian Sufi mystic also known as Mevlâna or Rumi. It was also the dervish lodge (tekke) of the Mevlevi order, better known as the whirling dervishes. If this were Jack's blog he would probably explain more but it's not so I will leave it up to you to learn more via Wikipedia or something if you so choose. 

This guy is not a real dervish, he was just posing for a picture, but my question is where did he get the hat and cloak?We want one as well!

A trio of dummies!

Aziziye Mosque

A beautiful mosque built in the Baroque style.

Wandering in the Markets.

 Oh, man! Let me just tell you about this picture. There was an old man sitting in the park with this little stand. In those jars, where some creatures swimming around, and do you know what they were? LEECHES! The best part is his sign, I think it says, Grandfather of the Leech and the Leech Doctor. So I am not sure if you buy leeches from him or just the use of his leeches. Either way I didn't try any of his wares.

Felt Man.

As we were headed back to the hotel, a guy called out to us in German from his shop. Then he came out and we told him we were not German. But he was willing and able to talk to us in English instead. We allowed ourselves to be persuaded to stop in his little rug shop. I wish I had a good picture of the owner he was an interesting fellow, and he had on some awesome white pants. They reminded me of Jimmy Fallon's "Tight Pants" skit. Anyway, we let him give us the whole routine and we ended up buying this Konya Kilim.

Second Day
So we decided to do a little side trip out to Çatalhüyük, and to get there we needed to find our way to the old bus station first. Needless to say we got lost. But we did get to see this groovy little vehicle and eventually we found an old man and his grandson who let us walk with them. Then of course when we got there nobody was quite sure when the dolmuş to Çatalhüyük would be going. So we ended up just taking a taxi. It cost $40 for the taxi to take us there and back, I thought that was pretty cheap for all of us to go out there. Jack felt this was vastly extravagant. Ah, well.  

Çatalhöyük  is an archeaology site that holds the remains of a Neolithic settlement believed to be among the world's oldest human communities. It was really fascinating to visit and fun to see all the American college students there digging away!

 They had a little experimental house built so you could see what the houses looked like when people lived in them.

 There was a free Turkish guide, he spoke terrific English and was really nice.

 I love this picture! These hand prints, that were for decoration and probably to remember a dead loved one, are from a woman who lived approximatly 9,500 years ago! Amazing!

I could seriously write so much about this site, it was really cool! 
As we were walking along, our guide told us that the site was later used by the Romans to make pottery and that all over the trail were little bits of pottery, that we had been walking on! We bent down and picked some up. Of course you can't keep them, you can just walk on them.

Now prepare yourself for some gratuitous agriculture photography!!!
This area of Turkey so reminded me of where I grew up in Idaho! As we were driving through the valley they were, harvesting grain, bailing straw and cutting the alfalfa! They grow a lot of the same crops as they do where I grew up and the area is watered with irrigation canals.

 A cement ditch?

 Sugar Beets!

Even a pivot! Of course, they don't grow sunflowers in the Magic Valley, but maybe they should!

 When we got back to town we walked around and looked at lots of different Mosques and museums, or Mosques that are now museums!

Alâeddin Mosque, built in the 12th century.

Some of the columns are recycled Roman columns.

 

Ince Minare Medrese, built during the time of the Seljuks. It's minaret was struck by lightening  in 1901. Now it is the Museum of Wooden Artifacts and Stone Carving.

  It has amazing carving around it's portal!

We searched for like two hours to find this museum, I think it was the Tombstone Museum. And then when we found it, it was inexplicably closed!

But that was okay because as we wandered around looking for it we stumbled onto some cool stuff. 

Like this little Madrasa from the Seljuk period.

We also found another amazing mosque portal and minaret from the same time period. The original mosque had been destroyed, but this remained and behind the new mosque was a great little museum. I can't remember the name. But it was terrific!

 In the museum they had some amazing rugs and kilims displayed on these large rolling panels.

 And there was a tomb with amazing tile work!

 

These fellows were just enjoying the afternoon in the back of a truck.

Sometimes, the translation is just not quite right.

That evening we walked out to the Mevlana Culture Center to see the Dervishes. Since it is Ramadan, the whirling started later than usual so we killed some time watching the sunset and Trum running around the outdoor facility.

 Eventually we did make it inside to see the Whirling Dervishes. It was really interesting and worth the wait.

The next morning we went to the Karatay Medresesi Museum before our bus ride home. It is another Seljuk building that is now the tile museum. 

 The Seljuk s where converts to Islam so some of their tiles have faces and figures on them.

It was a great little museum and we even enjoyed their courtyard. Trum was super excited about the grapes!

Last site in Konya: the Seljuk Statue.

And when we got home I, as usual, needed a vacation from our vacation, so the Trum and I have been hanging out at the house playing The Hobbit game on the Xbox. Oh, how our lives have changed since we came to Turkey...