Week 4
To Cappadocia and south to Mediterranean Sea
The Blue Mosque or SultanAhmet mosque is also under renovation, this one internally so we were restricted in what we could see. Nevertheless the amazing blue tiles that still cover much of the walls and the vastness of the structure was seen and appreciated.
Onto the bus, a 16 seater with little leg room, for our first leg of a 3,000 km journey around the western half of Turkey. The traffic was pretty heavy for the 90 minutes until we exited the city, through hills with apartment blocks by the thousands. We passed a heavy industrial area with a Hyundai car plant, a coal fired power station and numerous solar farms. The motorway was very European-like, 2 or 3 lanes, 120kph speed limits and lots of services, cafes and petrol stations. We stopped at a services for lunch then continued on into the mountains and into fairly intensive agriculture with a lot of cropping especially wheat.
Our destination was Beyaparazi, a settlement on the Silk Road, a major market town servicing Ankara and now a city of 50,000. It was a pleasant change from the Istanbul metropolis to this semi-rural setting, a spacious, modern hotel on the main street. We wandered up to a Living Museum to see Ottoman life in the 19thC, watching demonstrations of weaving and shamanist fortune telling. The architecture was very different, almost Swiss alps like, high windows and plenty of wood and plaster. We later ate a simple dinner in a traditional Turkish restaurant down near the river.
Day 23 To Cappadocia
During the mornings drive east, our guide Ata gave us his potted history of the Turkish revolution in the aftermath of WW1 and then the subsequent founding of the modern secular Turkish Republic. He's pretty proud of the manner in which Ataturk pulled forces together to defeat the Great Powers of Britain, France and Italy after the Ottoman Empire fell and then modernised all aspects of society and government against much opposition. In doing so the Turks turned their neighbours the Greeks into enemies and expelled millions of them. The city of Ankara was established by Ataturk's government as the seat of government because of it's central location.
The driving today was fairly long and a bit monotonous, south-east past Ankara into the Cappadocian Region. We only stopped in Ankara for petrol and ablution facilities and I don't think we missed much; over forty kilometres of high rise and highways on a high plain surrounded by hills. Our next stop was to pay homage to the country's biggest salt lake, Tuz Gulu along with hundreds of others. This lake provides the salt requirements of the country.
Our lunch stop was almost a highlight, luxurious toilets and good wholesome food with a bank of 8 ATMs - all the better to pay for balloon flying and other extraneous activities we've got coming up.
The road into Cappodocia climbed to 1200m, passing a mountain range with a smattering of snow.
Our first glimpse of the cones, hats and needles and the soft volcanic tuff rock around our destination of Goreme was a real eye-opener. It's like a fantasy land because it doesn't look like anything we'd ever seen before, almost like a child's playground in a larger dimension. This area has been settled for thousands of years, first by local tribes, then Greeks, Romans and onwards to present day Turks - all of whom lived in caves carved out of this soft rock.
The hotel we're installed in is relatively new but in common with many others in the town it has rooms carved from the surrounding rocks as well as suites of rooms built from rock quarried nearby. These blocks of quarried stone resemble limestone. A thunderstorm arrived as we did, soaking everything and immediately cooling the temperature. To complete the picture we have about 15 turkeys in an enclosure nearby, gobbling happily away.
Early in the evening we travelled to the Sarihan caravanserai to see an exhibition of Whirling Dervishes, a major part of Turkish custom and beliefs from the 13thC. The building was used by Silk Rd. travellers, it has an enclosed courtyard and sleeping rooms and would be locked up at night to deter robbers. The Sema ceremony was a hypnotic experience of 7 parts: starting slowly with a eulogy to the Prophet, followed by drums, a "ney" reed instrument, dervishes greetings and salutations before the whirling began in the fifth part which consisted of 4 salutes all to do with God and the Prophet. Finally the last 2 parts were reading of the Koran and a prayer. Very interesting to watch and impressed they don't get giddy! Years of training obviously.
We enjoyed a group dinner afterwards of local stew, either beef or chicken cooked in clay pots with salad, rice and mashed potato on the side.
Day 23 Ballooning or not?
Awake at 4am, to the hotel foyer in the drizzle, waiting for news of the hot-air ballooning flight that we'd paid for last night. Alas it was not to be! So we went back to bed for a couple of hours. These balloon flights have become such a big part of the tourism industry here, there can be over 100 balloons up at any one time.
After breakfast we were bussed out to commence a 2 hour stroll down into the valley, the only ones out there as the tourist buses stayed away from this area. It was a great walk, steep at times but with some amazing views of rock formations and carved out sections where pigeons were housed. The pigeons were kept for their eggs (mosaic glazing) and their droppings (fertiliser).
Then we journeyed to Goreme Open Air Museum, a monastic complex of cave buildings including over 20 churches. This was one of earliest centres of religious education beginning around 900AD. and some of the chapel art is exquisite with many frescoes. Its a unique location and the fact it has been preserved like it has is a tribute to the Turks sense of history.
The rest of the day was freed up from any activities or excursions so we had a light lunch, relaxed and wandered around town. One of the beauties of Intrepid travel is the free time afforded in their itineraries, plenty of relaxation.
The sound of the muezzin sometimes surprises us because for the most part there is no real outward sign of Islam except the odd minaret and religion doesn't intrude on everyday life as a visitor. Turks are so friendly, not obsequious at all, just genuinely nice, open people who love having visitors. Tourism was hit badly by the bombings and coup of 2016 and they are keen to welcome more tourists. Tour guides have to do four years of study to become accredited and have an annual accreditation.
Day 24 Underground City to Religious City
A short ride from Goreme is the underground city of Kaymakli, one of a number in the area. We descended four levels through narrow passageways, animals were kept on the first level, wine production and the kitchen was on the second with living quarters below. There are another three levels that are being excavated which we were unable to visit. There was a air shaft just wider than a man's shoulders with steps to climb above and check for invaders or below to other levels. These settlements were mainly built to hide from aggressors by the Hittites and Phrygians around 1200BC. The rooms were of average height so it was easy to walk around and the ceilings had the evidence of pick excavation on the soft rock. There is some evidence these settlements were used at times in preceding centuries, their condition is remarkable and evidence again of the Turkish authorities determination to look after their history.
Today's drive was across a long plateau to Konya, a substantial city from the Silk Road which has seen much development of late, such that except for the inner city it is a continuous line of high rise suburbia. We stopped at a small town, Aksaray, and walked around Sultanhani Caravanserai built in the early 1200's with a magnificent front gate and huge walls to protect the travelling traders. In Konya the Mevlana Museum is a mausoleum and mosque for Rumi, a Sufi mystic and philosopher whose work later inspired the Whirling dervishes, as we visited on Friday, the Moslem holy day, it was full of visitors.
Our hotel was modern and central, near the electric tramline and a short distance to dinner of Turkish pide and salad.
Day 25 Down to the Med
We departed Konya early as the drive was fairly long, our destination has a fair amount of interest and we are only staying one day. The scenery was some of the most spectacular seen so far in Turkey as we traversed the Taurus Mountains on our way south. There was little habitation except in a few valleys, although nomadic herders still come up in summer with their sheep and goats and move back down in the cold winters. Where towns existed we saw banks of plastic covered greenhouses, almost mini-cities of plastic; cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, all the essentials for Turkish palates. As we descended to the coast we stopped and bought locally grown bananas and figs at a market stall.
Antalya is the major city on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, a former Roman port and haven for pirates who roamed this area preying on the small coastal vessels who traded here. The city is now a major holiday destination, therefore the coast is lined with hotels and resorts. We stayed in the old city, now a historical zone, full of winding alleys and 2 storey houses, shops and hotels. Our hotel was near the water and close to plenty of restaurants and bars. We had a big late lunch all together before having the afternoon and evening to ourselves.
The heat and humidity was pretty high and something we hadn't experienced on the trip so far. The Stans were hot, but very dry however here the sweat poured off us and doing much exercise was hard work. We ventured out late in the afternoon down to the harbour which was full of replica pirate boats and had a walk around the walls. Sally found a replacement red handbag for her faithful Aachen green one bought in Europe in 2016.
Day 26 West to Kas
After another very good Turkish breakfast (always plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, bread, tea & coffee) we visited the Antalya Museum. It has a priceless collection of Stone Age , Bronze Age and Roman artefacts all very well displayed over 13 galleries. The Roman statues are amazing, hundreds of marble and stone ones of Emperors, workers and Gods in very good condition.
On the road east we had another great sightseeing journey as we negotiated around the rocky headlands and bright blue bays with mountains looming just above. The Med looks pristine and it is well used as every small beach has cars and swimming visitors.
We lunched in the forest at a restaurant spanning several levels that houses a trout farm. We had to have the baked trout, a good choice with lots of Turkish bread, dips and salad. The food has been tremendous throughout the holiday, we are now starting to maintain some caution around quantities and we often order something to share because the helpings can be too much. Every meal comes with salad and bread and often we get a few starters like hommus.
Kas (pronounced Karsh) is a small town clinging to the side of a spectacular bay. It overlooks a large island, Kastellorizo, only a few kilometres away, that belongs to Greece. This historical anomaly came about at the end of the Ottoman Empire when the Turks were pressured to give many of the islands off the coast away to the Greeks in an exchange. Our hotel room has the best view we've had on this trip - 4 levels up and one street away from the water with a view across the town, the bay and Kastellorizo.
We enjoyed a great sunset at the Roman amphitheatre on the edge of Kas and then dinner in town in the evening. Then we did some more shopping for gifts, there's plenty of tourist trinket stalls here.
To Cappadocia and south to Mediterranean Sea
Day 22 Into the Turkish countryside
Our first couple of hours was an orientation for everyone about Istanbul and its part in Turkey's history while looking around the Blue Mosque and Hippodrome area. It's always a buzz to be standing somewhere of huge historical importance and this small paved square was the centre of the Greek city of Byzantium in 667BC. The Romans built the Hippodrome and had chariot races and other more inhumane contests involving wild animals and slaves. A large Egyptian obelisk from Amun-Re temple in Karnak was carried here (and unsurprisingly partly broken in the process) under Constantine the Great's orders and erected after he died. Also erected during the Hippodrome days was a serpent column taken from the Temple of Apollo in Delphi which someone hacked the head off many centuries ago.The Blue Mosque or SultanAhmet mosque is also under renovation, this one internally so we were restricted in what we could see. Nevertheless the amazing blue tiles that still cover much of the walls and the vastness of the structure was seen and appreciated.
Onto the bus, a 16 seater with little leg room, for our first leg of a 3,000 km journey around the western half of Turkey. The traffic was pretty heavy for the 90 minutes until we exited the city, through hills with apartment blocks by the thousands. We passed a heavy industrial area with a Hyundai car plant, a coal fired power station and numerous solar farms. The motorway was very European-like, 2 or 3 lanes, 120kph speed limits and lots of services, cafes and petrol stations. We stopped at a services for lunch then continued on into the mountains and into fairly intensive agriculture with a lot of cropping especially wheat.
Our destination was Beyaparazi, a settlement on the Silk Road, a major market town servicing Ankara and now a city of 50,000. It was a pleasant change from the Istanbul metropolis to this semi-rural setting, a spacious, modern hotel on the main street. We wandered up to a Living Museum to see Ottoman life in the 19thC, watching demonstrations of weaving and shamanist fortune telling. The architecture was very different, almost Swiss alps like, high windows and plenty of wood and plaster. We later ate a simple dinner in a traditional Turkish restaurant down near the river.
During the mornings drive east, our guide Ata gave us his potted history of the Turkish revolution in the aftermath of WW1 and then the subsequent founding of the modern secular Turkish Republic. He's pretty proud of the manner in which Ataturk pulled forces together to defeat the Great Powers of Britain, France and Italy after the Ottoman Empire fell and then modernised all aspects of society and government against much opposition. In doing so the Turks turned their neighbours the Greeks into enemies and expelled millions of them. The city of Ankara was established by Ataturk's government as the seat of government because of it's central location.
The driving today was fairly long and a bit monotonous, south-east past Ankara into the Cappadocian Region. We only stopped in Ankara for petrol and ablution facilities and I don't think we missed much; over forty kilometres of high rise and highways on a high plain surrounded by hills. Our next stop was to pay homage to the country's biggest salt lake, Tuz Gulu along with hundreds of others. This lake provides the salt requirements of the country.
Our lunch stop was almost a highlight, luxurious toilets and good wholesome food with a bank of 8 ATMs - all the better to pay for balloon flying and other extraneous activities we've got coming up.
The road into Cappodocia climbed to 1200m, passing a mountain range with a smattering of snow.
Our first glimpse of the cones, hats and needles and the soft volcanic tuff rock around our destination of Goreme was a real eye-opener. It's like a fantasy land because it doesn't look like anything we'd ever seen before, almost like a child's playground in a larger dimension. This area has been settled for thousands of years, first by local tribes, then Greeks, Romans and onwards to present day Turks - all of whom lived in caves carved out of this soft rock.
The hotel we're installed in is relatively new but in common with many others in the town it has rooms carved from the surrounding rocks as well as suites of rooms built from rock quarried nearby. These blocks of quarried stone resemble limestone. A thunderstorm arrived as we did, soaking everything and immediately cooling the temperature. To complete the picture we have about 15 turkeys in an enclosure nearby, gobbling happily away.
Early in the evening we travelled to the Sarihan caravanserai to see an exhibition of Whirling Dervishes, a major part of Turkish custom and beliefs from the 13thC. The building was used by Silk Rd. travellers, it has an enclosed courtyard and sleeping rooms and would be locked up at night to deter robbers. The Sema ceremony was a hypnotic experience of 7 parts: starting slowly with a eulogy to the Prophet, followed by drums, a "ney" reed instrument, dervishes greetings and salutations before the whirling began in the fifth part which consisted of 4 salutes all to do with God and the Prophet. Finally the last 2 parts were reading of the Koran and a prayer. Very interesting to watch and impressed they don't get giddy! Years of training obviously.
We enjoyed a group dinner afterwards of local stew, either beef or chicken cooked in clay pots with salad, rice and mashed potato on the side.
Day 23 Ballooning or not?
Awake at 4am, to the hotel foyer in the drizzle, waiting for news of the hot-air ballooning flight that we'd paid for last night. Alas it was not to be! So we went back to bed for a couple of hours. These balloon flights have become such a big part of the tourism industry here, there can be over 100 balloons up at any one time.
After breakfast we were bussed out to commence a 2 hour stroll down into the valley, the only ones out there as the tourist buses stayed away from this area. It was a great walk, steep at times but with some amazing views of rock formations and carved out sections where pigeons were housed. The pigeons were kept for their eggs (mosaic glazing) and their droppings (fertiliser).
Then we journeyed to Goreme Open Air Museum, a monastic complex of cave buildings including over 20 churches. This was one of earliest centres of religious education beginning around 900AD. and some of the chapel art is exquisite with many frescoes. Its a unique location and the fact it has been preserved like it has is a tribute to the Turks sense of history.
The rest of the day was freed up from any activities or excursions so we had a light lunch, relaxed and wandered around town. One of the beauties of Intrepid travel is the free time afforded in their itineraries, plenty of relaxation.
The sound of the muezzin sometimes surprises us because for the most part there is no real outward sign of Islam except the odd minaret and religion doesn't intrude on everyday life as a visitor. Turks are so friendly, not obsequious at all, just genuinely nice, open people who love having visitors. Tourism was hit badly by the bombings and coup of 2016 and they are keen to welcome more tourists. Tour guides have to do four years of study to become accredited and have an annual accreditation.
Day 24 Underground City to Religious City
A short ride from Goreme is the underground city of Kaymakli, one of a number in the area. We descended four levels through narrow passageways, animals were kept on the first level, wine production and the kitchen was on the second with living quarters below. There are another three levels that are being excavated which we were unable to visit. There was a air shaft just wider than a man's shoulders with steps to climb above and check for invaders or below to other levels. These settlements were mainly built to hide from aggressors by the Hittites and Phrygians around 1200BC. The rooms were of average height so it was easy to walk around and the ceilings had the evidence of pick excavation on the soft rock. There is some evidence these settlements were used at times in preceding centuries, their condition is remarkable and evidence again of the Turkish authorities determination to look after their history.
Today's drive was across a long plateau to Konya, a substantial city from the Silk Road which has seen much development of late, such that except for the inner city it is a continuous line of high rise suburbia. We stopped at a small town, Aksaray, and walked around Sultanhani Caravanserai built in the early 1200's with a magnificent front gate and huge walls to protect the travelling traders. In Konya the Mevlana Museum is a mausoleum and mosque for Rumi, a Sufi mystic and philosopher whose work later inspired the Whirling dervishes, as we visited on Friday, the Moslem holy day, it was full of visitors.
Our hotel was modern and central, near the electric tramline and a short distance to dinner of Turkish pide and salad.
Day 25 Down to the Med
We departed Konya early as the drive was fairly long, our destination has a fair amount of interest and we are only staying one day. The scenery was some of the most spectacular seen so far in Turkey as we traversed the Taurus Mountains on our way south. There was little habitation except in a few valleys, although nomadic herders still come up in summer with their sheep and goats and move back down in the cold winters. Where towns existed we saw banks of plastic covered greenhouses, almost mini-cities of plastic; cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, all the essentials for Turkish palates. As we descended to the coast we stopped and bought locally grown bananas and figs at a market stall.
Antalya is the major city on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, a former Roman port and haven for pirates who roamed this area preying on the small coastal vessels who traded here. The city is now a major holiday destination, therefore the coast is lined with hotels and resorts. We stayed in the old city, now a historical zone, full of winding alleys and 2 storey houses, shops and hotels. Our hotel was near the water and close to plenty of restaurants and bars. We had a big late lunch all together before having the afternoon and evening to ourselves.
The heat and humidity was pretty high and something we hadn't experienced on the trip so far. The Stans were hot, but very dry however here the sweat poured off us and doing much exercise was hard work. We ventured out late in the afternoon down to the harbour which was full of replica pirate boats and had a walk around the walls. Sally found a replacement red handbag for her faithful Aachen green one bought in Europe in 2016.
Day 26 West to Kas
After another very good Turkish breakfast (always plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, bread, tea & coffee) we visited the Antalya Museum. It has a priceless collection of Stone Age , Bronze Age and Roman artefacts all very well displayed over 13 galleries. The Roman statues are amazing, hundreds of marble and stone ones of Emperors, workers and Gods in very good condition.
On the road east we had another great sightseeing journey as we negotiated around the rocky headlands and bright blue bays with mountains looming just above. The Med looks pristine and it is well used as every small beach has cars and swimming visitors.
We lunched in the forest at a restaurant spanning several levels that houses a trout farm. We had to have the baked trout, a good choice with lots of Turkish bread, dips and salad. The food has been tremendous throughout the holiday, we are now starting to maintain some caution around quantities and we often order something to share because the helpings can be too much. Every meal comes with salad and bread and often we get a few starters like hommus.
Kas (pronounced Karsh) is a small town clinging to the side of a spectacular bay. It overlooks a large island, Kastellorizo, only a few kilometres away, that belongs to Greece. This historical anomaly came about at the end of the Ottoman Empire when the Turks were pressured to give many of the islands off the coast away to the Greeks in an exchange. Our hotel room has the best view we've had on this trip - 4 levels up and one street away from the water with a view across the town, the bay and Kastellorizo.
We enjoyed a great sunset at the Roman amphitheatre on the edge of Kas and then dinner in town in the evening. Then we did some more shopping for gifts, there's plenty of tourist trinket stalls here.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Look forward to your comments