ephesus (efes)

harbour road...from the harbour to the grand theatre

for the two people reading this, i hope you like history, because this is the first of several history lessons of turkey...as the crossroads of a number of civilizations, turkey has "been there, done that" when it comes to history...heaps of fighting, heaps of building...and a lot of it is still visible, right alongside modern turkey...
ephesus is only 3km down the road from selcuk...there is a walkway the entire way to ephesus, there is no danger of getting hit by traffic while walking...why would anyone take a taxi? i'm glad i was there during off season, i have a sneaking suspicion there would've been more pressure, and heaps more touts if i had visited during high season...i am also guessing i'd get really annoyed by all the people that must visit these ruins during high season...heat and bunches of people do not make me a happy camper...bring on off season traveling!

if you haven't figured out this is the grand theatre, then we need to talk

i arrived at the entrance gate by walking down the road vehicles use as an exit...not surprisingly, there are a bunch of souvenir stalls set up just outside the entrance/exit...in a brief check of postcard prices i quickly realized they're a whole lot more expensive in ephesus than in goreme...4x!!...
 according to early legends, ephesus was built where it was because the oracle at delphi told androclus this was the right place to build a city to protect his people (he was from ionia - i don't know where that is/was) from the constantly attacking dorians...apparently when he got to this area, it was already settled, but his people peacefully integrated with the "locals"...
ephesus became a busy port town...really really busy, and pretty wealthy...with heaps of money coming in, a nearby king got jealous, and mad, and attacked...the city was destroyed, and the citizens relocated just a bit inland...they ended up paying tribute to several ruling groups, all the while growing in importance...eventually ephesus became the capital of asia minor, with a population of over 250,000...st john allegedly lived there...the virgin mary lived there...st paul is even supposed to have stayed for 3 years...

the library

then nature intervened...the harbour silted up, and even though engineers tried to clear it, it silted up again...so the money coming in from the port started to dry up...and the influx of christians meant that the cult of diana wasn't so powerful so the tribute money to that cult dried up...basically, the income of the city dried up, and it faded in importance...by the 6th century AD, when emperor justinian was looking for a place to build a basilica for st john, he chose the top of a hill in selcuk instead...and that was it for ephesus...it's amazing how fast a city can go downhill when revenues aren't coming in...i guess that hasn't really changed in modern times...when highways are built away from towns, they shrink and die...i wonder how long ephesus held on?

the public bath surrounded by the public restrooms...ewww!!!

the first area i saw was the road that led from what had been the harbour to the grand theatre...it must've been a pretty grand road, you can still see some of the columns that lined the way...and you can get good photos because it's blocked off so if you get right up to the rope no one is in your way...i am such the geek when i want good photos...
from there i walked into the grand theatre...it's still really grand...i wonder if they ever use it for performances, because it looks as if a lot of people could fit in there...everyone in the audience would have a great view, as the seats go up vertically quite a bit...some of the upper levels are blocked up, but quite a bit of it is open, and the accoustics are great...if you stand in the middle of the stage and speak normally, pretty much everyone can hear you really well...they really knew engineering back then...i sat and watched a couple tour groups come through, entertaining myself with their antics when the guides told them about the perfect accoustics...

hadrian's gate

from there it gets a bit hazy...really...it started raining...ugh...when it comes to weather, there is only one type of weather i do not like...rain...i hate rain...it's sooooo not fun...and i only have a little travel umbrella (i've never owned a proper raincoat, though i've always told myself - especially in recent years - that i NEED to get one...it's one more thing to add to my shopping list for when i go back to the states...anyone out there have suggestions on brand names, or specifics on a rain jacket?) so the wind meant i still got wet...as did my shoes, pants, etc...ugh...UGH...but i kept going...i passed the library, which is probably the most recognizable building in the entire set of ruins...what it must have been was amazing...
i passed a few gates, numerous temples, the public bath (which was surrounded by the public toilets...ewww) and heaps more...the last thing i visited was mary's church...i wish i could remember the details, but i don't...it was pretty big though, of that i'm sure...walking the length of the whole thing really brought home how important religion was back then...even more so because back then it was the actual faith that was important...not the money of the church (well, that too) or the political power of the church (and that)...but it was the faith in something that motivated people back then...whether it be faith in a cult, faith in christianity, whateva...

mary's church

cappadocia

after a few days in istanbul, i decided it was time to see somewhere else in turkey...amanda showed me the way to the massive bus station in istanbul, from there it was easy to buy a ticket for an overnight bus...the destination on that ticket was nevsehir, which is a transport hub of cappadocia...cappadocia is the name of an area in middle turkey, it's just a tourist name...the actual name of the area is anatolia...from nevsehir there are connections to goreme, the tourist center of cappadocia...while i was waiting for one of those connections, one tour company applied massive pressure to get me to sign up for a tour, which was not appreciated...they didn't seem to understand when i said over and over again that i wouldn't be making any decisions about anything until i got to goreme...very annoying...

once i got to goreme (despite being a tourist center, there wasn't a single tout meeting the bus...it really is off season) i got to have fun again with figuring out which way to turn the map...why am i having so much trouble in this country? once i figured that out, i quickly chose a place to stay, and life was good...a nap, then a walk...i asked in several tour company offices what they had available, it seems every company in the town has the same tours available...they even colour code them the same...the prices were all the same as well...while in one of the offices i talked to some folks who had just spent a few days, and didn't do any of the tours...they just hiked around on their own, and enjoyed it quite a bit...instead of the two tours i was thinking about, i opted to sign up for one tour, and hike around on my own another day...
then i started walking, since i still had an afternoon to wander around...goreme is the tourist center of the area, it's a small town, there isn't much to see in town...during the roman and byzantine periods cappadocia became an area in which christians gathered...during times the christians were persecuted, they built underground churches and dwellings, enabling them to hide from the people chasing after them...these churches, cities, etc are one of the reasons people come to this area of turkey...the other reason is the amazing topography of the area...over the millenia there have been major seismic upheavals, and you can see the results almost anywhere you go...the rock in the area is really soft, so you can see what has happened over the years...locals call them fairy chimneys...some tourists see more of a phallic shape...most of the tours go to one or more valleys to see these chimneys...you are also taken to places with panoramic lookouts...beautiful...

on my way to the goreme open air museum, i met a family from michigan...(first joint on the middle finger)...as they live overseas now (riga, latvia) it was fun to share experiences, and the common theme of "go blue"...
goreme open air museum was originally an important monastic settlement in byzantine times...then it was a pilgrimmage sight...now you get to see an interesting cluster of houses, churches, chapels and such...all of them cut from the rock...some of the churches have amazing frescoes on the walls...some of them have much simpler painting...apparently this area has good weather for wine making, because a number of the houses had not only wine "cellars" but tublike spots for stomping the grapes...(some of the summer tours include wine tasting)...there was snow on the ground, and i slipped and slid many times, much to my own amusement, and that of others around me...i'll take this winter weather over summer weather any day though...walking around this museum during summer must be difficult, because there is very little shade cover...

after leaving the museum, i followed a footpath off the road, just to see where it would go...it took me by a few more cave dwellings (no longer lived in) and to the ridge overlooking one of the valleys i mentioned earlier...stunning...after climbing around and exploring a bit, i realized it was getting dark, and made my way back to town...dinner was kofte sis at a random cafe...
the next day my tour picked me up at 0930, it was a mostly sunny day, which made me very happy...mostly sunny, but very cold...the cup of tea i had while waiting in the hotel lobby didn't keep me warm for long...

the first stop on the tour was the goreme lookout...they took us up the road a bit, to a spot that overlooks the town, and a wide area around it...according to our guide, the name goreme actually means "no see"...basically it means that you don't see goreme until you're almost there...it's down in valley, you can't see it from far away...it was a lovely view, albeit with a biting wind...
our next stop was one of the many underground cities (i think there are over 100 in the area, not all of them have been excavated, nor are there plans to do so)...the city we visited was called derinkuyu, and at one point is thought to have housed 10,000 people...it was originally built to hide the persecuted people, but in later years people kept living there just because they could...according to our guide, people would still be living there if the government hadn't closed the cities and turned them into tourist sights starting in the 1960s...obviously the people didn't stay underground all the time, but a lot of life could easily be lived down there...derinkuyu was built on 7 levels, and only about 25% has been excavated...the architects and engineers of the place were smart and the whole city was well ventilated with ventilation shafts, and communication tunnels...we saw the stables (for smaller animals, not horses) and kitchens and family rooms and meeting halls and churches, etc...pretty impressive...even a school room...it was hard to imagine living down there without furniture, and even harder to imagine how everyone kept all the tunnels straight in their heads...without our guide i think everyone in our group would've gotten lost very quickly...some of the tunnels are for very short people, and not wide...in other words, if you have issues with claustrophobia, these underground cities probably aren't the place for you...

next we drove to lunch...it was not impressive...at all...
after lunch we kept going to the ihlara valley...it's a valley where the rock just opened up, and now there is a river flowing through the middle of high walls...carved into these walls are more homes, and churches...for this part of the tour we walked a couple kilometers through the valley, just enjoying the scenery...we also looked in one of the churches...this particular church had a couple frescoes i remember well...one of three cocks, in reference to the bible story about st peter, who denied jesus...apparently, this sort of painting isn't common...
after the valley we were driven to the (former) monastery at selime...it was also a fortress and caravanseri...there is a chapel, a cathedral, a kitchen, and other rooms all carved into the rock...AMAZING...from several "windows" you can look out over the area, it's gorgeous...as our guide mentioned, if this were in the states, you would never be able to climb up and see it...there are heaps of spots where you could easily fall and end up killing yourself...none of the rooms have anything other than natural lighting, i wonder what they used back in the day...i walked through a couple tunnels just to see what was at the other end, and only had my feet and hands to tell me what was ahead...sooooo dark...

after the monastery we stopped at one last lookout before driving back to goreme...beautiful, though we were all freezing, after having been comfortable in the van...that night i ended up having dinner with two of the guys from the tour group...terence, who works in television in south africa, and dong hee, a korean university student...we loved our four course meal!
my last day in goreme was the day i'd opted for self guided hiking in the area...and i'm sooo glad i did...i hiked all the way around one of the valleys...rose valley, or maybe it was red valley...STUNNING views...with the snow, of course i fell a few times, but that's part of the fun, right? not long after i started out, a dog joined me...i don't know why, or what her name really is, but i called her sweetie...she stayed with me the whole time...part of the trail went through holes carved by water in the rocks...i could see where the ceilings of some of these 'tunnels' had collapsed, i was a bit worried it would happen while i was going through...part of the trail was on a frozen creek...part of the trail went past cafes closed for the winter...the photos i took that day just don't do the area justice...AMAZING...

dinner was chicken sis...basically chicken kebabs, with rice, a pepper, a full basket of bread, and grilled tomatoes...dessert was chocolate pudding (another reason to love this country) and hot chocolate...i was a happy camper...
that night i hopped on another night bus...i love that turkey has a relatively well developed bus system...it's really convenient for folks like me who don't want to fly everywhere...

not constantinople

i took a taxi to the airport with cloe straight from school...her flight back to france left a lot earlier than mine, so i wasn't in any hurry, and could've taken the subway and a bus...but the convenience of a taxi is always desireable, especially when you share the cost with someone else...when i first looked at flights, mine wasn't listed...as it turned out, i departed from a different terminal than cloe, even though we were both flying internationally...
my flight to istanbul was easy, and smooth...though i was rather disappointed in my meal...when given the option while reserving flights, i always choose a different meal...why go with the normal food when you can choose something else...this time i chose raw vegetarian...i ended up with fruit...and a roll...hmmm...not at all satisfying...not really a meal...and the roll definitely didn't qualify as raw...i'm not expecting anything different on the way back to ukraine...
amanda met me at the airport, she's a mate from rugby in korea...we took a bus to the center of town, an area called taxim...then a taxi from there...as i learned later, we could've taken the subway and walked to her flat, but at that point, the taxi was very much desired...especially because it was windy and rainy...i wasn't thrilled when she said that had been the weather for several days...i hate rain...we had a late dinner that night, caught up with each of our lives, then crashed...i gave her the ham she'd requested...turkey is politically secular, but in reality the dictates of islam determine a lot of daily life...which means finding pork/ham is difficult...ukraine doesn't have that problem...

i slept like a rock, though i woke up at my normal time...amanda said her saturday habit was poached eggs and coffee...i joined in for poached eggs, but had tea instead...i've got to try making poached eggs by adding vinegar to the water, she said that keeps the eggs together...in the past when i've tried poached eggs it's always really messy...
after hanging out too long, we made our way to a grocery store...i know i've said it in previous posts, but i love grocery stores, in any country...based on the grocery store alone, i'm already in love with turkey...a huge section for spices, tons of yogurt...how could i not like a country that sells yogurt by the gallon??!?!

after the grocery store we headed downtown to meet up with one of amanda's coworkers and her husband...we met at a fancy shmancy hotel called pera palace...jill said one of the papers had written that liam neeson was staying there while filming...hmmm...anywho, we all met for high tea, and it was fabulous...every employee was super deferential, i can't remember ever being treated that way by staff anywhere...i guess that's what four stars gets you:)...this was high tea properly done...tea served in silver, heaps of desserts to choose from...(over and over again, of course:)...it was a great way to relax and do something a little different...after stuffing ourselves for three hours, amanda and i walked up and down the main street nearby (called istiklal)...it was crowded as, and i can see why amanda doesn't particularly like the area...there are plenty of shops, but as it turns out, the turkish government taxes imported goods like nobody's business...why bother looking when you don't have any intention of paying twice what you would in the states? it was a great time for people watching...it was windy, snowy and cold though, so not good for just standing around...we found a few bookstores, and i bought a guidebook for turkey...i am nothing without a guidebook...lol...when i leave the country i'll leave the guidebook with amanda, she'll be able to get some use from it, as she has misplaced her guidebook...

christmas morning we again had poached eggs...this time with ham...amanda tried to do a hollandaise sauce, but apparently it didn't work out...i didn't see it...and salad, and grapes...YUM...
that afternoon we went into town again, and this time made our way to a hamam...a turkish bath...sooooooo relaxing...more expensive than korea, but still great...being in there really made me miss the saunas (jim-jil-bangs) of korea...i loved the scrub and massage, and just wish they'd been a little harder...i'm not a wimpy foreigner!! when we left i was cozy and warm, and didn't want to leave at all...lol...
after the hamam we headed toward the grand bazaar...it's always mentioned as a must see sight in the city, and amanda needed a new wallet...unfortunately, by the time we got there, most of the stalls had closed up shop for the day...oh well, another time...dinner on the way back to a tram stop was a chicken doner roll...oh how i love the food of this country...
after dinner we made our way to dan and kathleen's flat, in the crowded area of town i mentioned earlier in this post...amanda used to work with these two, they were hosting a christmas party...we didn't stay long, but we did meet a few people...fun...amanda said she would recommend that school as a place to work, if anyone who reads this is so inclined...shockingly, they treat their employees well...who woulda thought that was possible in the world of ESL?

despite already having eaten dinner, we still ate cherry cobbler when we got home...YUM...then went to bed early, as amanda had to work the next day...
fortunately, i didn't have to work...the joys of being on holiday:)...i got myself out the door of the flat before 1030, for which i was quite proud of myself...i'm quite often a very late starter when by myself...(though when i'm traveling with others i'm usually ready to go really early...why is that?)...i walked/took the subway/rode the tram back to the historical area of the city...and that's where my adventure started...
for the first time in a while, i wasn't able to orient myself easily...that is, even though i had two maps, i couldn't figure out which way i was facing...it didn't help that i could see two huge mosques, and couldn't figure out which was which...(the blue mosque and aya sofia)...i ended up at the blue mosque, though just as i was ready to go inside, it closed to tourists for prayertime...oh well...since i'd finally figured out where i was, i knew where i wanted to go next...

topkapi palace is another place always listed on must see lists for istanbul...the queue for tickets was crazy long, and this is off season...i can't begin to imagine what it's like during high season...yuck...fortunately, the queue moved quickly...inside the palace there were queues as well for the more interesting sections, though they moved quickly as well...i enjoyed the displays in the treasury and the privy (a private chamber for a high ranking person, as opposed to a privy during pioneer days in the US, which is an outhouse)...i also liked the harem area a lot...heaps and heaps of palace intrigue and gossip ruled the day back then!

i made my way to the grand bazaar, this time early enough that everything was still open...i've traveled a lot, so i wasn't super keen to see this particular market any more than i have been to see any other well known market...this is the world's largest market under one roof...something like 4000 vendors in all...just about anything you could want...i didn't want any of it, so i just wandered for a while...it's amazing how many guys want you to look in their store...do i look as though i want a carpet? or a hookah? i did exchange money though, they had good rates in the bazaar...not surprisinly, i got lost in there, and ended up exiting on the other side of the bazaar...whoops...fortunately it was easy enough to circle around outside and get back to the side i wanted...

after the bazaar i finally got to see the inside of the blue mosque...for all that it's famous, i wasn't supremely impressed...i liked it, but i wasn't overly impressed...i liked the mosques of malaysia better...i've always loved the light and airy feeling of mosques...
then it was time to head back to amanda's flat, and be there before she came home from work...we went to a doner place nearby for dinner, and i loved it...YUM...again, both of us crashed early...
the next day i was slower about getting going for the day, but i didn't have the problem with orientation, so my real start time on visiting sights was about the same...i started with the aya sofia, and absolutely loved it...now that's a place i can understand being on all the must see lists...it was a church, then a mosque...now it's a museum...you can see all the influences of both religions, it's amazing...turkey has a long and complicated religious history...the frescoes and mosaics are fabulous...watching all the people was fun too...

from there i walked to the spice bazaar...i meant to stop at the post office along the way, but i missed that turn...whoops...i did get there on the way home though...the spice bazaar sells more than just spices, not surprisingly...and i'm pretty sure the prices are higher than they should be...but it was fun to see what is available, should i decide to bring stuff back to ukraine...i miss spicy food there, so paprika might be in my future:)
from there i walked to yet another mosque...it starts with an S, and is located near a university...near the spice bazaar...i liked this mosque the best of what i've seen so far in turkey...i was there during prayertime, something i haven't experienced previously...one of the things i like about islam is that it is practiced several times each day...not just once a week...part of being muslim is daily prayer...you can go to the mosque for each prayer time, but most people only go on fridays at noon...this was a midweek, midafternoon prayertime, so there weren't too many people there...
that night amanda put me on a bus to the massive bus station, i was off to my next destination!

RIP DLJ

my uncle, dean johnson passed away this week...and the world is a lesser place without him

Dean L. Johnson

after a long fight, uncle dean passed away...it's a relief for his body, but for those of us still here, it is a heavy feeling
he was a role model for people everywhere

He followed his heart