Turkey - Marmaris, Turkey
Marmaris, Turkey
We swapped Orthodox churches, castles and palaces for mosques, minarets and the mayhem of Istanbul, as we unknowingly arrived on a national holiday - the city streets were more chaotic than usual, but it was exciting and vibrant. The locals were celebrating Victory Day, which marks Turkey's victory over a Greek invasion in 1922. Spent an enjoyable couple of days here revisiting the Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar etc and just wandering the old city. Also went through the Aya Sofya which was built for the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 537AD, and originally called Hagia Sophia. It was the largest cathedral in Christendom for almost 1000 years, but fell to the Ottomans in 1453 and was subsequently converted into a mosque with name changed to Aya Sofya. In 1935 President Ataturk declared it a museum which it has been ever since.
Traded public transport for a rental car and drove out of Istanbul, crossing the Bosphorus bridge heading to Pergamum in the south west. Decided not to revisit Gallipoli, as we both still remember it well from 1976. Stayed in a delightful pension in Bergama, town below the Pergamum Acropolis, where we had breakfast on the rooftop terrace and looked out on the ruins up on the hill. This ancient city reached its apex during the reign of Eumenes II in the second century BC. It had a library that rivalled Alexandria, until Marc Antony took most of the scrolls to give to Cleopatra. Because the Egyptians stopped exporting papyrus for fear that Pergamum's library would become greater than Alexandria's, the Pergamenes invented parchment made out of calf skin. The city was huge in its heyday, with a population of around 150,000, and we saw where the temple of Zeus used to be, but which now resides in Berlin's Pergamum museum. The theatre was built on a very steep hillside with spectacular views over the plain, and could seat 10,000. The Asclepion at Pergamum was an ancient medical centre, and is where the medical terms hygiene and panacea originated. The spring water there supposedly had curative powers, and diagnosis was often by dream analysis!
Next stop was Ephesus, capital of Roman Asia Minor, and although less than 20% of the old city has been excavated, it is still an amazing place. The city's Temple of Artemis was completed in 550BC, and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. A group of terrace houses is currently under restoration but we still saw enough to visualise how the wealthy Romans lived 2000 years ago. The wall decorations and intricate mosaic floors were well preserved, but archaeologists have many tables full of fragments - a giant jigsaw puzzle that will take a long time to sort out. The Celsus library was magnificent with four large female statues of the Greek virtues, Goodness, Thought, Knowledge & Wisdom, in niches along the facade. We walked along the main street of Curetes Way, paved in marble which the Romans had grooved to prevent pedestrians slipping. Each side was littered with the ruins of once grand buildings and shops, as well as a public latrine and brothel. This city was once a port, but over time it silted up and the coastline is now several kilometres away. Apparently, Saint John came to Ephesus with the Virgin Mary and wrote his gospel here. Mary's house is not far away from here and attracts many pilgrims, but we didn't go to see it.
From Ephesus we headed to Pamukkale but stopped on the way to see the ruins of Afrodisias, which back in the day had a large marble quarry and a school for marble sculptors. This was a non touristy place with many ruins overgrown. The stadium was impressive, being 270 metres long with 30,000 seats. It had tunnels each end for gladiators to come through and meet their fate - quite spectacular. The Temple of Aphrodite was mostly in ruins, but the Tetrapylon main gateway had been well reconstructed using original material. The best preserved structure was the bouleuterion because it had been covered in mud for centuries. This was the civic chamber where councillors met to debate issues of the day, and also used for concerts. Pamukkale has been famous for its spa since the second century BC, and visitors still flock here to enjoy the hot pools. Travertines (terraces) have been created by calcite laden waters from springs above Pamukkale, and the place looked like pictures of the pink and white terraces in NZ that were buried when Mt Tarawera erupted. We walked barefoot up the terraces through lovely warm mineral water, then had a brief look around the ruins of Hierapolis which sit above the travertines. Hierapolis was founded around 190 BC by Eumenes II of Pergumum, as a curative centre.
After this we had a relaxing day at Lake Egirdir - no tourists and no ruins to visit! Also much lower temps for the first time in months - low to mid 20's. Lake Egirdir is a large fresh water lake ringed by mountains, and we found a lovely pension at the end of a quiet little peninsular overlooking the lake - bliss. Left here feeling rejuvenated and our next stop was Cappadocia, a place that's been on our wish list for years. Before we reached Cappadocia we passed through acres of orchards growing apples and the trees were laden. Needless to say we stocked up at a roadside stall and they were delicious - and cheap. Cappadocia is on the central plateau within a volcanic landscape that has been eroded over centuries to form ridges, valleys and pinnacles known as fairy chimneys. The town of Goreme where we based ourselves is honeycombed with cave houses and we stayed in a cave hostel. There are many good walks in the area and we did a number, including Love, Rose, Red and Pigeon Valleys, plus explored some abandoned cave houses and cave churches. Cappadocia was a refuge for early Christians from 4th to 11th century and many fresco adorned rock cut churches were built during this time. This was a fascinating place to spend time exploring.
En-route to the coast, we explored the ancient underground city at Derinkuyu south of Goreme, also used by the early Christians as a refuge from attacks. There are many such underground cities in Turkey. Derinkuyu is 85m deep and believed to have had 10,000 inhabitants. We descended to the bottom level down narrow twisting steps, and although we are short, still had to bend low in many places. It is not a place for claustrophobes! Only around 10% is able to be seen, and it was remarkable that people could live underground for months at a time, with animal stalls, larders, churches, schools etc all contained below the surface. It was a bit eerie looking up from the bottom level through the ventilation shaft. After this we kept heading south west until we reached the sparkling blue water of the Mediterranean, with an overnight stop once we reached the coast. Next day we visited a couple of Roman and Byzantine city ruins - Phaselis and Olympos on the Anatolian coast. These sites are now quite overgrown and not crowded with tour groups although there were a lot of day trippers at Olympos enjoying the beach and warm Med waters. Phaselis was a beautiful place with the old city clustered around 3 harbours, at which there were quite a number of Turks enjoying picnics and a swim. There has been a city here since 690 BC and it was an important port in the Lycian days. The Lycian civilisation was based around this area from around the 12th century BC, but later became part of the Byzantine empire. There is still quite a a big section of aquaduct standing that the Romans built, but most of the city was destroyed by several earthquakes. We stopped for a couple of nights at Kas, a lovely little town on the coast. This place seemed a mecca for divers and those wanting to do adventurous things such as para-punting, canyoning, mountain bike riding and so on, a bit like Queenstown really but with temps back up in the high 30's. We had a relaxing time here, with a swim in the lovely warm water being the most energetic activity we did! The last leg of our Turkey journey was from Kas to Marmaris, with a few hours in Fethiye on the way. Had our lunch on the waterfront then headed off to find the famous rock tombs. These tombs were carved into sheer rock faces by the Lycians in the 4th century BC and were quite impressive. Arrived at Marmaris late in the day, with this being our last stop in Turkey. Returned our rental car undamaged which was quite a feat, given the terrible driving by the Turks. They overtake just about anywhere, ignore speed limits and we had a couple of near misses! Leaving by ferry this afternoon for the Greek island of Rhodes.