Antalya and surrounding histories

There've been a lot of superlatives (and harmonizings) lately - 'oldest's mostly,and 'best's, but I'm crowning Antalya and the Sabah hostel 'most relaxing' of the trip thus far.  This might be due to the fact that for the entire day today Corinne and I did little more than walk to the water front to enjoy tea, a beer, backgammon and the clear bluegreen of the Mediterranean.  We just returned from a jaunt through the old part of town - Kaleici - to get sandwiches and are enjoying the terrace and a bottle of wine with cookies and peanuts.  Not too shabby.  We earned our tourist stripes yesterday with a three stop car rental trip east of Antalya to Side, Aspendos and Perge.

First of all, when we arrived in Antalya, I met my new best friend, and he asked me to take his photo and post it to my blog, which he regretted being unable to read.

He says hello

After I recovered my melted heart and we recovered our sleep from the overnight bus ride, we joined an odd pair for our car trip east.  Side first:  it looked like it had once been a magical hide-a-way that has since been discovered by developers.  The land came to a sort of point where the old city stood, and up to that point the city looked like the combination of closed storefronts and resorts I recognized from El Kantoui in Tunisia.  Once there, souvenir shops and viagra tea shops (?) dominated the walk from the Roman theatre to the more Grecian Apollon and Aphroditon temples.

Behind the theatre - wreckage from multiple earthquakes toppled marble facades

The theatre

The face would have been covered with marble

The temples were built over with Byzantine churches - like everywhere else around here

While the ruins were neat to look at, the overwhelming tourism industry made it hard to imagine much else, and we soon moved on to Aspendos, which was the favorite of C and I.  Aspendos was somewhat more removed from the resort set as it was not set on sandy Mediterranean beaches, but several kilometers inland. The highlights of the site were the nearly entirely intact Roman theatre and some beautiful remains of aqueducts which were even more impressive to learn about than to see.  First some photos of the site.  The Apsendos Theatre is the superlative Roman theatre.

This guy was whistling and singing to test the acoustics - which were amazing

The face was incredible - lots of statues (now looted to somewhere) and marble facing

It seated 7000 folks

Behind the theatre and up the hill were more sets of ruins, spread around liberally like in Side - walk through some grass and you are faced with ruins some 2000 years old - it continued to feel like something from a Peter Jackson film (not that one).  What was most striking were the remains of the aqueduct system - the structure itself was lovely set against the mountains and plains of southern Turkey.  More amazingly was how the aqueduct itself worked - essentially they applied much of the knowledge that goes into current plumbing systems with stone and lead piping.  Not only did the duct carry water from a nearby hill to the hilltop acropolis, but it likely employed a closed-system siphon over several hundred meters, as illustrated here (siphon systems here).  Keep in mind that the Romans were not using garden hoses and had to extend airtight waterways over several hundred meters suspended several meters in the air using stone and sometimes lead piping.  Pretty amazing.  The photos are neat for other reasons, but this time imagination was able to cover the distance.  I hope you enjoy!

There was a lovely village next to the aqueduct

You can see the rest in the background - it would have started on the hill

The vistas were pretty breathtaking

To whit

The final site of the day was Perge – a vast spread of ruins outside of another Turkish village.  The ruins were beginning to get repetitive by this point (which feels absurd, but there you go), but we did see the place at sundown and enjoy a fairly intact Roman bath structure – including the below-deck heating areas.  It was mostly walk around time, which again felt fairly decadent – to stroll around the ruins of an ancient city while the sun went down, chatting casually about the possible relationship of our traveling companions (they acted like an old married couple but had only been traveling for two days).  Here are some images of Perge:

Corinne!

The collumnade of Perge

Landscape!

The acropolis from afar

What the entire floor must have looked like - swanky

The sub-floor of the cadrineum (not the frigideum or tepideum)

We returned to Antalya after sunset, having bought some fruit and nuts in a market in Perge – the trip in was a bit tricky without a decent map nor an understanding of Turkish, but we made it intact and had stories and photos to show for it.  Today we relaxed, and tomorrow we are looking east to Selcuk, home of more broken down old stuff and (possibly) surreal landscapes.  Thanks for reading!  

Cappadocia and the 'faerie chimneys'

It has been a few days since writing and I have a bit of catching up to do.  Corinne and I are freshly arrived in Antalya after a somewhat less than comfortable nigh bus from Goreme in Cappadocia where we passed the Christmas holiday.  At present, we are sitting in a very comfortable spot in Kaleici, the highest ranked Sabah hostel, where we are looking up some of the crazy artifacts we saw at Topkapi Palace, and updating the old bloggy blog.

So, starting with the artifacts as I don't know how else to start - the treasury room of Topkapi Palace had a number of interesting and incredible pieces of history - Corinne and I wandered into the Palace gardens, almost directly behind the Aya Sophia, with little or no expectations, aside from a hope to see some cool rooms and maybe have a good view of Istanbul and the mighty Bosphorous.  We were surprised, to say the least, to find a room with the sword of David (yes, THAT David), the staff of Moses, a footprint of Mohammud along with his sword, Joseph's turban (though not his coat of many colors),  Fatima's cloak and prayer rug, and Abraham's pot.  For cooking.  It was an impressive display, if almost entirely unbelievable, and added an unexpected historical flavor to an already extremely historical area.

Mostly we enjoyed downtime in Istanbul, got tea and treats, and walked around a lot, as I mentioned.  We departed for Goreme and Cappadocia on the evening of the 23rd on a bus arranged through our hostel.  It was handy to have that arranged - the intracity buses, while very luxurious with TVs and wifi even on some, are privatized and run by almost 50 different companies all clamoring around at the Istanbul Otogar - station.  We arrived in Goreme pretty well knackered (as the aussies say), and had a cold, exhausted Christmas eve.  We moved to a different, warmer hostel the following day and very much enjoyed our Christmas - we decided to hang the costs and rented scooters for the day to see the sights near to Goreme.  It was a lot of fun to scoot around - we packed a picnic for our lunch and enjoyed the panoramic views around the village of Goreme.

The landscapes in Cappadocia are a result of volcanic activity a long time ago - with softer and harder rock being laid alternately, creating the top-heavy, bizarre cone shapes common to the area.  Additionally, like Petra, the folks who lived here around the 2rd and 3th century were often Christians escaping persecution who built cave houses and a few astounding underground cities, carved out of the soft tufa rock.  Here are some photos of Cappadocia, first from our scoot around Goreme, and then from our tour south of Neveshir.

We had a lovely day for our scooter tour

Lots of the landscape looked like this - caves carved out of rock towers

Corinne at the edge of a valley - they would seem to drop out of nowhere - no visible waterways, just canyons

It looked like a surface reflection - very cool

Scootering along - we stopped at the Rose Valley - lovely, harsh-looking terrain

Some 'caps' on stone formations

Us on scooters!  With grass in the way!  

It was tough being away from home for Christmas, a first for Corinne and I, but we treated ourselves well – the scooters were a lot of fun – the sites almost being bonus to the ride itself, and after a Skype hello to both families we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Cappadocian wine and baklava to round out the evening.  I saw some amazing frescos on a Byzantine church, and we enjoyed the sunset over Goreme valley.   

The colors were incredibly rich - fresco is painted with egg white and is very vivid

Every surface had images on it - the absence of much lighting preserved it from fading over time

Almost all of the surfaces were well preserved - very lovely images.  

Afternoon, heading back to Goreme

On the 26^th we signed up for the official tour and hiked a neat valley and saw what has been the highlight of archeological Turkey for me thus far – the underground city of Kaymakli.   

Hard to capture in images - the caves were incredibly extensive

There were often grating over holes (storages, and sometimes traps!)

The underground city was enormous - it went down eight stories and could hold up to 20,000 people according to our guide.  It was very well ventilated and though a bit cramped at parts (I had one tight moment on the path into the morgue), I was often able to stand upright.  We toured the passages for about 40 minutes and saw about 10% of the caves.  It was connected to another underground city through a 3 kilometer tunnel!  It was very impressive - and from the top it looked like exactly nothing, a shack with a door and a stairway.  The people could hide down there, or be barricaded in for up to a year mole people style, though they mostly lived and farmed on the surface.  Additionally, the bottom of the caves were a well system.  The caves had meeting places, several churches and a school, everything they would need for life to continue except vitamin D.  It was thoroughly impressive, though I was very glad to be above ground again - no idea how they could stay down for so long.  

Water cutting the rock in the valley (which was watercut rock)

More caves, and steep walls, looked like after the water cut through, the sides would collapse

With the volcanic mountain in the background

Again, the valleys seemed to drop from nowhere

From a monastic hillside where Star Trek may or may not have been filmed

A Cathedral carved into the hillside - columns and all

The tour was well worth it for us, relaxing and easy, and we saw areas we would have struggled to find on our own.  It was also nice to not have to think much about where and how, and just enjoy the what and who of places, so to speak.  We returned from the tour a bit sleepy but relaxed.  We decided to take a bus out of town that evening and thanks to the generosity of our hostel - the Dream Cave hostel - we were able to check out at 7 PM and hop the night bus to Antalya.  We arrived and found our new home smoothly - thanks in large part to Corinne's navigation (I have been pretty worthless today).  We are thinking about renting a car with another couple tomorrow to see some of the area around here - excited about that.  I'm about to lay down for a post lunch - pre dinner nap while C explores some of the old city.  Thanks for reading!

Constantinople! oh wait ...

Hey folks!  I'm writing from Istanbul Turkey!  Finally!  In some ways I have been waiting to arrive here since November 8th, when I departed Stockholm for Casablanca.  In another, more cosmic way, I have been waiting to get here my entire life.  The city is, like every other city I guess, hard to capture with words and pictures, but I will give it a go here because really, it's pretty damn cool.

So, given where I am coming from, I have been most pleased with things like warm showers, being able to walk down the street without being hassled, not feeling ripped off every time I buy something, throw toilet paper int he toilet, having toilet paper near toilets, basically being able to drink the tap water and breathe the air.  And as of this writing I've only been here for about 24 hours.  But let's face it, I'm a romantic - and I'm in love.

First of all, the city is pretty large, and divided among a few peninsulas (I can't seem to find a decent online map so yoyo there).  I'm staying in the 'old city,' which is quite touristy, though incredibly lovely, called Sultanahmet.  The Blue Mosque and the Aya Sophia face off over a lovely park about 5 minutes from where Corinne and I are staying.  Some street photos:

This is near where we are staying  - lots of hotels and restaurants

Blue Mosque in the evening

View from Taksim Square

Down a main street

Figuring out backgammon

Today is Thursday the 23^rd of December, C and I are sitting in the square of the Blue Mosque, an enormous structure staring across the square to the Aya Sophia.  This morning we packed our things for an overnight bus trip to Goreme and the otherworldly landscapes of Capadocia.  We’ve been here for four days, me for almost six, yet it feels like we just got here and could spend another several weeks before I would feel like I’ve seen what there is to see.  Corinne and I have been resting a bit, her from finals and me from traveling, and along with the major sites of Istanbul, we have easily filled four days.  I’ll do my best to catalogue here the sites we saw along with the feel of the city, but again, most I feel like I just touched down here. 

One of our first ‘touristy’ stops was the Grand Bazaar, a complex of various shops selling ridiculous and beautiful things, lots of jewelry, carpets, brassy things, and plenty of miscellany.  The shops were comfortably spaced, covered, and not only were there street signs and flat screen TVs, the shop keepers were quite polite in their interactions.  Perhaps I appear less relatively affluent than I did in Morocco or Egypt, or maybe walking with Corinne gave us a more impervious air, but it felt comfortable to walk around there.  We even saw one or two things we might go back for. 

Another major piece of Istanbul we saw was the Aya Sophia, which was breathtaking from the moment we walked in.  The building is shorter than the blue mosque, but has similar features – several domes around a main dome, four minarets, plenty of sightlines and photos waiting to happen.  The Aya Sophia is reddish, porous clay formed into hollow brinks imported from south of Turkey.  This allowed for an incredible dome, supported by the surrounding domes rather than by pillars.  It looks like it would have been built after the Blue Mosque, which had massive stone columns  (elephants legs) supporting its main dome.  The construction allowed for such grace – it was one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen – impressive for its mastery over size rather than just size itself (which has been the case for every other massive church building I’ve seen).  It was the most elegant large-scale building I have ever seen. 

Istanbul street!

There were huge buttresses supporting the dome, but it looked light from the inside

The Aya Sophia looked quite red from the outside

Having been a church and mosque, it had both iconography side by side

Massive discs - not sure what this one says - note C on the right for perspective

The dome

A step up from leaded windows

View from Hagia Sophia of the Blue Mosque

Slightly out of order - the Blue Mosque.  It compares or contrasts well with the Aya Sophia - thought the latter was built in 570s while the Blue Mosque was built in the 1500s.  It was much more visually stunning from the outside, and landmark in the Istanbul landscape, but we preferred the Aya Sophia overall.  Enjoy!  

The court of the Blue Mosque

Inside - C with headcscarf

Note the pillars

Lots and lots of lights on cables

After the Aya Sophia we appreciated an underground work of architecture, the Basilica Cistern.  It was used for water storage during the Byzantine era (I think), and was disused for several hundred years.  Apparently folks would drop buckets into holes in the ground for water, and could even catch fish inside the cistern, though it was not used officially until someone or other renovated it again for use.  It was quite big, and impressive to see, though I could not find any holes in the ceiling that might allow for buckets or fishing lines.  The lighting and underground water-y feel was exciting, we were trespassing super-spy style into Istanbul. 

The Cistern

Medusa!!!

Sun setting over Taksim Square

Yesterday we spent the afternoon exploring the castle area of Old Istanbul, along with the archeological museum.  The museum had a lot of literally unbelievable artifacts, including Mohammed’s footprint, Fatima’s cloak and prayer rug, the sword of David (as in King David), Moses’ staff, and Abraham’s cooking pot.  At present no one else claims these things, so who the heck knows.  Either way it was not was Corinne and I were expecting to see in the museum.  The views were fabulous, and walking around in courts that were until 100 years ago reserved for royalty was fun – C and I plotted our royal ascension AND bought candy in a little shop.  They did not allow photos in the museums, but here are a few from outside.  

Awwwww.  Noted here in the NYT - Anyone know Cuneiform?  (translation)

Pan!  In statue and photograph!

View across the Golden Horn

In a few hours we will head out to Cappadocia by overnight bus.  The city is intoxicating, a fitting meeting place for C and I - her coming from Europe and I from the Middle East - Istanbul is both.  People on the street ask us to visit their rug shop, but they take no for an answer, food is cheap and available on the street but is also safe and delicious.  They have water pipes and baklava off of cobblestone streets and tramways.  Traffic makes sense, but is still pretty chaotic.  There plenty of tourists, but perhaps because we are here in December there aren't too many, and the weather has been sunny and 60s everyday.  Of the cities I have visited, I have felt most quickly comfortable here - likely in part because it is so western, but also because it still feels authentic and open (it is far more comfortable than Stockholm, or London).  It's a city I can take home to mother, but also enjoy for a night on the town.  I have felt that I could visit any of the cities I've seen again, but I feel a connection here; the surface of the city has been so inviting and my sense is that the invitation extends further.  Yes Istanbul; yes I sd yes I will yes.  Thanks for reading!