Making Lemonade - Travels in Turkey Part 2

 Location:  Blackburn, England

As some of you know, our other reason for coming to Turkey (in addition to Dave's dental work) was to board a ship for a three year cruise around the world.  The cruise was scheduled for 1095 days with stops in 140 countries and all 7 continents.  We were supposed to depart from Istanbul on November 1, 2023.  Before we got on our flight to Istanbul in mid-October, we were informed that the cruise departure would be delayed until November 17th and would be from Amsterdam instead of Istanbul.  Mid-November we were informed that the departure would be on November 30th from a to be determined location.  On November 19th, we found out the cruise was cancelled.  

If you're curious about the cruise details, here is a link to the web site Life at Sea Cruises.  Miray, the company who was planning to operate the cruise, is still hoping to launch their project in November 2024.  There have been lots of news articles about the cruise cancellation, here is the link to one of them NPR 3 year cruise cancelled, and it was even spoofed on Saturday Night Live SNL Weekend Update - 3 year Cruise Cancelled

While the cruise news evolved, we continued traveling in Turkey, visiting many historic ruins and natural sites.   Once we found out that the journey was cancelled, we started planning our next adventures.  Although we're disappointed with the cancellation, to paraphrase one of our cruisemates, we viewed the ship as a conveyance to get us to the places we wanted to see.  We'll continue traveling and exploring by land, sea and air.  As they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Here are the highlights of our travels in Turkey since the last blog.

Sunday, November 12, 2023 - Yesiluzumlu to Pamukkale, Turkey:  We finished our pet sit in Yesiluzumlu with Buddy, LouLou and Bertie on Sunday.  A car met us at the local gas station and we drove through the rain to Pamukkale, which means Cotton Castle in Turkish.  Pamukkale is known for its calcium carbonate travertine terraces filled with natural spring water and the ancient ruins of the city of Hierapolis.  We stayed in a tourist "hot spring" hotel and soaked in their iron-fortified spring water pools.

Monday, November 13, 2023 - Pamukkale to Kusadasi, Turkey:  Today we toured the ancient Greek city of Hierapolis.  In addition to viewing the ancient Greek and Roman era ruins, we swam in Cleopatra's pool, a warm water natural spring pool.  The bottom of the pool is covered with ruins from the Roman era of Hierapolis.  There is also a museum at the site and you can wade in the travertine pools. 

People exiting from the Hierapolis city walls

Columns from the ancient gymnasium at Hierapolis

Cleopatra's Pool at Hierapolis.  You can see that the bottom of the pool is littered with ancient ruins.

The travertine pools of Pamukkale.  It was a rainy day while we were here and you can't see the reflection of the blue pools against the white of the travertine.  There are some much better photos of the pools on the Pamukkale Wikipedia link above.

A very elaborate sargophagus in the museum at Hierapolis

The ancient Roman Theatre in Hierapolis

The rain held off until we finished our tour.  We went to a local restaurant for lunch, then drove to Kusadasi.

Tuesday, November 14, 2023 - Kusadasi, Turkey / Trip to Ephesus, Selcuk and Sirince:  Kusadasi is a Turkish resort town on the Aegean sea coast and is Turkey's second biggest cruise ship port (Istanbul is the largest).  The ancient ruins of Ephesus are ~18 km from Kusadasi.  On Tuesday morning, our tour van picked us up at the hotel and we went on a tour of the area.  Our first stop was at the entrance to the ruins of the Basilica of St. John in the town of Selcuk.  The apostle John is said to be entombed here.  

The entrance to the ruins of the Basilica of St. John in Selcuk

We picked up a few more tourists in Selcuk then proceeded to Mary's House (The House of the Virgin Mary).  It is believed that Mary spent the last years of her life in this modest house and it is a pilgrimage site for Christians.

The House of the Virgin Mary near Selcuk, Turkey

After Mary's House, we went to Ephesus.  According to our guide book, it is "one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire and among the top archaeological sites anywhere."  Ephesus was at its peak in the first and second centuries AD and had over 250,000 residents.  It was first settled around 1000 BC and was important to many civilizations including the Greeks, Persians, Romans and Christians.  More details can be found on the Ephesus Wikipedia site here.

We started our tour of Ephesus at the upper gate, walked through the ancient city and exited through the lower gate.  The ruins are only ~30% excavated but they are supposed to start doing more excavation next year.  

 

Looking down at The Temple of Domitian (the row of arches in the hillside) 

An archway in Ephesus

A row of broken columns - Ephesus

Old Roman clay water pipes - Ephesus

Ruins of the State Agora - Ephesus

A reconstructed arch - Ephesus

The Nike frieze - Ephesus

Curetes Road - Ephesus

The Temple of Hadrian - Ephesus

The public latrine - Ephesus 

The Library of Celsus - Ephesus

The Library of Celsus - Ephesus

The Great Theater - Ephesus

The tunnels leading into the Great Theater - Ephesus

A view of the Grand Theater from the Harbor Road - Ephesus

We had lunch at a local buffet restaurant, then went to a leather shop to learn how they make jackets and other leather apparel from lamb skin.  We got to watch a fashion show with some of our tour mates as the fashion models.  Of course, we then had an opportunity to buy the leather coat of our dreams.  We managed to exit without dipping into our wallet.

Our next tour stop was the ancient Temple of Artemis.  This was one of the first structures excavated in the Ephesus area.  Although the discovery of the ruins at this site were a disappointment, it lead to the discovery of the Ephesus ruins.  Only one rebuilt pillar is located at the site.  There used to be 127 that supported a structure that was built circa 550 BC and was three times as big as the Athens Parthenon.

The lone reconstructed pillar at the Temple of Artemis

We had a little bit of time left in the day so our tour guide took us up the hill to the mountain village of Sirince.  We walked through the town, looked at the two churches and did some wine tasting before heading back to our hotel in Kusadasi.

Looking up the hill at the buildings in Sirince

The proprietor outside of a small shop where we did some wine tasting - Sirince.  
The wine wasn't very good - too sweet - and we didn't buy anything.

Turkish eyes embedded in the concrete at a restaurant entrance - Sirince
The Turkish eye protects against the evil eye and bad luck and is believed to bring good luck and happiness.

The inside of one of the churches in Sirince

We made it back to our hotel in Kusadasi in time to watch the sunset from our room.

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 - Kusadasi, Turkey:  We had a day to ourselves today.  We walked along the sea front, explored the castle on Pigeon Island and roamed around the old town area.

The Hand of Peace sculpture on the Kusadasi waterfront

A view of the castle on Pigeon Island

The entrance to the castle on Pigeon Island

Thursday, November 16, 2023 - Kusadasi to Canakkale via Bergama (Pergamon):  The tour van picked us up at the hotel this morning and drove us to Bergama to tour the ancient city of Pergamon.  Along the way, we stopped at a rug making facility.  We learned how silk is extracted from the silk worm cocoons, I learned how to tie knots on a rug and we had an opportunity to buy, buy, buy.  We looked at a lot of rugs, they fed us a home cooked lunch, we were entertained and we managed to escape with our wallet intact.  We explained to them that we had no house and no where to put any rugs, so they finally gave up.

Silk worm cocoons soaking in hot water - To loosen the threads from the silk worm cocoons, they heat the cocoons in hot water, then stir with the broom to separate the threads from the cocoon.

By stirring with the broom, the silk is loosened from the cocoons and they are able to wind it.  As long as the silk worm hasn't hatched, the threads of the cocoons are continuous.

Winding the silk from the cocoons onto the spindles

A short video showing the silk coming off of the cocoons and being wound onto the spindle

Solomon explaining the different types of rugs to Dave

One of B's favorite rugs

B sitting at a loom learning to tie knots in a handmade rug

B enjoying a home cooked meal in the rug factory... They didn't serve us our lunch until they were convinced that we weren't going to buy anything.

Solomon playing his balalaika and singing while we eat lunch.

We met up with a couple from Singapore at the rug factory.  They were traveling in the opposite direction from us, from Canakkale to Kusadasi, with a stop to explore the ruins of Pergamon along the way.  The four of us piled into our van along with our tour guide, Borak, and drove through the modern city of Bergama to the ancient city of Pergamon.  The only way into the Pergamon ruins is via a skyway (gondola) across the valley and up the mountain.  Pergamon was established in the 7th century BC and was important to the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans.  You can read about the history of Pergamon here.  As mentioned by our guide during our tour, most of the ruins and relics from the site are in the Berlin Pergamon Museum.

The Temple of Trajan, Pergamon

A reconstructed temple roof, Pergamon

Looking over the ancient ruins, Pergamon.

The inside of one of the ancient cisterns, Pergamon.

The tunnels leading to the underground cisterns, Pergamon.

Looking down at the seats in the Roman Theater, Pergamon

After our tour, we parted ways with the Singaporean couple.  They went with our driver to Kusadasi and we went with their driver and our guide to Canakkale.

A view of the sunset from our tour van as we drove from Bergama to Canakkale

Friday, November 17, 2023 - Canakkale, Turkey:  We had a day to ourselves today.  Canakkale is a university town located at the entrance to the Dardanelles, a narrow strait that leads from the Mediterranean Sea to the Marmara Sea, which leads to the Bosphorus Strait and the Black Sea.  We spent the day wandering along the waterfront and through the old town while watching the vessel traffic going north and south through the strait.

The view of the Canakkale waterfront promenade, the Dardanelles and the Gallipoli peninsula from our hotel room

The replica of the Trojan Horse on the Canakkale waterfront.  This was used in the movie Troy.

Canakkale Clock Tower in the old town area

A coffee break at a pastry shop on the Canakkale waterfront

Saturday, November 18, 2023 - Canakkale to Istanbul, Tours of Troy and Gallipoli:  It was cold, rainy and windy today.  We checked out of our hotel in Canakkale and drove to Troy for a tour of the ancient ruins there.  Troy was made famous by Homer in the Iliad and is the location of the Troy / Spartan war.  Our tour guide told us the legend of Helen of Troy as we drove to the site.  Troy is an interesting archaelogical site.  When they first started uncovering the ruins, they discovered that the city was rebuilt 9 times during its existence.  You can see ruins from all 9 at the Troy site.  This wikipedia article outlines the history of each of the 9 Troys.

We started our tour of Troy at the "Troy Observation Terrace" in the village of Tevfikiye.  Busts of the Greek and Trojan heroes of the Trojan War (and Homer's Iliad) surround the terrace.

City of Troy Ruins

A small "theater" in the ancient city of Troy

Ruins in the ancient city of Troy

Part of Schliemann's Trench in Troy.  The numbered placards indicate the different cities of Troy.

A diagram showing the 9 cities of Troy and the way they were built / layered on top of each other

The city fortification wall - Troy

After our tour of the Troy ruins, we went back to the ferry landing in Canakkale and took the ferry across the Dardanelle Strait to the Gallipoli Peninsula.  For those of you who have seen enough photos of ancient ruins, the Gallipoli Peninsula includes much more recent history from World War I, aka the Great War.  During the Gallipoli Campaign, British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops tried to gain control of the Dardanelles so that they could use the waterways up to the Black Sea to resupply their ally Russia.  The Turks, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the father of the modern country of Turkey), fought a fierce battle and prevented the Allies from achieving their goals.  Things you may not know about the Gallipoli Campaign are here  and a link to the Wikipedia overview of the campaign can be found here.  We spent the afternoon touring the battlefields of the Gallipoli Campaign.

The view from the ferry as we crossed from Canakkale to the European side of the Dardanelles

The shoreline on the European side of the Dardanelles.

A pillbox from World War II on the beach near ANZAC Cove.  Turkey was neutral in World War II until February 1945 but they built pillbox gun emplacements along the shores of the Dardanelles to prevent another campaign similar to the WWI battle.

B in front of the Anzac (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Cove Marker

Placards with the description of the Allied landing near Anzac Cove

A monument with Ataturk's words to the mothers of the soldiers who died in the Gallipoli campaign

A monument depicting a Turkish soldier carrying a wounded Australian soldier

The cemetery and memorial at Lone Pine

The Allied trenches from the Lone Pine Battle.  The Turkish trenches were less than 100 meters away.

The monument at Chunuk Bair to the New Zealand troops who fought in the Gallipoli Campaign

After our tour of the Gallipoli peninsula ended, our tour bus took us to Istanbul, ~4.5 hour drive.  We stopped at a small roadside gas station/restaurant for supper.  We arrived in Istanbul late and checked into our hotel for the night.

A lady cooking Gozleme, a Turkish flatbread, at the roadside restaurant between Gallipoli and Istanbul.

Sunday, November 19, 2023 - Istanbul to Cappadocia, Turkey:  This morning we flew from Istanbul to Kayseri, one of the regional airport that serves the Cappadocia area.  A van picked us up and took us to our cave hotel, The Agarta Cave Hotel, near Cavusin.  The cave hotels are actual caves with unique rooms carved into the surrounding rocks and hills.  The allure in Cappadocia is the landscape, formed millions of years ago by volcanic eruptions.  The rocks left behind have been exposed to erosion by wind and water and the variety of rock formations is amazing.  The tufa, a soft form of volcanic rock, makes it relatively easy to carve rooms and tunnels into the rock. Today we had the afternoon to ourselves so we wandered around the small village of Cavusin and explored some of the Red Valley near our hotel.

Rock formations and pigeon caves in the Red Valley near our hotel

View of the backside of the ancient rock castle in Cavusin

The view of the ancient rock castle from our hotel room

Monday, November 20, 2023 - Cappadocia, Turkey:  There are two tours available in the Cappadocia area, the Red Tour covers the northern part of the area and the Green Tour covers the southern part.  There are no overlaps in what each tour covers so if you do both, you will see most of the major attractions.  Today we did the Green Tour and saw the sights in the southern part of the area.  We started by exploring the Red Valley just behind our hotel.  We went inside a small church carved into the rocks, then hiked up to the old cave village and had tea/orange juice at a small cafe near the top.  The lady who runs the cafe still lives in a nearby cave and she was gracious enough to let us see the inside of her house.

Souvenir shops set up at the base of the ancient Greek stone / cave village in Cavusin

The entrance to the cave church in Cavusin

Inside the cave church in Cavusin

The ancient Greek village near Cavusin

Part of the ancient Greek village carved into the rocks near Cavusin

If you look closely you can see the entrance to the pigeon caves carved into the rocks (see the photo below for a close up view)

Pigeon caves and tunnels carved into the rocks near Cavusin.  Pigeons provided fertilizer for the crops, which was very important for the survival of the people who lived in the Cappadocia region.  Because of this, elaborate pigeon houses with tunnels connecting them were built into the cliffsides.

Ancient cave dwellings near Cavusin

Our group inside the cave house of the lady who ran the tea cafe

The living room of the cave house we visited

Our next stop on the tour was the underground city of Kaymakli, created by early Christians to hide from persecution.

The first level of the underground city.  This is where they typically kept the live stock.

B coming out of a tunnel that connects that different levels of the underground city.

A light and air shaft into the underground city

B trying to close the stone door to the entrance tunnel

We took a lunch break, then went to the Love Valley and the Pigeon Valley to look at the rock formations.

Rock formations in the Love Valley.  You can imagine why this valley is named the Love Valley. 
These rock formation remind me of my mother's peonies.

Rock formations in the Love Valley

Rock formations and pigeon caves and tunnels in the Pigeon Valley

Rock formations in Pigeon Valley

Tuesday, November 21, 2023 - Cappadocia, Turkey:  Dave's birthday today.  To celebrate, we took the Red Tour, northern tour, of the region.  Our first stop today was the Goreme Open Air Museum, an area with multiple churches and monastery complexes carved into the rocks.  Check out the link for pictures of the frescoes inside the churches.

Our guide pointing out the frescoes that you can see inside the cave churches at the Goreme Open Air Museum

The churches and monasteries carved into the rocks at the Goreme Open Air Museum

Our group listening to our guide describe the various churches in the Goreme Open Air Museum

Stairs up into a church in the Goreme Open Air Museum

Looking up at the ruins of a church in the Goreme Open Air Museum

Our next stop was wine tasting.  Most of the wines in the area are fruity, we tried pomegranate and cherry, or very sweet.  We did manage to have some good locally produced wines at some of the restaurants.

The wine tasting demonstration.

Next was the Uchisar Castle, a natural rock formation with numerous man-made caves.  It could house over 1000 people.

Uchisar Castle, a natural rock formation with man-made caves carved into it.

A panoramic view of the Goreme Valley

We took a lunch break and then drove to the town of Avanos for a pottery demonstration at a local ceramics shop. 

The owner/operator of the ceramic shop (8th generation) explaining the process that they use to decorate, paint, fire and glaze the ceramics they produce.

Artists drawing patterns and painting the ceramics.

Here is a short video of a guy using a kick wheel to make a wine decanter similar to the one on the left side of the video.  He uses the wheel to produce each of the pieces - the base which is what he is making in this video, then the spout and finally the donut shaped middle.  He then shapes and connects the pieces to complete the decanter.

The artist assembling the various pieces.  Here he is shaping the handle.

The ceramic artist displaying the finished wine decanter

The shops and businesses in this area are very interesting.  This is the outside of the ceramic shop.  Looking at this you would never know the size or quality of the operation, nor the massive imventory of ceramics inside.  The moral of the story is Don't judge a book by its cover

The signs on the outside of the ceramic shop.

We had two more stops after the pottery demonstrations, Imagination Valley and the Fairy Chimneys.

Devrent Valley, aka Imagination Valley, is full of rock formations shaped like animal and human forms including a camel, a snail, penguins and a dolphin.

Dave and B in front of the rock formations in Imagination Valley

Rock formations in Imagination Valley

Dave standing at the bottom of a fairy chimney

 A close up of the tops of the fairy chimneys

The fairy chimneys with the moon

A view of the fairy chimneys from the small cafe nearby. 
(There was a small cafe / souvenir shop near all of the rock formations we visited).

We finished our tour and the van dropped us back at our hotel.  For supper, we went to a cave restaurant and had pottery kabobs.

Dave inside the cave restaurant

Here is a short video of B opening up her pottery kabob.

Wednesday, November 22, 2023 - Cappadocia to Istanbul, Turkey:  We had a nice time in Cappadocia and enjoyed the landscapes, the people and the villages.  One thing that we didn't get to do was to go hot air ballooning so that we could see the landscapes from above.  The hot air balloons typically launch at sunrise when the winds are the lightest.  We signed up to go on our first morning  but the weather didn't cooperate.  We changed our reservation to try to go yesterday and again this morning, but the weather never settled and we didn't get to go.  A van picked us up at the hotel mid-morning and took us to the airport at Kayseri where we caught a flight to Istanbul.  

We stayed in Istanbul for a week and explored some of the places we hadn't been to yet.  And... Dave broke a tooth (unrelated to his previous dental work) so he went back to the dentist for more fun.

A sculpture made out of butter at a Patatos restaurant.

One of our more interesting fast food meals in Istanbul - stuffed baked potatoes.  They mixed in plenty of butter (see the photo of the butter sculpture above) and cheese and then you got to pick your toppings (not the traditional baked potato toppings we are used to in the USA)

The Building of Ministry of Post and Telegraph (Grand Post Office).  The construction was completed in 1909.

The German Fountain in the Hippodrome

One day we rode the metro under the Bosphorus Strait to the Asian side of Istanbul and took a walking tour of Kadikoy, a small town that predates the Byzantine Empire.  We rode the ferry back to the European side.  

Olive stand in the Kadikoy market.

The Bronze Crocodile statue in Kadikoy.  The statue was erected in honor of a quote by the first century Greek historian Strabo which includes the line "There is a small spring where crocodiles feed themselves".  It was later realized that the quote was mistranslated; crocodiles never lived in this area, it was lizards that lived here.

Taking a break to try Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee stand

Another thing that we did while in Istanbul was to collect our large suitcases from the hotel where we stayed when we first arrived.  They had agreed to store them while we traveled around the country.  When we left New England in October, we still thought our three year cruise was a go and we brought enough stuff and luggage for the full three years.  After finding out our cruise was cancelled, we have been culling things from our luggage.  

A curious site on the way to collect our luggage.  This is a ladder with an elevator platform that they are using to move someone out of the top floor apartment.

Our two large rolling suitcased packed full of stuff for our three year cruise.  We managed to cull enough stuff so that we could get rid of these and buy two carry on size rolling suitcases to replace them.  We donated these two bags and the stuff inside to a small shop in Istanbul.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023 - Istanbul, Turkey to Blackburn, England:  Today we flew from Istanbul to Manchester, England and caught the train to Blackburn.  We are here for two weeks on a pet sit with 2 dogs and 1 cat.  We have been exploring the town, walking the dogs and culling more stuff from our suitcases.  We'll post pictures and the adventures of our time here in the next blog.

Until next time...