Tour - Day 8-9 - Atalya - Pamukkale - Ephesus - Izmir

Sunday, we left the coast and drove up into the mountains, first through dense pine woods and then over taller rocky mountains with valleys with agrigulture. There are no little farms here, because farmers live in the towns and farm the surrounding areas.

For years we have been rating bathrooms. It started in Mexico when the bathrooms were not exactly first rate. We’d give one star if it had a seat, one for a door, one for toilet paper, one for a place to wash, and one for general cleanliness.  But it never occurred to us to award a star for your own personal flat screen TV above your urinal.

Our first stop was Aphrodisias. This is a very large and well-preserved site. It dates back as far as the bronze age, with Greek and Roman civilizations as well. Most of what we see is Roman. The temple was originally to the goddess Aphrodite, goddess of love and fertility, but under Byzantine rule in the 3rd century the temple ws transformed into a chaste Christian church.

The stadium is one of the biggest and best preserved in the classical world. This was a really interesting site.

During our stay, we had at least 2 cats and a dog following us. The cats were very friendly, I’m sure wanting a handout, but they were content to be picked up, petted and carried around. I wanted to bring them home of course. All the animals looked fat and happy, so someone feeds them well.

We stopped at a rustic little restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Salad, Turkish pizza (pide) as an appetizer and then either chicken, meat balls or trout. I chose the meatballs and apparently made the best choice, though everyone said theirs was good. Tangerines for dessert. Sorry, the photo came out blurry.

Then on to Pamukkale and Hierapolis, an ancient Roman health spa founded around 190 BC whose well preserved necropolis is one of the largest in the ancient world. It was a cure center that flourished under the Romans and even more under the Byzantines when it gained a large Jewish community and an early Christian congregation.  Since we arrived late we didn’t get to see the entire site.

The most interesting thing about this area is the calcium covered hills. The unique travertine (Calcium carbonate) shelves and pools above the town were created when warm mineral water cooled and deposited calcium and it cascaded over the cliff edge. These shelves and pools are known as the “Cotton Castle”.   If you have hard water like in San Antonio, water full of minerals that mess up your plumbing and your glassware, I guess these photos of the hill is what your house will look like in about 25 million years.

I know the pictures look like it is snow and ice, but it is calcium carbonate and water.

Donna and David, Lyn and Warren and we have been meeting in one room or another at 6:00 for happy hour before going to dinner. We are all becoming great friends and it will be very sad to say goodbye in a few days. We talk about traveling together again some day, but I know that the chances of that aren’t high.

Today we drove over some more mountains to the Agean coast to Ephesus, the best preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean.  First we went up on the next hill to see the House of Mary.  When Jesus was dying on the cross, he asked St. John to take care of his mother. History knows that John went to Ephesus and his tomb is here, so it’s assumed that Mary accompanied him. Today there is a small church from the 6th century which was built on top of some 1st century ruins, believed to be the house where Mary lived out the rest of her life. It’s a beautiful location, and Jon said we’re lucky to be here in the winter when no one else was there, because in the summer when the cruise ships come it gets crazy and not so peaceful.

Then we toured Ephesus, what a place.  Like most of the ruins we’ve seen, they are prehistoric, Greek, Roman, Persian, Turkish, built one on top of the other

The library was especially impressive which held 12,000 scrolls.

Notice in the photo above that Jon once again ordered prefectly blue sky for our day and our photos!

Also interesting was the men's latrine which was somewhat of a social gathering place. No flat screen TVs though.

We stopped by the remains of temple of Artemis which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. All that’s left is one column with a 21st century stork’s nest on top, a Turkish castle on top of the hill and to the right, the tomb of St. John.

Our bus broke down,  so we ended up with a different bus and driver. We hope we will get Hussien and our own bus back. The new one is bigger, but how much room do we need - there are 7 of us our original 16 person bus - more is just too big.

Then another shopping stop - we were given  a fashion show at a leather place. The leather was as soft as I’ve ever felt, but the prices were sky high and none of us bought anything.   Tonight we are in Izmir (in Greek times, the city of Smyrna) which is the 3rd largest city in Turkey. It has an impressive waterfront on the Agean Sea.

Interesting trivia. Turks are not Arabs and they will be sure to tell you they are not if you mistakenly call them Arabs. Turks were a nomadic people who lived in eastern Asia, as Jon explained "on the other side of the Great Wall". The Turks had lived to the north but as the climate changed they started to move south. The Chinese didn't want them so built the wall to keep them out. So they started moving west, and the Roman empire was declining so they didn't have trouble keeping moving west into what is now Turkey. The Romans and Greeks who were here decided to flee into Europe. Many of those people were rich and smart and artistic and intellectual, and some say that is what spawned the renaissance in Europe - the Turks driving the artisans to the west. Jon says that's their contribution.

St. John came to Ephesus and lived and died here, St. Paul also came here. Apparently it wasn't so popular for them to be here, because the cult of Artemis was popular, and many merchants made their living selling to pilgrims who came to the temple of Artemis, so they didn't want someone preaching Christianity and putting down the Artemis cult. Bad for business.

Leaving Ephesus: