Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK whY

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

End of a great trip ... and something I hadn't experienced before. The guy landed the balloon basket right on the trailer! Turkish sparkling wine, chocolate strawberries and cake afterwards, before being taken back to hour hotels by 8am.




Quick shower then it was ready for pick-up by a tour I was doing of the area. Only 6 of us on the tour, which was a good manageable number.

First stop was one of the parks displaying the 'fairy chimneys' - the eroded rock formations that are a signature of the area. On the left - sheetake mushrooms! (That's a deliberate mis-spel as AFF thinks I'm being rude and put a bunch of *** there )




Amazingly delicately balanced formations:




In another area, you get the whirling dervishes.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Next stop was a pottery where "we would see some pottery being made and can buy some if we like". Now I generally loath 'shopping' opportunities on tours. In fact I specifically told my TA that I didn't want to see any carpet shops or museums on my trip. This one slipped through - I didn't realise we were going until the guide announced it as the next stop.

However in the event I'm glad we went - and I even bought a piece! (Shhhhh...)

We went to Chez Galip. Mr Galip (in action, on the right) was described as a world renowned 'master potter'. There were a Turkish couple on the tour and I asked them if they had heard of him. oh yes! was the answer. They were hugely impressed with the visit.




They showed us how several pieces were made, including this wine decanter thing on the left (sorry for the blur). Quite impressive.




Onto decoration etc. Here we started seeing some of their ranges - absolutely stunning. Master or not, there were truly magnificent; plates, figurines etc.









Unfortunately there was no photography in the show room. A real pity - some magnificent (and VERY expensive!) stuff there. I bought one of the wine decanter things; small but practical!

 

[Boca68]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Mr Galip..... Patrick Swayze reincarnated! (nod to Ghosts for those not in the know)

Beautiful ceramics Roo, but I'm sure the guy with the decanter was the same guy flogging carpets in the Hippodrome? kidding

Great TR!

 

[amaroo]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Just caught up - your maid and balloon adventure had me laughing.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Next stop on the tour was the Göreme Open Air Museum, another highlight of the region.

A complex of erosional valleys have a large number of caves excavated in them, and many of these were developed as small Christian churches from about the 4th century to the 11th century. I visited about 6 which are on a well defined loop path, but there are many more in the valleys.

Something I didn't know before was that after the establishment of the Turkish republic, Greeks were expelled from Turkey (and a population exchange occurred, much like when Pakistan and India were established as separate countries). At this time the churches were abandoned, hidden and largely forgotten until the 1950s and restored since.

This is typical from the outside - regular caves on the left and church/monastic on the right.




Most of the churches are accessible via a short ladder climb and most are very small, and decorated fairly simply also. The cross of St George and the Maltese Cross are the most common decorations besides purely artistic edging etc.






The most spectacular is the Karanlık Kilise (Dark Church) where the frescoes are fantastic. Sorry for the shakes - low light and no flash allowed.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Surely this one deserves a post on its own. Its about half life sized, and about 1,000 years old.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Wrapping up the tour and Cappadocia.

Last stop was a look-out over Goreme. I was rather stunned to get a first good view of one of the several volcanos that are in the area. I think this one had a small eruption about 100 years ago.



L
ooking down on Goreme - you can see how the town blends in and how its a much more interesting environment that Urgup, where I stayed.




The Evil Eye tree.




Some welcome drinks - pomegranate is popular, as is lime drink. Pumpkin seeds to munch on. A last 'castle' - there are 8 stories in this tower.




Dinner back at Urgup. I again went to my grill place - it was cheap, early and reliable; the Efes was also cheap, and cold. No, you don't come to my Trip Reports for the food, do you?

 

[Boca68]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

No, not for the food. But, some culinary delights are welcome.

Plus , I grew quite a fondness for Efes...(hic!!) Also enjoyed a glass of the Turkish sparkling too, I've had worse.

I stayed in Goreme, which was amazing, but unfortunately, the day of my balloon flight (March), it was about a 30 Knot gale with sleet....not ideal, one could say. Had to stay indoors and (hic!) examine the beverages (read Efes). Possibly could have done the flight the next day, but had a 'fever'. Still can't explain the 'fever'??

Great TR, RooFlyer.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Next morning, I had an early pick-up for the approx 1 hour trip to Kayseri airport, for the flight to Izmir. The guy was late, it was just some old car, we drove up to 140km/hr on the highway while he constantly fiddled with his phone- a true white knuckle ride!

Anyway, arrived at Kayseri airport intact. My fourth Turkish airport is quite small - about the size of Hobart, but it does do international flights. Kayseri to Izmir is a new route for Pegasus (Turkish LCC) and my TA couldn't book it on her GDS. - had to go through a Turkish agent for some reason.

I love the paintwork on the Pegasus planes - flypgs.com I'm sure its an intended joke, but I always read it as "flying pigs"




The trip is no problems. I'm in 2C with adequate legroom and they serve a snack and a coke or juice & water for the 1hr 15min flight.




Arrive at airport #5 Izmir airport -its obviously quite large, and in the end I figure that its about the size of Melbourne airport (Izmir population about the same ), but quite modern. We pull up at an airbridge, de-plane, walk along the airbridge and then ... down stairs onto a bus!! I'm guessing we had to pull up to an international airbridge, but why do that at all? Steps down to the bus are quite steep; older folk struggling. You can see the airbridge right above us here:




Inside lots of gleaming marble & chrome. A typical big, modern airport.




I'm met by my tour driver. I asked for driver only, as I didn't think I needed a guide for this set-piece tour and I was told the driver would have 'basic English'. I had the Google translate phone application at the ready! No need; the guy has good English and is obviously out to impress. He has his own car hire business in Izmir - I'm guessing business is a bit slow so he's branching out.

We hit the road, on our way to Pergamon, to the north. Touching on the Aegean coast on the way, after a couple of hours Pergamon hill soon appears in front of us.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

You can access the Pergamon site either by road or by cable car (which takes you from a car park up to the actual ticket office). I chose the latter.

A bit of confusion at the ticket office and I was relieved to see that the driver had driven up; apparently he hadn't been here before and wanted to have a look. There are various 'Aegean museum passes' available for sale. I couldn't understand why they wouldn't sell me the TL50 ($25) one which was clearly advertised, in English, but were insisting I buy the TL85 one. I was about to get annoyed when the driver interceded and it took him a few minutes to have it explained to him (in Turkish, obviously) - so what hope would I have had? Somehow the cheaper one is for residents only; foreigners buy the more expensive one. Personally, I'm OK with that type of price structuring, but why they just can't write that on the English sign is beyond me!!

I started to get an inkling why once I entered the site. its built around the crest of a hill and down one side, and the paths/directions/signs are awful. I had a map and a Lonely Planet guide, but even so I struggled to follow the 'path' or paths, actually. There is one 'path' on rocks etc marked with fading blue painted dots (this is the one the guide books say to follow), and also a boardwalk which goes a different route. Anyway, off I went, and soon came across this blight on the UNESCO World Heritage site - some sort of ?military lookout.




Anyway, Pergamon was built in the last 3 or so centuries BC and flourished between the times of Alexander the Great and the Romans. There are two highlights. First, the Temple of Trajan, which is Roman.



Second the 'Hellenistic theatre', one of the earlier features and built into the side of the hill, with fantastic views over the countryside. its very steep!!




Another highlight should have been the Temple of Zeus, with some magnificent marble friezes, however they got carted off to Berlin by 19th century German excavators 9with permission, I understand). The German influence here is very strong. The explanatory boards are in Turkish first, then German, then occasionally poor English.

There was a magnificent library here, second only to the one at Alexandria, but it, like most of the structures here, is long gone. Most of the buildings on the top of the hill are just rubble. I noticed that a crane is helping to re-build something. Check out the views! Then its on the original, ancient access road to the bottom of the hill, via the remainder of the site, where would get picked up.



Half way down the hill is the weirdly named 'Building Z' which is a covering over an old palace/house and has some great mosaics.

 

[kermatu]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Was waiting for these pics. Was at Pergamon and the Akropolis 10 years ago. Stunning place. Was close to 40 degrees the afternoon we visited but fortunately didn't ruin the experience. No cable car then (unless my memory is really bad!).

Another terrific TR.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Thanks . I think it might have been comments by yourself or others here that led me to put Permagon onto my schedule. it was a bit of a squeeze - from the airport at Izmir we headed north, visited the site, then drove south, past Izmir to Selcuk where I was staying for 3 nights. A long day.

It was at least mid '30s when I was there .. and one of the reasons I kept making my way down the hill, rather down and then up back to the main entrance. The guide books told me there was a gate at the bottom and the road certainly led there.

These 2 pics show the state of most of the site - but it looks like they are going to hoist a number of pillars up here.




So, what do I find at the bottom of the hill, with me out of water and starting to gasp? A gate, yes, but its %$!!$@ locked! :evil: Fences are not climbable and pretty solid for as far as I could see. Only one thing for it ... dispense with any dignity and slither under the gate, in the dirt. And in spite of my rather 'prosperous' girth, I made it - just. Looking back at the bloody gate, and at the hill site in general.



I met the driver at a pre-arranged spot, and we headed to the nearby Asclepion, a type of sanatorium from Roman times. Like the Pergamon site, it was virtually deserted. Some nice colonnaded streets and the inevitable theatre (being set up for a concert). There was a gift shop which also sold ice creams and books - I must have been his best customer in both regards that day.







Finally, exit stage left and we hit the road, touching the coast again in a couple of spots. These small oil tankers apparently take refined crude from a nearby refinery and distribute the product up and down the coast.

 

[OZDUCK]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Another highlight should have been the Temple of Zeus, with some magnificent marble friezes, however they got carted off to Berlin by 19th century German excavators 9with permission, I understand). The German influence here is very strong. The explanatory boards are in Turkish first, then German, then occasionally poor English.

Great photos and thanks for a very well written trip report.

When we were in Berlin and saw the Pergamon Altar the Museum Audio Guide made reference that the Altar had been excavated and removed to Berlin as it was slowly being destroyed by being used for building materials - I think even to make quicklime. They specifically said that it had been purchased and removed with official permission - which ties up with what you reported. In the dying days of the Ottoman Empire this does sound very possible.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I struggled with where to stay for my three days in the Ephesus area. In the end I chose Selcuk, a smallish sized town which is right next door to Ephesus and sort of central between Pergamon and sites further south. Another choice was Kusadasi, on the Aegean coast, but by all accounts you'd pay a premium for the beach location (and I was right).

I went with the hotel suggested by the tour company - the Hotel Bella. It was basic, but OK. That's it behind the green; note the artistic pose in the rh pic.



No TV, and the bathroom was the smallest it could be; toilet was "paper in the basket, please" type.




The lack of amenity at the hotel turned out to have an upside - I spent less time there than I might have otherwise, and I spent more time looking around the town, which had a number of surprises. Its a nice place to stay and the hotel was only a few minutes walk from the restaurant strip.

There's another Roman Aqueduct .... and storks! I like storks. Nesting season and most nests had one or two young 'uns.






And of course where your get aqueducts, there are sure to be wallabies around. Never found out if they were the rugby playing kind or the macropodial type.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

One of the completely un-planned for sights to see in Selcuk was just an amble from the hotel - the UNESCO World heritage listed Basilica of St John. A great church was built by Emperor Justinian here in ~550AD. Its supposedly the site of where Jesus' disciple John wrote his Gospel and his tomb is also here:






In the background of the LH pic is the Ayasuluk Fortress, built in the 1500s IIRC, but extensively restored.




The back terrace overlooks the Isa Bey mosque, built in the 1300s.




I posted this pic elsewhere -but I reckon its a beauty. Back left - the Ayasuluk Fortress, below it, the Isa Bey mosque; to their right, the Basilica of St John and topping them all off, in the front, the remains of the Temple of Artemis - just one column of the original 127, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and built ~500 BC.


2,000 years of history in one pic, and the youngest structure is 500 years old!

Antipater of Sidon, who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders, describes the finished temple:

I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand".​

.... in other words, "cop that!"
​

 

[amaroo]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Great update! That last photo ... WOW!

 

[Boca68]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Great update! That last photo ... WOW!

Echo the sentiment. Wow!

I remember the astonishing feeling of Istanbul and seeing the old city walls. Mostly forgotten, me driving by and being amazed one morning. But the locals were walking to work or going to the mosque. I remember thinking what a wonderful thing this must be for them. Spoke to a local whilst having a morning coffee and the response was like...'Wall? oh, that thing. Ufff! '

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

This is why I've gone further and further east in my travels for the past 5 years or so (east from the UK at least) - the history is much deeper and frankly, more interesting. Westminster Abbey? Pffft!

A pity that the Temple of Artemis hasn't survived ... some-one's re-creation:

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Onto Ephesus, surely the highlight of any visit to the region. Although it was obvious by then that tourist numbers were down, I still decided to turn up on opening to try to avoid any crowd that might eventuate. The tour boats were still calling into nearby Kusadasi and I definitely wanted to avoid their tour groups!

Well, that was odd. I turned up at 7:45am for a 8am opening and noticed a couple of people already inside, beyond the ticket barriers. I tried my luck and yes, straight through. In fact there was about 20 or so people already on the paths, but that was fine.

Ephesus is described by Lonely Planet as "Europe's most complete classical metropolis - with 82% of the city still unexcavated." It was founded sometime pre 650 BC, maybe near 1,000 BC by Greeks a little way from where it is now (closer to Selcuk). It was invaded, razed etc a number of times and eventually re-established on the sea, where it is today. Its no longer on the sea, as the harbour has silted up, long ago. Through the time of 400-300 BC, the city state fought various wars and the temple of Artemis was built; first on a modest scale and ultimately, the one reconstructed above, one of the Ancient Wonders. Alexander the Great was kicking around at this time.

Ephesus became Roman in 133 BC and Emperor Augustus made Ephesus the capital of Asia Minor in 27 BC. The harbour silted up and the Goths sacked the city in 263 AD. Because of the association with St John and the Virgin Mary Christian Byzantine Emperors like St Justinian built temples around the place (ie at Selcuk) but the city slowly crumbled away until the 1800s when excavations began.

As noted above John, one of Jesus' disciples came and wrote his Gospel here. On a second visit about 37 AD he brought the Virgin Mary and 'Mary's House' is on the hill above the site, a relatively recent construction on the site thought to be where she lived. It sounded a bit commercial and I decided not to visit.

If you visit Ephesus, make sure you start from the top of the site and walk down hill to the bottom gate. It took me 2 hours to visit, much faster than I planned. I won't go into every nook and cranny here

Near the top entrance is a 5,000 seat 'Odeon' theatre. Its then down the colonnaded 'Curates Way' - the polished marble is pretty slippery.



At the end of the street is the Library of Celsus. The green fields beyond would have been the harbour before it silted up.



The fantastic Library of Celsus dating from 114 AD.



The façade niches hold statues of symbols of Greek virtues - Goodness, Thought, Wisdom and Knowledge. They are reproductions now - originals in the Vienna Ephesus Museum.



The Temple of Hadrian has been partially re-established and there is a nice Medusa overlooking the entrance.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I reckon the Library of Celsus is worth another look.