Ephesus and Pammukale

Merhaba!

All this traveling alone has really made me realize how much I like to travel by myself. Really! I have absolutely no problem going to sites on my own. I love traveling at my own pace. I can take a closer look at the things I’m interested in, no one cares if I want to play with the settings on my camera and most importantly I’m not hindered by anyone’s schedule.

Last week, my second last week in Turkey, I had two off days in a row. On Thursday, Zeynep told me that I could have that day and the following off. I packed my bags and got on the first bus to Izmir. I didn’t really have a plan. In fact, I didn’t even have a hotel booked. All I had was a change of clothes, money and my trusty camera. I got a hold of Rita on the bus and told her that I was going to have the following day off that she and her boyfriend, Mike, should meet me in Pammukale.

The bus took me about three hours to the main terminal in Izmir.

Just let me go on a tangent here as to why the buses in Turkey are so much better than the greyhounds in Canada:

1. There are personalized TVs at every seat- with games, radio, film, and television
2. When you purchase a ticket you get a seat, and a seat number. Women are seated with women, men with men. I can not tell you how many times I have bought a greyhound ticket only to arrive at the station and the bus if full! Or how many times I have been harassed by some skeevy man on the bus.
3. They have service! They bring you water every hour, they serve tea and cofee, they give snacks. The day I travelled was particularly hot and we all got mini tubs of ice cream. 
4. They are cheap.

Greyhound needs to step up their game.

Back to my trip, If you look at a map, I actually overshot where I wanted to travel. But in all fairness, I couldn’t get a direct bus to Ephesus from Bodrum right away. The “plan” I had made on the bus was that I would book a hotel in Izmir, get back on another bus and go to Ephesus, then return to Izmir afterward. That was before I realized how big Izmir was (and how in-the-middle-of-nowhere the bus station was) and honestly I was too cheap to cab. I just prayed I’d find a reasonable hotel in Ephesus. 

I got on a minibus and took a one hour bus to Selçuk, a town just next to Ephesus. Now the minibus was not as luxurious as my previous bus- by minibus I mean “large van” and by not as luxurious I mean crowded, smelly and sans in trip service. Oh well c’est la vie. I got off in Selçuk and decided I'd go straight to the ruins, rather than figure out my sleeping situation. While trying to figure out how to get there, I was lucky enough to meet a guy right at the bus terminal who owned a hostel in town. The little place was well kept and clean. I got a private room with a queen sized bed, AC and a private bathroom for 50TL (dinner and mornings breakfast included!). I even got free transport to and from Ephesus by the assitant, Ramazan. Dad, don’t freak out, but it was on a motorcycle. 

Ephesus was just...phenomenal. I had been looking forward to seeing it my entire trip. To be honest, this late in my trip I had already accepted that I might never see it. 

So when I finally got there (at 5pm) the place was completely abandoned, I was over the moon. How many chances do you get to see a tourist attraction like that basically empty? I wandered between crumbling pillars, busts of forgotten deities and ancient tablets at my own leisure. My only company was a humerous security guard who actually encouraged me to get ON relics to take pictures. There weren’t people crowded at famous spots waiting to take photos (save for at the library... but we will get to that later).

See what I mean?

Ephesus is a first century B.C ancient city in the province of Izmir. Pretty cool story as to how this place was chosen for settlement. The son of the Athenian King (from the Kingdom of Athens), Androklos, wanted to build his own settlement. He visited a wise man who told him that a fish and a boar would show him. Story goes that his men boarded a boat, caught fish and made a fire. A wild boar, in fear of the fire, ran from the campsite. Androklos pursued the boar on horseback, killed it, and voila the new city was found.

Well I’m not going to write too much about the city itself, instead I’m just going to talk a little about each picture I post. Way more interesting I think.

The Odeion/Boulteterion built in 150 A.D by Publius Veduis Antoninus. This structure looks like a theatre, which is exactly what it is! As a odeion it was used for concerts, as a bouleterion is was used for boule meetings (government). It can seat 1500 people.

Side entrance to the Odeion

This structure, the Prytaneion, marks the town hall. Within the town hall there was a holy fireplace. The main duty of the governor was to ensure that the holy fire was never put out. In fact, the fire burned for hundreds of years on behalf of the fireplace god Hestia Bouleia.

A carving of the Greek God Hermes (3rd century A.D), God of Transition and Boundaries.  One of his duties was messenger to the gods, note his little winged sandals.

Just showing off some of the detail that is on the excavated pillar feet

Detail on a pillar

Tablet in the inscription museum

Domitian temple is a temple dedicated to the Emperor Domitian (81-96 A.D). Behind it you will notice that the temple is not completely excavated

Momument of Memmimus (1st century B.C). Memmimus was the grandson of Dictator Sulla. Memimus' father Cauis, and grandfather (who is unfortunately chipped away) Sulla are featured on the monument.

The Hadrian Temple (2nd century A.D)- which, by the way I could not get a proper picture of because some lady decided to park her but here on the front step for half an hour. The nerve... This building has been beautifully restored.

The Traian Fountain (102 A.D) dedicated to Emperor Traian. 

Myself in front of the Celsus Library (early 2nd century). The library was built on the tomb of Roman senator Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus (the govenor of the province of Asia). The library could fit 12000 scrolls. Special niches protected scrolls from heat and humidity.

A closer look at all the people parking their butts and ruining my shot haha. You can see four statues of women in the front representing the four aspects of Celsus. The characters from left to right are Sophia ( sagacity or wisdom), Arete (character or valor), Ennoia (intelligence), and Episteme (knowledge and experience).

Closer look at Sophia

In the Grand Theatre- where all the gladiator fights happened

The theatre from afar

In front of harbor street

If you go definitely take a guide book with you. You will appreciate everything you see a million times more. It’s not just a piece of old stone your looking at, it’s the grave stone of a gladiator. Every little thing has a story. P.S if anyone wants to read a super cool article about the gladiator gravestones, click here.

Selçuk is such a small town and everyone seemed to know the guy who was giving me a ride. He picked me up at the sites (on the bike) and gave me a mini tour of town before dinner. My free kebab dinner was, well free, so nothing to complain about there.

The following morning, I got on another minibus to Pammukale to see my sister. When the driver saw that I was traveling alone, he offered me shot gun. Despite my limited Turkish, and his limited English, we talked the whole way. Official bestie to the driver has its perks, double seat (legroom, not that I need it), free water/snacks at rest stops, and figs! It’s fig season right now and I have been gorging on fresh figs all the time. When I pointed to all the side road stalls, telling the driver ben seviyorum (I love), he picked some up for the whole van at the next rest stop. Can you guess who got extra?

Pammukale, means “cotton castle” in Turkish. This site contains natural hot springs and mineral pools created by flowing water. The ancient Greeco-Roman city of Hieropolis was built on top of the hill. 

Pretty water pools that you couldn't swim in

It was great seeing Rita, but honestly, this site was overrated. It was really hot that day, so it was nice to sit in the pools, but that’s really all we could do. It was super crowded, people absolutely everywhere.  Not to mention we couldn't stop thinking about how nasty the pools were (reinforced when we frequently found band-aids in the clay). Just not my cup of tea.

In other news! I am all packed up and ready to leave tomorrow night. My bag is (if you can believe it) exactly 50 pounds. 

Geography lesson with Can. "Look how far you have to fly!"

This week I learned how to make Turkish manti. Excited to try this out at home.

The finished product!

Lastly, my summer project with Lal is finally finished. All summer she has been writing a story in English (with illustrations). Check it out here. Go to the blog Archives-> Hit May and find chapter 1. Work your way to the front page. Enjoy!

See you soon Canada.

Mosque Times

Hello everyone!

Today I am going to try to post two diaries. This one will be the shorter of the two. 

Also wanted to let everyone know, I did some serious editing to my last post. Holy cow, tense errors or what! That’s what happens when you are intent on posting at 2 a.m.

So just under two weeks ago Sarah, Megan and I met up. We went to lunch and visited some mosques in the Eminönü district. The first mosque we visited was the Süleymaniye Camii. It was a further walk than anticipated, and of course all uphill, so we arrived breathless and sweating. Prayer time had just ended so the three of us were happy to catch our breath outside the mosque. This mosque is the second largest mosques in Istanbul, yet not frequently visited by tourist. However, I recommend seeing it if you have time. Definitely check the view out back. 

Walking to the mosque. Megan and Sarah under Turkey's current football champ- Galtasary

Outside them mosque, the men leaving after prayer time

Shot from the interior courtyard. This mosque is HUGE

Beautiful dome

The most amazing view out back!

The Süleymaniye mosque began construction in 1500 B.C. under the orders of Sultan Süleyman (a.k.a Süleyman the Magnificent). Any guesses as to how it got its name? The architecture of the mosque is significant because it is a blend of both Islamic and Byzantine styles. Translation: the minarets (those skinny towers on the side), the Islamic style, are combined with small domes surrounding one main larger dome, the Byzantine style.

The second mosque we visited was the Yeni Cami, The New Mosque. Despite its name, it really isn’t that new, built in 1599. This mosque has amazing tiles! I was not expecting them to be so colourful or detailed. 

From the inner courtyard

Stunning blue tiles! Reminds me of the blue mosque

Sarah with her new scarf

Megan by the tiles

Shot of took of the prayer beads for sale outside the mosque 15 TL

Shot I took of the new mosque a couple weeks ago

The best part about the mosques is that they don't charge an admittance fee! However, we always make sure to donate on our way out!

We ended our day at the spice bazaar, visiting our favourite vendors, then the grand bazaar to look for some leather. 

Our favourite store in the Spice Bazaar

Oil lamps in the antique section of the Grand Bazaar

Beautiful lights in the market

Ramadan ended about last week. The last day of Ramadan is called Byram. Basically its a four day feast. I’m so not complaining. We’ve had lamb, we’ve had fish, we’ve had chicken. I’ve had tons of desserts. Urg, I went to bed full every night. 

Well that is all for this post. Going to try to do my Ephesus/Pammukale post right now!

Update it is now 2 hours later, and my post failed and I had to reimport all my photos. Sad reality: Ephesus post is going to have to wait. 

RAAAAAAGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Let's Get Nekkid!

First of all I would like to address the “older generation”. For those of you that are technologically inept and have messaged me on how to post a comment *cough* Aunt Kathy *cough* here are step by step instructions

Click on the little "no comments" part at the BOTTOM of the post. It might have a number if there is a comment

Scroll to the bottom again. Write a comment. Select your "status" in the comment as section. If you don't have a gmail account just click name/url or go anonymous. Then click publish. TADA!

Secondly, I want to apologize for the content of this post- both the story and the grammar (it’s late, give me a break). 

Well things are starting to wind down. I’m beginning to count down the days I have left here. I am SO looking forward to going back home (even if it is only for a couple of days) and getting back to school. 

These past two weeks I have had lots of time to myself. Lal and Can at are summer camp, so I have from 8:30- 3:00 off. I’ve been trying to get my last minute shopping and site seeing done during this time. Last week I decided to visit a Hamam or Turkish bath. I was making a list of things I still needed to visit when I realized I still hadn’t visited a traditional Turkish bath. Lal insisted that I go, “If you leave without going to a Turkish bath it will be like you never came to Turkey at all!” Zeynep helped me select the place because some of the baths can be pretty grundgy. The one I ended up going to was called Ayasofya Hürrem Sultan Hamamı in the Sultanamet district. In fact it was right between the blue mosque and Hagia Sofia. It is pretty old (1556) but absolutely beautiful.

I arrived at the baths to find out that my appointment was not penciled in, so I had about three hours to kill. Without having even entered the baths I was impressed. Take a look at the reception area.

The sky looked pretty stormy so I just ran into the first tea shop I could find. I’d actually ended up walking into a dessert shop. Since it was about 10a.m and I didn’t find myself to be craving baclava or Turkish delight, I ordered some Turkish bread and tea. The restaurant was pretty dead so the manager ended up delivering to me. He was shocked to find out I wasn’t Turkish since I had ordered a typical Turkish meal and I looked Turkish (I get this ALL THE TIME). He saw my kindle and asked me what I was reading (Game of Thrones) and we got to talking about books. I was pretty impressed by his accent, and he said “yes, well I lived in Canada for 10 years, I am a citizen.” Turns out he worked for P&G in Toronto! Such a friendly older man, I got my meal for free!

I still had some time to kill so I decided to go to the Grand Bazaar. I wanted to buy a tea pot. If you remember the last time I went to the Grand Bazaar, Sarah, Alix and I were not too impressed. It is far more commercial than the spice bazaar and EVERYBODY is vying for your attention. Going by myself was a completely different experience. Since Alix’s flaming red hair and Sarah’s golden mane were absent, people just took me for Turkish (which made it much easier to ignore the vendors). However, there is a certain amount of protection that is offered in a group. Entering a shop by myself is (for some reason) read as a romantic proposition instead of a business opportunity. One such conversation went like this:

Me: So I am interested in getting a teapot

Vendor: And I am interested in you

Me: I think you misheard me, I said teapot *gesturing to teapot*

Vendor: When are you free for dinner?

Me: How much is this teapot? *now holding up teapot*

Vendor: Do you like seafood?

The conversation went on like this for some time. I left with his business card and number (he insisted), but SANS teapot. After half an hour, I finally got fed up and left (5 numbers richer, but still no teapot). 

All the numbers from the bazaar. I'm pretty popular!

Finally its time to go into the Turkish bath. The Koran dictates that cleanliness is not just an important for personal health, it is religiously essential. This is why the baths were, and are so culturally significant. In addition, the baths were important socially, especially to Ottoman women, who spent much of their lives living behind closed doors.  

When I got there they gave me a little package with a bar of olive oil soap, lavender shampoo, conditioner and moisturizer, an exfoliating glove, a wrap and slippers. However, I noticed one crucial thing was missing. I had read Sarah’s post earlier and expected them to give me some sort of underwear. I was standing in the change room with a dilemma. Go into the baths commando or wear what I have on? Well it was pretty cold that day and I decided to save em’ for later. Commando in denim pants was just not an option, yuck. Some lady led me into the actual spa area. It’s big white marble domed room. The centre is a raised platform and off to the side are little domed antechambers with golden faucets. I was pleasantly surprised to see everyone was sporting their birthday suit - and when I saw pleasantly surprised I mean visually harassed by the vast vast quantities of nudity. I was easily the youngest person in there, the average age being about 50. One of the attendants led me to the antechambers, also known as the “warm room”, where I just sat relaxed on the hot marble. Your supposed to pour the warm water from the fountains on you to get your skin all nice and soft and ready to be washed. I started to doze off about 20 minutes in. I was startled awake by a nice young lady named Leila. She held my hand  and led me off to the washing section. It felt very... maternal. That is until the washing began.

one of the anti-chambers

The entrance to the Hamam

The hot platform where you get the massage

Leila brought me into a room with three other ladies, all about 40 or 50 who were getting scrubbed down. They use this exfoliating glove to take off all your dead skin. I was taking a look around and on closer inspection, I noticed that all of the other women in there had something in common, small telltale scars under their breasts. The very observant Leila noticed my gaze and immediately understood. She grabbed my breast like it’s the most natural thing in the world, giggled at me and said “Real!” Now I was just getting used to a stranger touching my body...so I was pretty startled. The first thing that popped into my mind is My god, she just picked it up like it was a tomato in the market! Haha, but all I did was nod. She kept scrubbing away, and let me tell you they scrub everywhere: face, armpit, butt. I was starting to relax and get used to it. Then Leila piped up again “You must be about 20” as she was scrubbing my butt. I looked down at her: Is she guessing my age from my butt?! I was starting to get used to Leila’s nothing’s-off-limit attitude and I just laughed and told her yes. 

After the initial wash they take you to the hot marble slab in the middle of the room where they massage you with bubbles. I had about a 35 minute massage, very relaxing. And at the very end they wash your hair and body, with alternating cold and hot water (to open and close the pores and improved circulation). I also got a head massage. The nice thing is that I got to leave with all my stuff- a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, soap and a new exfoliating cloth!

BUBBLES

I definitely recommend going to a Turkish bath. It was wonderful after I got over the  awkwardness. 

This past Friday I met up with a new Au Pair named Megan. She has been in Istanbul for about two months, but hasn’t had much of an opportunity to see the sites. Megan is super friendly. We have very similar taste in books so we had lots to talk about. We met up in Taksim and walked all the way to Galata Tower. Finally, FINALLY I get to walk up it instead of just looking at it. Galata Tower, one of the oldest towers in the world, was first built in 1348. It was first used as a lighthouse. Like almost everything here, it was destroyed in an earthquake (gosh darn earthquake zone). The rebuilt tower was used as a defensive watchtower, a astronomical observatory and a fire alert system. Ironically it was burned down in a fire. Below are some pictures of the the tower and the rest of our day.

Megan on the tower

Storm coming my way

The view from where we had lunch

Wee kitten we found while we were wandering around