Blogs from Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

Pamukkale is a well known place to visit within Turkey where there are amazing white tiered calcium deposits, old Roman ruins, an amphitheatre and pools all in the one place, it's a great place to visit for a day! Many people will come here for a day trip and we were the same. We had spent the night in Denizli and caught a bus in the morning to get to Pamukkale. It is better to get there in the morning before the tour groups get there. We entered from the South Gate and walked up the Calcium deposits while Hot Air Balloons drifted ominously above. By the time we slowly made our way to the top, more people had arrived so we decided to go to the quieter places like the pools and amphitheatre. We contemplated ... read more

Back in Çeşme, the immigration process was slightly swifter and facilities much better. We found our new hotel, a Boutique (Butik) hotel in the back streets of the main shopping street. The charming couple that run the hotel were very keen to teach us some Turkish and found the language translation apps very useful in welcoming their guests. We had dinner in the main area of town, and a quick wander around. The next day we took a taxi to the nearby village of Alaçatı. Alaçatı is a picturesque village (that now seems to exist solely for tourism) about 9km away from Çeşme. Think white-washed houses with vivid blue doors and window sills, blooming pink Bougainville flowers and ample opportunities to take that perfect photo. It was a lovely walk around town – a little busy ... read more

Today we are travelling through the mountains to the Mediterranean to an area that was home for the Lycian people around 1400BC onwards. Originally from Crete the Lycians brought a different language and a unique political system. They would send a delegate from each region to be the representative at the capital. Washington copied this democratic system in America. The Lycians also proved themselves the most troublesome for Alexander the Great to conquer. They were so passionate about not being ruled over that when defeat was finally imminent they rounded up the women and children into a church and set fire to it killing all those inside. The men fought on to their deaths. No-one would rule over the Lycians. They preferred extinction. The Lycia area is a bump of land on the south west corner ... read more

Hot on the heels of our visit to Troy, today we are off to see another ancient city, this time Ephesus. This city was named after one of two things; either 'Efersia’ - Amazon Queen - named after the legendary wacko Amazonian women who cut off their left breasts to make it easier to use their bows and who are said to have founded the city OR after the symbol of the city, 'apis’ - honey bee. I know which I prefer, take your pick. There are also two reasons to explain why Ephesus is situated where it is. There's the highly implausible: access to the sea for trading and between mountains as it's easier to defend OR the much more likely: Ionian Prince Androclos was given a sign by the Delphi oracle who said to ... read more

This evening a few of us take a short trip from Selcuk to see a pretty little village up in the mountains called Sirince. The houses are very old and are of Greek style. For centuries the village was populated by Greek people whose families had been there for generations. In 1921-22 Greece and Turkey began a conflict that meant the two nationalities instead of living peacefully together began to hate each other. To resolve the situation the governments of the two countries came to an agreement in 1923 to exchange residents based on their religions so Greek Christians had to leave their homes in Sirince (and many other parts of Turkey) and go to Greece and the Turks moved into their homes. Because there were more Turks than Greeks many houses remained empty. Today Sirince ... read more