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A Wonder
but an ancient one. Those St John mob do some damage when the blood is up.When we looked at the mapof Turkey we thought that there were basically 2 ways of approaching the task of having a look around: go west and south and then follow the coast for a while before heading up the middle to the Black Sea and then back to Istanbul; or, alternatively, head east before eventually turning south till we get to the Meditteranean Sea and then turn east following the coast up along the Aegean Sea and thence back to Istanbul. The decision was made on weather grounds. We wanted to give the area around the Black Sea the opportunity to warm up just a little.
The jury is still out on whether we were right or wrong in our decision to go west rather than east. What is clear so far is that east is where the tourists are and there are a lot of them. These days we are running into lots of Italian, some Japanese, lots of Turkish and some French tour groups. Only the occasional American and, of course, the constant little stream of Australians, that has built up since Anzac Day. If the guide books are right though, and who would doubt Lonely Planet,
Down the Drain
in Halicarnassus. A drainage tunnel in fact the tourists will dry up somewhat along the Black Sea coast and that is where we are about to go, I think.
Don't get me wrong. I really don't mind other tourists. We are, after all, tourists ourselves - even though we now use 'traveller' as our occupation when we check into places. It sounds more … active than 'retired', although no more productive. The thing about tourists is that they go to the most interesting places, experience different things and enjoy good food and drink. So it is inevitable that we will often share our space and experience with others of our ilk.
It is also inevitable that the weight of tourists will change the places they visit. They knock nature about just by their presence and turn small, inexpensive eateries into large ones that the locals shun, that cost a lot and that start adding 'multi cuisine' or western dishes to their menus. We might not admit it but we actually support this change. The other day, just for instance, we spent some time in a nice little bar, the Panorama, in Goreme in Cappadocia. There were a couple of locals inside drining tea but outside,
Fethiye Bey
Cut a mean figure but very unlucky. on the terrace type area, there were only Australians and they were all into Efes, the local beer. I know that we cause the change and I know that by our actions we make sure it continues to occur but I still hanker for places where there aren't too many of us and where we haven't actually caused a change - beyond having places that serve beer that is.
And before I go on, just to explain one point, I should note that I have been the author of these posts not because my fellow travellers are too lazy to write - although the allegation has been made - but because we have, among the 4 of us, fallen into roles. Mine is that of writer of posts, chronicler you might say. Others plan, organise, shop, make decisions, shop, eat and drink and, most importantly, discuss eating and drinking. I get involved in these activities as well but only to a limited degree and with less skill. The others don't have time to write anything beyond postcards.
In the last post I failed to mention a couple of things of interest. I had a photo of storks nesting
Breakfast
Only part of the view visible with big head in the way on the aqueduct at Selcuk. I had meant to talk about the fact that, around Selcuk, every tower, light pole and other tall edifice has a stork's nest perched on top. This is an annual phenomenon. It is highly unlikely that it is unique to Selcuk but there are more of them in Selcuk that I have seen elsewhere and the tops of the ancient aqueduct are favourite places.
And because we were moving out of Bodrum the next morning I also omitted any mention in my last post of one of the wonders of the Ancient World. We had intended to get to it earlier in our visit to Bodrum but the search for views of Kalymnos intervened so we didn't make it until the day we were due to leave. This is the Tomb of Mausoleius at Halikarnassus. Bodrum, in its earlier (Greek) days, was called Halikarnassus and elements of the name still remain - most notably as the name of the largest disco/club in the area. Regular readers will recall that we were a little disappointed in the previous Wonder of the Ancient World that we had seen at the Temple of Artemis at Selcuk. We
Happy
Walking on an island in Fethiye harbour had very low expectations of the Tomb of Mausoleius. True there is not a lot left of it and the site is tucked away in a back street of Bodrum but it was interesting and worth the visit.
A Danish group has been involved in the excavation of the site over a long period and have provided a useful and informative exhibition detailing their work and talking about the life and death of Mausoleius. The tomb was built by his wife. It might not have rivalled the Taj even in its hey day but who knows. What we do know is that the Knights of St John - of ambulance fame - broke into and then broke it apart to use material for an edifice of their own. They accused grave robbers of getting in and destroying it all but there are clearly strong suspicions about the extent of their involvement. Oh, and where do you reckon the word 'mausoleum' came from? Now that is information you can use at a quiz night.
Fethiye is along the southern/Mediterranean coast from Brodrum. We made it there after a bus ride that was considerably less wonderful than the scenery we
Holiday Houses
of rich people around the harbour travelled through. The driver either cut out the airconditioning or it cut out because the bus needed all available power to get up the numerous hills. In any case, the seats were close together and were uncomfortable. Just pleased that it wasn't a long trip, just 5 and half hours with my knees around my ears.
Took one look a the town and at the Duygu Pension and decided that we would extend our planned stay for a couple of days. The town sits around a large harbour. The part up near the otogar (bus station) is nothing to write home about. As you come around the harbour you come to the area where there are more boats moored, more restaurants, shops, hotels and pensions. The Duygu is one of the furthest out of town along the shore but is still only 10 minutes walk from the main part of the town, that is, the place where the restaurants, shops, boats and bars are situated.
You could get bored with the view from the terrace restaurant of the Duygu Pension, I suppose, over a considerable time. We were there for 4 days and didn't even feel a tinge
Good Tucker
and nice people in the restaurant at the Vegie Market next to the fish Market of boredom.
There comes a time when you are a tourist when you need a day or two off. A day or two when you just sit, read something, bludge about, do some washing or something equally mindless. You need to ignore interesting piles of rocks, boats and other such things and just kick back. We decided to have a 'Tourism Free Day' and that was so good we had another one.
On one day we did go for a run around the harbour on a boat with some other tourists. It was a reasonable day and it did make a decision for us. We had been having a long discussion about whether or not to go for a trip on a gulet. These are boats, originally sailing boats but now more commonly the sails are for decoration with the power coming from a diesel motor. Gulets take groups from place to place along the coast giving them the chance to see the coast, feeding them and letting them relax for a few days. Sounds idyllic and, at the right time of the year, we were convinced that it would be. Now, however, in mid to late April
Solar
They like ther panels here the weather is changeable. Fine in the morning but cloudy in the afternoon with the occasional rain shower. Cold at night. The trip around the harbour became tiresome in the afternoon and when the wind came up it became more so. We decided on balance that 3 or 4 days of that was not what we were after and we would stay on land.
I should have told you that Fethiye wasn't always the name of this place. It was known as Telmessos or Telemessos at one stage in more ancient times. Along the way it acquired the name Megri but, following WW1 and the ethnic sorting out that occurred with the break up of the Ottomoan Empire and the creation of the state of Turkey a new name was required. They picked the name of a young man who became a naval aviator after having been trained by the British. In 1914 he took off to fly from Istanbul to Cairo and never made it. He was the first naval martyr and gave his name to the town. I should say though, in the interests of accuracy, that there is a view that this is all as much
Cool
and getting cooler as we climbed into the mountains rubbish as the claim that the first Star Wars was shot in Cappadocia.
In Fethiye they have a nice arrangement where you buy your fish at the market and then take it to a nearby restaurant and have it cooked. Costs are a little less that way but not spectacularly so. We were keen to take advantage of the arrangement but were not all keen on sitting in a restaurant smack in the middle of a fish market. You can have too much fish, or at least of its smell. We found a very nice little place just through the alley from the fish market in a vegetable market and this one had a chef that knew what he was doing with fish and seafood generally. It was so good that we made one of our rare restaurant return visits.
We swear off overnight buses every time we take them but, the memory fades and we do it again. We wanted to try to hit some spots well rather than jump quickly from place to place so we decided to go direct from Fethiye to Goreme in Capadoccia. This required an overnight bus leaving Fethiye at 4.00pm and
From the Bus
I reject most photos from the bus but this was OK arriving at Goreme at 5.00am. And that was also a mistake.
Unlike the overnight buses in Vietnam, just for instance, you don't get a sleeping chair. You get a normal chair that lays back a bit. You do get good leg room but they do play silly buggers with the air con so that one minute you are snug and the next sweltering. They also have a great practice of pulling up every couple of hours, turning on all of the lights and letting you get out and move around. Little do they know that you have been watching the display that tells you what the temperature is outside. We felt happy enough inside the bus while it was less than 10 degrees outside. When we made it into Goreme at 5.00 am it was 4 degrees. Then to find the place we were to stay and sit quietly for a few hours while the town work up enough to provide coffee for travelers.
Capadoccia was once famous for its horses. These days it is famous for the places that people have dug out of the sandstone. There have been settlements in the area for 9,000 years at
Houses in Rocks
All those holes are actually windows and doors ... and holes of course least but those who dug into the sandstone started around 4,000 years ago. It was the Christians who really made things happen though. They built considerable underground cities or towns as a refuge from marauding Romans and later Moslems.
We stayed in Goreme which is one of the towns in the area. It doesn't have many of the large hotels but does have plenty of hostels and pensions/pansiyons along with restaurants and such. The Walnut House was ours. It was a good place and very close to the key eateries.
You do hear about Cappadocia around the place but what I had heard didn't prepare me for what we found. Some of the underground cities are said to have housed 10,000 people - and there are much, much higher estimates. There are a number of undergound cities along with their churches and monasteries. All of these are dug out of sandstone that is generally covered with a casing (for the technical geological types) of basalt. The whole area is volcanic and the soil is something that most Australian farmers can only dream about.
From Goreme we headed up to Safranbolu. The trip took us through Ankara but
Dinner table
Carved out of rock and seats about 50 we didn't give the capital much time. Approximately 20 minutes at the largest otogar (bus station if you haven't been paying attention) we have seen. Three stories of it no less. The buses here work very well as a rule. This particular day we needed to catch 3 buses and the timing of the changes was tight but it all worked, although not without a couple of tense moments.
Safranbolu is World Heritage listed for its Ottoman architecture. We saw photos of the place befoe the started the restorations and 30 or 40 years ago it was pretty much a dump. It is now impressive. We have only been in the old town and I think the new town is something different but, here, you take a trip back in time to small cobbled streets and the wooden framed, stucco houses. Picked up a few new design ideas here. The toilet and bathroom in a cupboard is particularly impressive.
We are parked in a 300 year old Ottoman house that makes use of a lot of walnut and pine, I think. There are killims all over the place and a large fire place that was clearly the primary
House Falling Down
That is the thing about building with sandstone, it is eventually going to fall away after a few centuries heating source in past days. Our room also has a heater - modern, possibly ugly and beautifully functional.
Tomorrow morning we will both have a tour of the area with a bloke in a taxi and travel up to Amasra on the Black Sea coast. Supposed to be a bit cold up there for many tourists but they have these little fish that they cook up a bit like whitebait. Might need to try some of that.
After that, well we are fast running out of Turkey time. We need to see Izmik - where they make ceramic tiles - Troy - of horses and Helen fame - and Gallipoli - and I had better not make jokes about that. Then it is back to Istanbul and on the cheapest flight available, TUIfly, to Frankfurt.
The wrap up Turkey post will follow in due course.
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