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Published: November 15th 2010
Gallipoli terrain
Nick stands on part of the absurd, steep slope the ANZACS had to assaultJAC- Just another church
1* - worth a look
2* - Good Times
3* - Unmissable
+ - emphasis on the rating
We arrived in Turkey on a night flight and got into Istanbul via a simple and painless transfer organised by our tour operator, we're starting a 10 day tour of Turkey first thing the next morning.
To break up our Turkey blog into sensible photographic and story entries I will be leaving all Istanbul stories to the last entry and posting several shorter blog text entries covering different things to give me a chance to put up the hundred or so wonderful photos we have. Don't forget to check the second page for the extra photos!
So skipping day one of our Istanbul tour;
this blog covers most of what we did on our 10 day Turkey tour and begins on day two were we were headed to Gallipoli on our coach.
As our tour included a lot of long bus journeys, our tour guide tried to break these up with information about Turkey. On this leg of the journey the guide spoke told us how 75%!o(MISSING)f
ANZAC Cove
A glance down to where the allies stupidly landed the worlds Hazelnuts are grown in Turkey! She told us some funny stories about how every man and his dog chucks in their jobs to help with the Hazelnut harvest and how employers were cracking down to keep people at work during the harvest. She also alleged Turks are world famous for good hospitality, something I'd never heard.....
We arrived at Gallipoli in the afternoon and saw a few different landing and memorial sights. It was very moving and you really got a sense of what the ANZACS were up against when they landed.
With so many sights to see at Gallipoli I'll sum up my impressions:
1.The Turkish leader and hero 'Ataturk' is widely revered and seemingly rightly; he was right in the thick of organising the Turkish defense to the invasion.
2.The allies land invasion was to clear the defence they'd encountered on their early sea invasion; basically by taking the land they could then get the sea and the straits.
3.Where the Anzacs landed was such a bad landing spot that in spite of all challenges they really should have abandoned that beach head and moved to the better landing spots they'd originally planned for, it
A handful of graves
Some of the ANZAC graves in one of the cemeteries was not only very steep and tactically disastrous but had no local fresh water either so the men were operating on a half-litre of water a day each which is perilous!
4.It occurs to the me that the British strategic plan wasn't such a bad one; it's just that it was executed so poorly at the tactical and operational level that it made it looks like a bad strategy, I certainly still blame Churchill for the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands on both sides though.
5.The guide spoke of the co-operation and occasional camaraderie between the combatants e.g. everyone stopped shooting whilst medics pulled out the wounded, and she rightly drew a parallel to the stupidity of this battle and war.
After a full afternoon of Gallipoli sight-seeing we retired to our hotel for the night and rest and to fight the frustratingly slow Turkish internet which unfortunately we found out was everywhere in the country!
We awoke the next day to visit the ancient city of Troy with light rain. Arriving at Troy they've built a model wooden horse which is a little cheesy but we climbed it anyway. We saw the remains of old streets
Trojan Horse
The "replica" wooden horse standing outside the archaeological site at Troy from around the time of Homer's Troy, including drains running down the streets, also the alleged walls of King Priam, it's a fascinating archealogical sight.
For lunch we had tasty Turkish Pide in a casual restaurant, the Pide were much smaller than what I've tried before in Australia, about the size of a small serving platter, shaped like a canoe. It was very hot, tasty, and was great to try something uniquely Turkish.
For the afternoon we took a cable car to get up to the Acropolis of Pergamum where we saw the remains of the ancient city of Pergamum which is scattered about the hill. We saw the foundations of the spectacular Pergamum Altar which now lives in the Berlin museum, nowadays the Turks have let a large tree grow in the middle of the remains; it's a shame it's not there.
We loved the temple remains which were in slightly better shape than most ancient temples, the blue sky and sun didn't hurt... We took plenty of photos and also had good views down to the steeply built theatre in the hillside. Next we headed down to the theatre and it was a hard slog walking
Lunch in bed?
At this place the giant tablecloth was spread over your legs as a serviette too; everyone looked like they were tucked in bed. up and down the VERY steep steps and seating, it was much a steeper degree of seating than any other ancient theatre we've been to. We loved the theatre which looked out over a drop down to the valley, not quite as impressive as the Minack in Cornwall, but very good.
After dinner our tour group socialised at the pool side bar outdoors and we enjoyed a few rounds of happy hour Efes beer and good company. We finished the night with a shot of Raki (traditional Turkish shot (tastes like Sambucca)) which was typically aniseed and harsh. One of the women mixed hers with water which caused the water to turn a milky colour and made it more like an aniseed drink than just a shot.
Our next morning we visited a 'Leather goods' place as Turkey is apparently famous for it's leather. We learned a little about Turkish leather including about a new variety 'leather silk' which is very very light then watched a little fashion show in the large shop which was fairly professionally done on a low catwalk with proper models.
All the girls were tall sticks, typical model looking, to my surprise I
Roman Structure at Pergamum
The Romans really wanted a flat and sturdy foundation on this hilltop for their temple and library. They built this tremendous system of arches to prop it all up was pulled up onto the catwalk and taken backstage (which was basically just a big walk in wardrobe) where they put a leather jacket on me then hand in hand with the models walked out to the cheers of our group. It was a good laugh but I didn't like the leather jacket I tried on which was fairly thick and not terribly comfortable! Alicia and I were uninterested in the Leather goods and escaped promptly once they let us loose in the shop; we found the prices high; our tour group loved it though and must have spent over $5k in there!!
Our next stop was the preserved Ancient Roman city of Ephesus. We walked about and I really enjoyed walking the ancient Roman streets which were paved with many marble stones. We saw an ancient symbol that looked like a carved pizza which was meant to indicate to visitors back in the day that it was a Christian city, we also saw a backgammon gaming board carved into a marble stone stoop so shop keepers could play there in their free time.
There were many highlights to see in Ephesus with a council chamber shaped like a
Theatre at Pergamum
The amazingly steep and picturesque hill theatre at Pergamum small theatre, cute kittens about, all the streets edged with columns, and remnants of the advanced water system that allowed the citizens to have running water in their homes!
As always we loved seeing the Roman Latrines (toilets) which were very well preserved and showed the drainage system, the long universal seating bench with holes, and the water channel in front for cleaning. Our guide explained they usually had a fountain in the centre of the room to keep the air churning and get rid of bad smells!
The 'main' tourist draw of Ephesus is the facade of the library which stands a tall two stories high and still has pretty columns, pediments, and replica statues of those which have been taken away, it was very impressive. Sadly for me the sky was a bit overcast with crappy light and I couldn't get a decent photo.
Our absolute favourite at Ephesus was the museum of the 'Roman Terrace houses' (3*) an ongoing excavation effort under a huge covered area which has about 6 houses they'd dug out.
They were very nice rich ancient Roman houses in a great state of preservation, we saw a couple of small baths, a fountain,
and the plaster walls and mosaic walls which were wonderfully rich and abundant. We marvelled at place after place within the large space where another section of wall revealed a colourful wall painting or a lovely floor mosaic. The best were a lion floor mosaic and an angel figure painted on a rich blue background.
I'm rating this sight the best excavated Roman town we've seen, Alicia disagrees and says Herculaneum is still number one. At the exit of Ephesus many stores were amusingly advertising 'Genuine Fake Watches' which had us all chuckling, we shared a fresh OJ (which are readily available and cheap in Turkey) then took the bus to lunch.
Lunch was in a 'Nomadic style' tent which looked bloody dodgy from the outside, but inside was comfortable cushioned benched and tables, you could also opt to sit on cushions on the floor at a very low table (we definitely didn't fancy that with our dodgy backs). We enjoyed lunch with our group and had 'Turkish Pancake's which are kind of like thin, filled pita. We had one filled with 'everything' and the other with minced beef and potato, I also tried one from another in the
group; spinach and cheese, they were all pretty good. More driving took us to our hotel and the days end.
On this tour our hotels are total Nazis about not having food in your room and have signs up saying they'll charge you for any food or drink found in your room; we find this very unhospitable and unrealistic, it's not the first hotel were they're very keen on this rule, seems to be a theme in Turkey. We think it's total BS and we really don't appreciate it. Hotels should be accommodating their guests not making their lives difficult.
We had happy hour drinks with all our usual suspects in the group out by the pool and chatted about any number of things. We also gleaned that no-one knows what to do about the tipping problem on this tour, our guidebook from the operator says to give about 100 euros in tips to the guide and driver which doesn't suit us at all (we're Aussies for godsake, tipping isn't in our culture).
Our next tour day we went to a Turkish rug/ carpet shop and learn how they make the rugs. We watched a lady tieing coloured
Alicia destroying ancient monuments
Alicia naughtily shoves a large marble column down the hill! wool around tightly stretched vertical threads then slicing off the extra wool from each knot. It was fascinating to watch the handmade process and gauge just how long it would take to make a whole rug. We also saw silk cocoons and how they unwind silk threads off them which was interesting to learn. They then took us into the shop and showed us hundreds of carpets; we didn't buy of course but it was cool to see them. Nick pretended to fly on one to embarrass Alicia.
We finally made our way to Pamukkale a premium sight for our tour showing the amazing outdoor calcium rock terraces about 4pm. The weather was very overcast, with gusty wind and frequent moderate rain showers, not ideal for sight seeing.
Of the beautiful white stone terraces at Pamakule our guide explained it was normal rock that has been shaped by the flow of water with sulfur in it. The sulfurous water forms terraces as it breaks down and erodes the rocky hills, hence the shapes of the terraces. Then the calcium in the water was being left over on the terraces in a jelly like form. Over time the calcium dries
Leather model
Nick struts out in Turkish leather; they LOVED me for audience participation in Turkey and hardens to give the shaped rocks the white crust we see today. We walked out onto the terraces bare footed as directed and found the ground had pebbles (ouch), stretches of silica-like mud, and the hardened calcium which was often shaped into nice flow patterns, was very solid and incredibly grippy; despite walking in flowing water along sloping rock the calcium underfoot was so well grouted it was impossible to slip and I'd say the most grippy surface I've ever walked on.
We marvelled at the sights around; tall walls of hardened, bubbly calcium, cool stalactite formations off in the distance on small rounded terraces, and most prominently large terrace pools that were extraordinarily similar to in-ground swimming pools and held knee high pools of pretty light blue water. We walked down a bit but found the Terrace pools were identical and so once we got to the fifth one (identical to the second) we were able to turn around and come back.
We also enjoyed a look at the thermal pools and ancient theatre at the sight which are from the ancient Roman city Hierapolis.
Back at our hotel we had thermal pools there of our
Alicia and the kitten
Alicia stops by one of the billion gorgeous kittens in Turkey own and we managed to find our way into the 44C hot thermal pool outdoors and we had a decent relax in the pools with some of our tour pals.
After dinner we headed upstairs with eight or so tour buddies to watch the 21:30 belly dancer. The girl waved ribbon flags about then did some hip moving then hauled some of the crowd up to teach them the dance. Since most of the blokes in the crowd were being stubborn and refusing to get up I felt sorry for her as she couldn't get her show done so when she came to grab me I got up and ended up there with 3 other men. She had us follow some of her dance moves and then had us each stand by her to do an individual bit of belly dancing: following her lead. Our tour group was amused at my expense and got a few photos and videos to be sure it was all recorded and remembered. Alicia laughed at me for leaping up with the beautiful dancer.
Our next tour day was largely driving, the best sight-seeing was a stop at a Caravansary of the Silk Road
Nature calls
Nick sits on the comunal Latrines at the Roman sight of Ephesus in the later afternoon. The Caravansary consisted of a moderate walled enclosure, with tall walls a good 8m high. Our guide explained they'd built these every 5-10kms along the trade road and caravans usually consisting of about 100 people (4 guards) would stop in them overnight. The Caravans daily range was about 40km they said and consisted of camels drawing carts. It was interesting to see something along the ancient trade route and we enjoyed learning about it and seeing such a beautifully preserved sight.
Arriving in Cappadocia the most remarkable landscape in all Turkey I believe, we hit bed early. The next two blog entries cover our hot air balloon ride and other Cappadocian adventures, regarding the rest of our tour there was not much else to report about the final tour day which consisted of a major drive home from Cappadocia to Istanbul via Anakara on the final day.
We finished our tour in Istanbul having dinner with most of the tour group crowd at a bustling quarter with lots of fish restaurants. There we ate and drank well and were harrassed by a band and a 'belly-dancer/ stripper' who all wanted money for their services.
Roman Steet
This smart boulevard is the ancient Roman streets of Ephesus Our group was unsympathetic to them and they all eventually buggered off. Despite the dubious entertainers we had a nice 'last supper'.
It was sad to say goodbye to our tour group who'd been fun to travel with. The Last Turkey blog entry published covers all Istanbul activities; read on for the excellent sights of Cappadocia.
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Mum G
non-member comment
Turkey Tour
Great tour and so reasonably priced - It brought back good times for us. Very envious of you seeing the Roman house excavations in Ephesus The whole area was tent roofed and out of bounds when we were there. Yes we agree that Gallipoli was a very moving place. So glad that Pergamum was a highlight for you Good on you for donning the leather at the fashion parade and having a go at the belly dancing !! Your trip did the same as ours but we saw more of Turkey with our extra days. Shame about the lousy weather at Pamukule - the terraces look spectacular in brilliant sunshine. Turkey is well worth a visit.