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Published: October 6th 2013
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Saturday morning dawned and with breakfast done we were on the road by ten, only a short drive thorough the mountain plains and then into the City of Konya which was massive. Gripping the maps, reading signs and following James’ instructions with a few high rise over-passes, we left the city behind. Into the mountain roads we cruised with only a ninety kilometres to go.
Woolly says – I was over the moon having seen seven big flocks of sheep, nothing unusual in that you might think but this IS Turkey. Turkey has Goats, millions and millions of goats, sheep are few and far between and a whole herd is something we haven’t seen for quite a few countries. We arrived in the town of Beysehir which was to be our stop for the night, we had been unable to find a campsite online in the area so knew that another hotel was in order. Having booked into the Ali Balzir Hotel we took a very short walk to the famous stone bridge. Built between 1908 and 1914 it looks like a small Roman viaduct, lit at night it was rather sweet.
We wandered over
to the huge lake that the town is next to and although it was freezing cold it is pretty impressive, stretching for miles into the distance. The lake has had various studies conducted on its water and bed and these have identified human occupation dating back to the Late Bronze Age with the town itself dating as far back as 6000 BC.
Woolly says – that makes it very old, nearly as old as me! The town has had many different civilizations over the years including the Hittites, Phrygians, Lydian’s, Persians and the Romans. I wonder if Hadrian ever came this way? By now we were all shivering and decided to tuck up for the rest of the day and look further in the morning. Got to admit, I was a bit naughty. Ian caught me on the phone to room service, ordering dinner for myself. When it arrived there was so much food they thought I’d ordered for them, so all was forgiven.
The sun greeted us this morning but on opening the balcony doors we found the temperature hadn’t risen! Quickly retreating inside we caught the lift to the sixth floor and
restaurant buffet breakfast.
Woolly says – breakfast was yum and I was really pleased to have toast and yummy strawberry jam for a change. It resulted in sticky tusks but I didn’t care, I can lick them clean later and it doesn’t matter if I keep sticking to things!.
Having wiped Woolly down and checked out paying our 139TL tariff (approximately £44.90 GBP) which had included our room service dinner (good deal we thought) we climbed into Ollie to go and investigate the sights. Beysherier has a wealth of tourist opportunities including the famous wooden Mosque, we however had selected two that we thought would appeal to Woolly.
Woolly says – We drove off along the lakeside and found a sign for our first objective, Eflatun Pinar. Made from nineteen huge stones it was built in the Hittite Era, these guys get everywhere! It was the second largest religious monument built and the excavation work which started in 1996 was only completed last year. We followed a track down towards the lake and there suddenly in front of us was a little Oasis.
The monument is formed as
a rectangular shaped pond fed with the waters from a nearby spring. The water was crystal clear but we were too chicken to dip our toes in as it was probably freezing cold. The most prominent part is the high wall of reliefs that stand on the north edge of the pond, although faded and eroded you could still make out the shapes. The information board told us that the centre reliefs are the Storm God and the Sun Goddess and around them are ten spirits or hybrid creatures. The base comprises of five mountain gods that are partially visible, the monument is roughly 7 meters in length and 7 meters in height.
Woolly says – I could also see some carvings either side just above the pond level, even more impressive were the three bulls that stand alone by the entrance, this came from the Roman Era and it was a must to have a snap with!
We finally dragged ourselves away, if it had been warmer I think we would have all sat happily there for several hours enjoying the tranquillity of this wonderful place. With a Palace to find we retraced
our steps and driving back through the town again we set off round the opposite side of the lake. This proved to be an incredible ride, a bit like a sedate roller coaster as the road twisted and turned and gave us the most delightful views.
Woolly says – I didn’t know where to look, the mountains in the distance with sprinkles of snow, the lake with its lovely blue water or the rocky terrain through which we were driving. But best of all were the cute goats and cows that were chomping away at the side of the road or wandering serenely down the middle of the road. Every now and then we came across wells or what looked like wooden oil rigs at the side of the road, we took a quick stop to have a closer look but the water from the well didn’t look very nice.
On we went, Kubadabad Palace was the summer residence built for Sultan
Kayqubad I (1220–1236), and while the pictures we had seen on the net didn’t look much we thought it was worth a look. Woolly continued counting goats and cows as we trundled through
small villages with no sign to indicate where the Palace might be, the sat nav told us we were there but this meant the palace was actually a small house in the middle of the village! Reaching a fork in the road we had to admit defeat and return through the roller coaster ride again.
Woolly says – it was a shame but we could have travelled for miles more and still not found it. By now we were all feeling a bit under the weather, Jo and Ian still haven’t shaken off their colds and are both feeling rough, I have a snuffle in my trunk and so following a discussion along the lines of:
Ian ‘what do you think?’
Jo ‘I don’t mind, it’s your call’
Ian ‘no you decide’
Jo ‘no you decide’
Which went on for several minutes we all decided to return to the hotel Ali Bilazir for a second night, dose up and then run for the coast tomorrow.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Nice photo
Lovely view -- absolutely.