5/25/2011 Antalya, Perge, Aspendos, and Old City

Today we drove out of the city to Perge, another Roman city, with a stadium that was a bit less in tact than the Aphrodisias stadium. It was really interesting how the mosaics and floor tiles were covered with sand and gravel to prevent erosion, but disappointing that we were unable to see them. Because Anatolia is prone to earthquakes (as we witnessed last week), most of the ruins that we see have been put up by archeologists. At Perge we have the opportunity to sponsor a column to be erected in our honor! Hmmm senior gift?

We then went to Aspendos, which is the most intact theatre that we have seen yet (except the stage was missing) because the Turks had fortified the bricks of the structure. Unfortunately all the statues from here are also in museums for protection and preservation, so we were unable to see them in their "natural habitat." We did have some fun climbing the bleachers and admiring the view though :) On the way out of the museum we saw a couple of camels and a "baby" camel for our entertainment. 2TL per picture, please!

Our next stop was the Sultanhani Karavansaray, which is a caravan palace/fortress like an ancient bus stop.

Then we finally ate lunch at this really interesting restaurant that descended into a swamp-side cafe. Seems like Turkey has everything!

We then traveled to the Antalya Museum with all kinds of prehistoric, Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman statues. My personal favorite was the description of the life of Saint Nicholas from Anatolia, which gave the Eastern history and meaning behind some of the Western Christian traditions.

Day's not over yet! We had some free time to relax before starting a walking tour with Tosun to see the Old City of Antalya that concluded with freshly-squeezed orange juice overlooking the marina and the Mediterranean Sea. What a sight to remember.

After a dinner buffet at the hotel (yes, it is only dinner time haha), we went back to the Old City Bazaar to listen to live traditional/folk music for a few hours. What an action-packed day!

 

5/24/2011 - Pamukkale, Hierpolis, Aphrodisias, and Antalya

Our day began early with a trip up to the site of Pamukkale, which means "Cotton Fortress" due to its beautiful calcium deposits and pools of water that reflect the sky in a crystal blue shimmer. The pools were situated on the side of a mountain that is also home to Hierpolis, another ancient ruins site. The theatre (one of the key elements of Roman cities) was extremely well preserved and overlooked the entire valley of Pamukkale. From there we had some free time to explore the open air museum, which meant playing with stray puppies, wading in the man-made Pamukkale look-alikes, spending money at the shops, and using the "WC" toilets. 

We then drove to the Anatolia Restaurant for lunch where we were greeted by a musician playing the "Baglama," a traditional, Turkish guitar, with a parrot dancing on the scroll/neck of the instrument. Casey was able to let the bird perch on his arm and continue dancing while the guy performed for us. Lunch was delicious and beautiful as usual, nestled in a garden with grape vines and rose bushes. The musician then gave Miles a mini-lesson on the "Baglama" since he had purchased one a few days before in Izmir. As we were about to leave the restaurant, a tourist from another group came on the bus to announce that he is a Cal Lu graduate! Small world.

Our next stop was the temple of Aphrodisias, which was an American/Turkish-American excavation with archeologists from New York University. The first thing we visited was a replica of the temple created by archeologists because all the original stone/marble was in the museum next door. We walked around the rest of the Acropolis, which seemed either much bigger than the other ruins or just more tedious due to the heat. It was not hot enough for Emily M. and Leah to race in the stadium though! Here is a picture of some of the group climbing the theatre used for Senate/parliamentary proceedings:

We finished the drive then to Antalya to catch our first glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea. After a long day of driving and sight-seeing, we had a buffet dinner at the hotel on the balcony overlooking the city and at least seven mosques within a hundred meters it seemed (which made the Call to Prayer especially exciting). Of course we could not end the night without a little exploring:

5-22-2011

We started off our day by heading to Oz Turkman carpet shop.  There we were shown the process of carpet weaving.  There are several types of carpet material combinations such as cotton on cotton, wool on cotton and silk.  The friendly workers gave us a demonstration on how to tie the knots on the rugs.  After seeing how to make the rugs they showed us how they harvested the silk from the cocoons.

Then the Turkman gave all of us our very own silk cocoon to take home.

We were then herded into a room where we were shown all the different types of rugs.  They literally threw the rugs at us.

One of the coolest rugs we saw was the cotton on cotton that changed colors depending on the direction you looked at it.

After the demonstration we were given the opportunity to buy a rug if we wanted to.

The bus then dropped us off in downtown Kusadasi where we broke off into our own groups.  Some people chose to go shopping, get coffee and tea then go take a dip in the Aegean Sea while others went exploring in the city and found their own private peninsula and food.  Later in the day everyone reconvened at the pool to "brochill" (verb: to hang out with your friends).
After dinner we all went out to experience the night life.  While out Turkey was going crazy because their soccer team Fenerbahce won the Turkish League Championship.  They were driving around, waving their flags and having a parade at the Bazaar.  So some of us went to see the action and got to partake in the parade.  It was an exciting day for everyone and we are all having fun in Turkey.

05-23-2011 Sart/Sardis and Pamukkale

Today we drove from Kusadasi through Sardis to Pamukkale! 

Our first stop was an ancient synagogue with a conjoined Roman Bath/Gymnasium Complex from the Roman/Byzantium period. The synagogue was large enough to hold over a thousand people.

Emily Casarez and Leah Griffith decided to be pool sharks in the Roman Bath:

From there we went to the Temple of Artemis, which is one of the only archeological sites whose columns remained standing despite earthquakes for thousands of years. There is also a small sixth century church using the structure for support behind the columns. Here's a photo of Leah overlooking the site:

We had lunch at this incredible four-star hotel and spa resort where many residents of Izmir come for the weekend. 

Today was a long driving day...Steven fell asleep after lunch :) 

The last leg of our drive was to our hotel in the Pamukkale/Hierpolis area with a huge swimming pool, natural hot spring/thermal pool, and a "Dr. Fish" pedicure/manicure (which none of us got thank goodness), and spa. After some relaxing in the water, we had a buffet dinner overlooking the city. I must admit, the food has been absolutely incredible and the views are just breathtaking. 

5-22-2011 Photos

Brad drinking some chai tea at Oz Turkman Carpets

5-22-2011

We started off our day by heading to Oz Turkman Carpets.  Here they showed us how they make their Turkish rugs.  We were given a demonstration of how they tie the knots on the rugs and harvest the silk from the cocoons.  As a gift we were given a silk cocoon to take home.  Then we were herded into another room and were shown various different rugs ranging from small place mats to gigantic room sized rugs.  They can use combinations of wool, cotton and silk to make the rugs, with silk as the most expensive material used.  One of our favorite types of rugs were the cotton on cotton because they changed color depending on the direction you were looking at the rug.  When the entire demonstration was over some of us bought ourselves our own rug.

Our bus then dropped us off at the Bazaar in Kusadasi.  We split into groups to do what we wanted such as : shop, get coffee and tea, or explore the city.  By the late afternoon we all met at the pool to hang out and tan a little.  Then after dinner we decided to check out the night life.  While out we got to experience the excitement caused by the soccer team Fenerbahce who had just won the Turkish League Cup.  Turkey was roaring with excitement as people walked around carrying their teams flags and honking their cars.  Some of us participated in their small parade they had at the bazaar as they sang their teams cheers and circled part of the bazaar.  It was definitely an exciting day for us. 

5-21-2011

(Blogspot was blocked when this was written)

Merhaba loved ones! Today was a busy day of sightseeing around the area of Ephesus. We began the day by departing from our hotel in Izmir and drove to the city of Selcuk. We first saw the ruins of the Isa Bey Mosque built in 1375. There a jolly shopkeeper who wrote each of our names in Arabic! From there we explored the ruins of St. John’s Basilica (which actually wasn’t a basilica according to our awesome Turkish tour guide and trip leader, Tosun). This is the place where John the Baptist or the Apostle John was buried. There was even a Russian Orthodox ceremony happening amidst the ancient columns and arches. After leaving this site we made our way to the ancient city of Ephesus, the place to where Paul wrote Ephesians. Along the way we stopped at a rustic ranch-style restaurant nestled among orchards who served us homemade Turkish food buffet-style. This food was amazing, some of the best I have ever tasted! At Ephesus, we explored the archeological site of the terrace houses, the archeological museum, and the ancient Roman theater (which was huge!). Hot and tired we took our bus to our hotel in the beautiful Kusadasi (Kush-ah-dash-uh), a city located on the Aegean Sea. Our hotel has beautiful views of the bay and also a pool! We immediately took advantage of the pool and are looking forward to a relaxing day in Kusadasi tomorrow.