Turkish Delights

The best way to summarise our Turkish trip is probably to mention those things we enjoyed the most.


Gallipoli.
Gallipoli is now a bit of a pilgrimage for Aussies and Kiwis. Mel had been previously for ANZAC day. The difference was quite amazing as there were very few people about. It was nice to visit the various monuments and to try and visualise what happened there. Lest we forget and all that.


Ephesus was stunning. Lots of ruins for a start then you walk over the brink of a hillock to see a marble path leading down to the two-storey marble facade of the old library. Quite stunning. Part of the thrill is imagining how the place must have looked when it was still in use thousands of years ago.

Pamukkale as I mentioned previously was very impressive too. When we arrived we looked at the Necropolis (city of the dead literally but just the cemetary in actual fact). This was interesting but it wasn't until we drove around the corner that we could appreciate that size of the city (of Hieropolis) that was once there. There were ruins practically as far as the eye could see, including a great old bath house and a huge theatre. I wasn't expecting any of this as the main attraction is the terraces that have been formed by calcium deposits from the water. People used to be able to walk over these terraces and also go for a dip if they wished. This is now banned. A good thing as they are very fragile. As it is they are suffering from a lack of water. They now have to redirect the waterflow over various portions at different times to keep it from falling apart. New Zealand had something similar with the Pink and White Terraces that were destroyed in the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886.

They have outdoor thermal baths here as well. These looked very nice but it looked a bit decadent given the fragile nature of the terraces outside the complex. Still, I don't know if bathing in the water was having a negative effect on this or not. Anyway, we didn't have time to go for a swim so at least we didn't have to worry about contributing to the problem ourselves.

Cappadocia was the other major site that we really liked. The area was previously very volcanic and layers of ash and volcanic rock covered the area. The soft rock and ash has eroded leaving the most unusual rock formations. There are "fairy chimneys" where rocks are balanced on top of other pointed rocks. There are strange shapes formed by rocks, such as camels and birds and really whatever you care to imagine. It's a bit like staring at clouds in the sky. The more you look the more you see. Many of these rocks have been carved out to form houses and even churches. The locals claim that there are as many as 3000 churches in the various rocks. Our guide thinks that the total is much closer to 1000. And these churches are often barely holes in rocks with some frescos on the walls. Still, very impressive.

Back in Istanbul we are enjoying the festival atmosphere of Ramadan. The area behind the two most famous mosques (Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque) and the hippodrome fill with people in the evenings when the locals are finally permitted to eat. During Ramadan, moslems are forbidden from eating during daylight (although many seem to ignore this in Istanbul). There are many stalls operating. A lot of these are food stalls so you can get a cheap and tasty meal there whilst people watching.

We're off to Cairo tonight. It's a late flight (departing at 11:15pm) so we're hoping to avoid delays. Our tour doesn't start for a couple of days so I think we'll have a late start tomorrow. At least, the tour arranges for us to be picked up from the airport so we won't have to try and figure very much out when, no doubt, we will be quite tired.

Although, we are really enjoying the travelling we are really looking forward to getting to Dahab. We get over a week in the one hotel! That will really feel like a holiday!