Turkey

Sue's Perspective

The kids and I have had one surprise after another, here in Turkey. All of them terrific. When we left home, all we had was one night's accomodation booked. The rest of our adventure has been left to fate. Most of our plans have come from discussions with people we've met on the road. A chat with a young Canadian fellow at a gas station led us to Hvar, in Croatia. Two American couples that we met in Hvar told us about Turkey. We wouldn't have gone to Cappadocia to see the caves if they hadn't suggested it (thank you Fred and Carol!). A chat with a bus driver in Selcuk, Turkey caused us to take a three hour trip to a place called Pamukkale, which I had never heard of, and which has become our favourite adventure so far. 

 

We started our Turkish experience in Istanbul. We had three nights there, so two full days to explore. Nowhere near enough time! However, we saw the highlights: Blue Mosque, Tokapsi Palace, Ayasofya, the Cistern with Medusa's upside down head, the Grand Bazzar, and the Spice Market. I recommend hiring one of the many official guides that are available outside of Ayasofya and Tokapsi Palace as we found the information very interesting. We wouldn't have known what we were seeing without them. Their prices are reasonable... 75TL to about 100TL for our group of three, on top of the entry fee which is usually around 20 - 25TL/ person.

 

Of course, we were also lured into a few carpet stores and some jewelry stores. Set aside some cash for a Sultanite ring or pendant. It's a beautiful Turkish precious (or maybe semi-precious) stone that changes colour in the light. My favourite experience in Istanbul was the spice market. It was so crowded and noisy and full of exotic smells and colourful displays. Talk about sensory overload! I loved it! We tasted some sort of chocolates, some Turkish delight, and some candy coated pistachios. We bought some pillowcases and Cooper bought a candle holder. I wish we could have bought some spices to send home, but we have so many months ahead of us, yet, that I decided to pass.

   

A lady in traditional clothes. Many women dress this way.

We really didn't mind leaving Istanbul so soon, because we were excited about getting to Cappadoccia. We stayed at The Local Cave House Hotel, which I highly recommend. Our room was carved into the side of the mountain. The walls were solid rock, yet the bathroom was modern. Our host arranged all of our activities for us. We had a sunrise (Eek! pick up at 5:40!) hot air balloon ride. Beautiful views, but dress warm if you go in October! We toured one of the cave cities. There are four main tours and we picked the basic one, which we found to be more than enough. The Turkish night was okay, but unless you're really into traditional dancing it's something you could skip. But don't skip the Turkish bath! Swallow your modesty, strip off your clothes, and go for it! So relaxing, and only 60TL (about $30CDN). I felt like a million bucks afterwards. Katie and Cooper opted out of that activity and I'm okay with that, as I know they would have been uncomfortable with the nudity and with someone scrubbing them. To learn more about the cave cities, Joel Oleson has a great article about them athttp://travelingepic.com/2012/04/06/cappadocia-turkey-alien-7-wonders-of-the-universe/

 

Now, we're in Selcuk (pronounced SEL chook). We came here mainly to see Ephesus (pronounced EFF a soos) the Temple of Artemis, the Library of Celsus and the home that Mary lived in for her final days. After the chat with the bus driver that I mentioned earlier, we took a tour to Pamukkale, a natural hot spring area that is famous for its beautiful white hills which are formed by calcium in the water. Pamukkale means "cotton castle" in Turkish. You have to take off your shoes to hike up the white slopes, which have warm water coursing down them. People hike this area in their bathing suits and swim in the deeper pools along the way. We waited until we reached the public swimming pool (which has an entry fee of 32TL) to go swimming. 

The site became famous in ancient times for its hot springs, and Romans and Greeks built baths there. It is known as Hierapolis and you can see ruins of this ancient resort city, such as the theatre. In fact, there are so many ruins that they're just lying everywhere with weeds growing around them. The pool has ancient pieces of columns and plinths lying on its gravel bottom, that you can sit on. Amazing! I wish we had two or three days there. We only saw a fraction of the sites, and we would have loved more time in the pool. If you are in Turkey, don't miss Pumakkale!

 

We have two weeks in Selcuk, so Ephesus is still one the roster to tour. Katie and Cooper will do a blog about it. In the meantime we are sitting outside on the terrace. The kids are doing math homework and I'm going to go and get us some Turkish apple tea.