Western
Turkey 101 Tour Group Journal
October 14, 2013 - October 26, 2013
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Day 08 Aphrodisias
Itinerary of the tour
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Sunday, Day 07 October
20, 2013 Pamukkale / Hierrapolis Submitted by Elisabeth and Mary
(A note for those keeping track of the various ways in which toilets flush outside the US—at the Antelye Art Hotel, you pull the button up, don’t push down. So far we’ve encountered buttons to push down, wall mounted toggle switches of two varieties, the pull up button and the squat model flushed by pouring water into the latrine.)
On the way out of Anatalya, Meli talked about the transitions nomads had made when public lands were taken for development or reforestation and the government had bought their herds. Some sold land to developers for apartment buildings in return for several apartments in building but then sold those off for living expenses, eventually left with nothing. Others used their capital to buy gas stations, restaurants or other businesses, with some having one of their old black goal hair tents outsides as a reminder to their nomad heritage.
We drove past hills and hills with white marble quarries. Meli explained about how common marble and other amazing stone is in Turkey and less expensive than wood. She told the story of a pen pal visiting and upon seeing Meli’s family’s home said that she didn’t know they were so rich. Meli was surprised and asked why she thought that, and the pen pal said they had all this marble in their house. Meli responded that in Turkey it was wood, not marble that was expensive and her family was just middle class. Meli explained that we were leaving the main highway at Korkuteli as she was protesting the government’s decision to make larger roads where the existing road would work. So we headed off on 07-77 to Tefenni and Yesilova. We drove along and stopped for photos at Lake Salda, a beautiful blue lake that is totally protected by the government—no fishing, no boating, no swimming, nothing. The surrounding beaches are stunning white from being made of sodium.
We learned that a traditional Turkish saying afgtera meal (rather than grace before a meal) is to say “Health to your hand” to the cook.
A We spent most of the time at Hieropolis walking thru the huge necropolis. Various styles of sarcophagus show how the burial ground continued to be used over the centuries and by the various kingdoms and empires who had control of the town. They all used it as a spa resort and retirement community, it’s waters reputed to have hearling powers. A sign for the baths on one end of town, just past the necropolis told some of us about a use for the Roman baths we had not heard efore…at least in Hieropolis one bath was outside the city walls, with no one allowed in without taking a cleansing bath. It was seen as a way to reduce infetions from getting into the city and avoiding epidemics.
Walking thru Hierapolis was interesting, as the city didn’t seem nearly was as large as the extensive necropolis. The baths by the necropolis only have walls remaining, but clearly were at one time impressive. The theater is a bit off from the main route thru the city and could at one time seat 20,000. Now not all the rows remain but you could see that this was an impressive building. Hierapolis is also said to be the site where St. Phillip was stoned and crucified. After walking thru the ruins of Hierapolis we went to what Mickey referred to as the Champagne Bubbles pool but one of the guide books calls Cleopatra’s Pool. The grounds were very pretty, apparently what remains and was adapted from the last of the tourist hotels up at the pool before the site was taken over by the Turkish government as part of its effort to preserve important historical sites. The warm waters were channeled into large pools with concrete sides and pebble bottoms with pieces of broken ancient columns just strewn around in the pool, under the water. While the water was incredibly clear, good depth perception was a bonus to see where the columns were and avoid scrapping ones shins or legs on them. This also helped to judge where the ground really was, at it appeared to be either unexpectedly lower or higher than one initially thought. As you made your way thru the pool, the water got warmer and the bubbles more dense. In the channel where the bubble were particularly strong, you could both feel them coming from the wall and see the bubbles forming on your legs, arms, etc. Swiping your fingers across your arm left a clearly delineated swath of skin without bubbles. You could write your name on your arm/legs/body by moving your fingers over the bubbled skin.
After some time in the pool, we then dressed and moved on to see the white travertine pools of fame in Pamukkale. Before getting to the pools, we walked by the other Roman baths that were within the city limits of Hierapolis. This building was amazingly preserved on the outside and now houses a museum about Hierapolis—closed when we got there as it was very late/mostly early in the evening. Between the baths/museum and the actual cliffs was a beautiful rambling park with boardwalk sidewalks, benches, flowers and flowering shrubs. But this didn’t compare to reaching the cliff which overlooked the travertine pools. Some were incredibly white white white, supporting the moniker ‘cloud castle’. Other parts were in the process of being bleached clean and sparkling white. This is part of the effort to restore the cliffs from the untrammeled overuse prior to the site being protected. It appears, however, that some parts of the cliffs/pools could still be walked on as some people were doing this. We walked the other way, however. The sunset over the pools and cliffs were absolutely amazing—the prettiest since the trip got to Cappadocia. After the cliffs, we returned to the spa hotel and the cruise-like buffet for dinner. A number of our group took in the red mud pools either before or after dinner. Two had spa pedicures. We noted with some raised eyebrows that there were separate charges for both wireless access and for instant coffee if one were to order it, as there was none in the rooms. This struck us as unusual for a purported 5 star hotel; we missed our typical ‘local’ hotel.
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Our Turkish Word for the Day was Zorbalik—the headline on Meli’s
newspaper. The story was about the overnight destruction that day of
what had been a university planted forest of Middle East Technical
University in Ankara. This school had a long tradition of student
protest, going at least back to the the 1960s and had participated in
the more recent Taksim square protest. While the government said they
needed the forested land for development, the indication was the forest
was destroyed because the school's support for the Taksim Square
protests.
Orange trees lining the highway are not the edible kind or they would be
stripped of fruit. Rather they are the type with which where you make
jam from the oranges.
We
returned to the main highway before 350 north of Acipayam and shortly
stopped for lunch at the most amazing establishment in the town
currently called Serinhisar but previously called Kizilhisar (red
earth). Someone in the town pushed the name change as the town didn’t
want to be associated with communism (red) so changed the name to be
brows?. Meli supports the business we stopped at as it retains the old
‘red’ name. This place was like a country store restaurant. They were
roasting garbanzo beans in something that looked like a coffee roaster,
sold all kinds of nuts, dried fruit and spices in bulk and had a range
of everyday products like soap, hair dye, toy guns, plates and mugs, key
rings and arrangements of silk/plastic flowers. Kathy socred with
chocolate covered almonds; Ann got roasted garbanzo beans that most of
us preferred better after they had cooled and weren’t so glumpy when
eaten. Mickey and Robin bought roasted garbanzo beans with tahini and
sesame seeds that really were good. Carol and Elizabeth got metal
Byzantine like designed sugar covered dish. There were also cool
Turkish coffee sets with that design. The restaurant had rough hewn
wooden tables and benches with kilim like pillows that were quite
neat. We got pide (one with meet and one with cheese and tomatess)
that were each long a thin, served on long narrow boards set above the
table. Tufan continued his master driver work and washed the van during
our shopping time before lunch. The tons of pottery for cooking that
was piled outside the restaurant was for regular house holds. Meli said
that in many Turkish homes, there are different terracotta pots for
different types of foods, so the flavors become part of the pots.
fter
lunch we continued on to Pamukkale, checking in to the Collosea Spa
Hotel about 2:20 pm. At 3:15, those who wanted to left for Hieropolis,
a dip in the
‘champagne bubbles pool’ and to see the travertine cliffs
of Pamukkale. The others stayed at the hotel, Kathy getting her first
(and only?) Turkish pedicure.
