Day 10, Wednesday, October 12, 2004
Submitted by Betty Bonham
Bettybonham@aol.com
Antalya - Perge
A Church in Cappadocia |
Perge
October 12, 10th day of travel for the unclaimed jewels of the
Mediterranean |
We're in the mediterranean town of Antalya. Approx 1.2 million residents
and legions of tour busses. 17 million people visited Turkey last year.
The largest single group of which are Germans.
Meli is really sick! Sedat has agreed to step in for Meli. He has a hard act
to follow in Meli's shoes. Besides that, this group of 10 women has been
described as a pack of alpha females, each scrambling for leadership of the
pack. Sadat seems to take it all in stride. We head for the Antalya
Archeological museum that was constructed out of things taken from the city
of Perge. We see magnificent statues in a setting imitating Perge.
There are also wonderful objects of daily life, including the first razor
used by a woman <2000 years ago. We learn about how some of the statues have
been stolen by the "civilized world" and then somehow returned to Turkey.
Apparently many of Turkey's wonders still live in the British and Vienna
museums. On exiting the museum, Gayle notices a guest book with cryptic
comments from a french woman who doesn't think the museum has done a good
job. We are astounded. We think it is one of the best museums we have been
in.
Sadat takes us to one of his favorite restaurants, Deniz. I misunderstand
and think he is taking us to Denny's (as a joke). We have a wonderful lunch
and then head for the supermarket which everyone has been anxious
for. Migros is a huge "all in one" chain that was previously jointly owned
by Swiss/Turkish. Now it's completely Turkish owned. We scramble around the
store buying various reminders for ourselves of the wonderful culture we
have been experiencing.
That evening Sadat takes us to the ruins of Perge, outside the city of
Antalya. We are dazed by the
graveyards of marble lying about. It is sunset and the light on the public
bath structures is mesmerizing. Pamela, in particular,
is taken with the sensuousness of the place until her reverie is
interrupted by a British tourist saying "I don't really take to this
place. I prefer things in better condition".
Our own fearless leader, Peter, is overheard saying (at the bath) "tiled
bathrooms go way back!"
We ended the day with 4 of our members, accompanied by Meli, hustling off to
paradise, otherwise known as the Hamam.
We ate in small
restaurants and visited many families
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