emilyonearth

In the morning, I started the day by going and getting a haircut. It was quite the adventure negotiating this without any language in common with the hairdresser, and I have to admit the final product wasn’t exactly what I was expecting! Nevertheless, it was an experience and I tried something new! Afterwards, I went out and got to know this side of Istanbul. I wandered a decent way, exploring the street and ending up down by the sea. In the evening, I joined the hostel girls again for dinner and we had dumplings and caught up about our days.

• Gallipoli. We visited ANZAC Cove, Lone Pine, and Chunuk Bair. In our group there weren’t many ANZAC-knowledgeable people, just me and an Australian couple, so not everyone had the background knowledge that we did. It was a bit weird being in this place that I’ve heard about since primary school. Interesting, probably important, but weird.

• Troy. We had a wander around the ruins of this ancient place, seeing the layers where the city was built and rebuilt over and over again. We debated whether there really had been a horse, and whether there was even a large enough entrance into the city to allow for such a horse to pass, and posed with a replica of said imaginary horse. We also spent some time wandering through the museum by the site, which I actually found more interesting than the ruins themselves – it always fascinates me to consider how advanced the societies before ours were, and the things they achieved without modern-day technology.

• Ephesus. Back when I was planning on just travelling around Turkey solo, I was really tossing up on whether or not I would bother with Ephesus. At a certain point, ruins are just ruins, right? Surely there are only so many you can look at… Anyways, I’m very glad it was an included activity on the tour, because it ended up being one of my highlights of Turkey. The scale of the site, plus the condition of the different structures within it, were really quite impressive. The Library of Celcus, or course, was the highlight, with its intricately carved facade towering over everything around it, but the other structures too, the Temple of Hadrian, the Great Theatre, the mosaic flooring, the pillars and statues… it was all very cool. We also took part in a new audiovisual experience where you enter a room that becomes an immersive representation of Ephesus through the ages, learning about the different events that passed in the city.
• While staying nearby, we also saw the Temple of Artemis, one of the wonders of the ancient world which is unfortunately now all but rubble. A single pillar has been pieced back together, but still, it’s difficult to imagine what it was once like.
• Another stop near Ephesus was the Basilica of Saint John. Apparently, after Jesus’ death, John the Apostle came here, along with Mary, to live out his days. The basilica was built on the site of his tomb. A building believed to be Mary’s house is also not far, but I chose not to make the trip to go and see it.

• Beach days. We spent some time at a couple of small towns along the Turkish coast: first Karakoy, and later Kaş. From Karakoy, a few of us walked along part of the Lycian Trail up through the Karakoy Ghost Town and down to the Blue Lagoon at Ölüdeniz, while the others taxied and met us there for a day at the beach. While in Kaş, we spent a day out on a boat, swimming off the side, and lazing around in the sun. It was a nice and relaxing few days!

• Pamukkale. A series of travertine terraces that I imagine is somewhat similar to what the Pink and White Terraces once were (though my research tells me they are made of different compounds). Above the terraces are the ruins of the city of Heirapolis, once believed to be the entrance to the underworld. There is even a statue of Hades there to commemorate this! We climbed up to the ancient theatre to watch the sunset, which was a nice way to farewell the day.

• Cappadocia. I was excited to see this strange part of the world, and particularly excited to see it with its famous sky full of hot air balloons. Unfortunately, seeing that sight was not in the cards for me, as balloon flights are somewhat unreliable at this time of the year – it’s the end of the flying season, and the weather makes things hard to predict. More of a shame, I suppose, for those in the group who actually wanted to go up in one of the balloons, but disappointing nonetheless.
• We did have plenty of other chances to see the Cappadocia landscapes though, and we visited various valleys and towns as we toured the different rock formations. We also visited an underground city, which made for interesting exploring. I don’t know how I would do at spending long periods of time underground, but they seemed to be set up well – lots of wine making facilities!

• Along the way we visited a couple of other cities, Çanukkale, Konya and Eskisehir, more as places to break up the long journey than anything else, but they had their points of interest too. Konya was where we saw a Whirling Dervish ceremony, which was interesting to learn about, and we also visited the museum dedicated to Rumi, the Persian poet who came up with the practice of whirling.