Turkish Riviera (July 9 - 16)

On Saturday the 9^th of July I left Istanbul for the Mediterranean city of Antalya.  Antalya is a sprawling metropolis and is the gateway to the Turkish Riviera.  I stayed in the well-preserved ancient quarter, known as Kaleiçi, which is enclosed behind a beautiful wall.  

The cobblestone streets are lined with restaurants, rug shops and other souvenir kiosks.  Despite the charm of the old town, Antalya’s main attraction is the miles of white pebble beaches. 

On Sunday, following a supremely long, out-of-way bus ride I made it to the beach.  (The bus driver might have told me to catch the next bus, but instead took me on a ride all over town until he finished his route, only then, after restarting his route, did he eventually pass the beaches where I had hoped to be an hour earlier.)  On the beach I happened to sit next to a friendly Turk (of Kurdish decent) and his son, who, after talking for a while asked if I might like to meet his family and neighbors.   Really?!  Who would turn down an opportunity to spend Sunday afternoon with a Turkish family in the intimacy of their home.  I spent the afternoon eating, drinking, swimming and relaxing with Emre and his neighbors in the complex, all while talking openly about politics, religion, family, the economy. 

I am constantly reassured by the fact that people are not so different across the globe.  Thanks Emre for opening your home to this random visitor from the US.

   

On Monday I caught the bus to Olympos, which turned out to be one of the big surprises of my trip to the Turkish Riviera.  A person does not happen upon Olympus, one goes in search of it.  Billed as a hippie colony full of tree houses, I thought it might be worth a visit.  I wasn’t the first.  Visitors have been spending the night at this site for well over 2,000 years when in was an important Lycian city.

The modern “ settlement” is nothing more a line of hostels on a dusty canyon road.  After some initial aggravation, I landed in a single-person cabin in an awesome place (www.yakamozpansiyon.com).  This was the start of two days of complete bliss.  Despite the heat, it was a total joy to relax for hours reading and typing away while sitting back on the large cushions lining the open air cabanas at my pension.  Perhaps I was just tired, but this place was casting a spell on me and I hadn’t event made it to the beach.  Access to the beach is by means of a dirt road that follows the beautiful Ulupinar Stream as it meanders past the ancient ruins of Olympos. 

 The stream emerges onto a sandy beach full of sun worshippers.  As was my experience everywhere in Turkey, the water was pristine and inviting. 

If I had not been worried about making it to Ephesus, I might have spent even more time in this enclave.  I wondered if people got stuck there, never to leave, like an episode of The Twilight Zone.  On my second night, I decided to visit the geological/mythological site of Chimaera.  Following a 45-minute bus ride, we arrived at the parking lot where our group began our hike up the dark mountain trail.  Using only flashlights to guide the way, it might have been more unsettling, but for the fact that there was a steady stream of hikers both climbing and descending the mountain.  After about 30 minutes of hiking, we emerged onto a granite hill.  Incredibly, the hillside contained numerous natural hallows from which burn eternal flames.  Not just a few little flames, but actual fireplace-style fires.  

Fed by underground, naturally-occurring gasses, the flames have been a marvel for thousands of years.  The ancients believed the flames resulted from a dragon which fell to earth after it was slain by Bellerophon riding the winged horse Pegasus.  How does nature come up with this stuff?!

At about 11:00 the next morning, I began an 8-hour bus ride to Fethiye where I spent the night.  Midway between Olympos and Fethiye, our bus passed through Kale which in the 4^th century was important enough to merit its own bishop, one of whom went on to achieve pop-icon status as St. Nicholas (a.k.a. Santa Clause).   The nice harbor town of Fethiye ...

while charming on its own, is the big city cousin to the gorgeous small beach town of Ölüdeniz, which is a close 30 minute bus ride away.  Surrounded by tall mountains, Ölüdeniz has the distinction of being one of the most paraglidingist towns I have ever seen.  

At one time, I counted at least 20 in the sky.  After a morning on the beach and some time floating in the perfect Mediterranean water ...

I made my way back to Fethiye where I caught the long bus ride to Selçuk.

Selkuk is the closest town to the ruins of Ephesus.  After a late night arrival, I signed up the next morning for a group tour of the archaeological sites.  While I’m normally an advocate of do-it-yourself travel, I think the tour was the best option under these circumstances.  The distances are too great and the information too vast to manage in the tight windows that most people have.  Our guide was terrific.  We began by visiting the hilltop site where Mary the mother of Jesus is supposed to have lived after leaving Jerusalem.  

Christian tradition holds that St. John brought the Virgin Mary to Ephesus either 4 or 6 years after the death of Christ.  The site was identified as such in a vision of the nun Anna Katherina Emmerich.

Down the hill from the House of the Virgin Mary are the ruins of Ephesus.  Ephesus remains one of the best preserved cities of the ancient world.  

Odeon, used for concerts, theatrical shows and meetings of the Municipal Council

Inscriptions on the columns at the city's entrance advised  visitors of  laws and other important information.

The original city is believed to have been founded in about 3,000 BC.  During the course of its existence, Ephesus was moved and rebuilt on at least four occasions as a result of natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires and the silting up of the Kuçuk Menderes river which blocked access to the port.  The ruins are a hodgepodge of original stones and modern supporting masonry.  

The Celcus Library built in 117 AD

One of the challenges for archaeologists is trying to reconstruct the old city of Ephesus from the combined ruins of four preceding cities.  Because the Ephesians used existing stones and statues from prior sites for each subsequent rebuilding, many stones have markings identified with an earlier Ephesus site which have been used in a completely different ways in the latest construction.  

The site was fantastic. 

At the end of our tour we visited the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  When completed in 430 BC, the temple was 125 meters long and 60 meters high.  Sadly it was “burned down” (how you burn down a marble building is a mystery to me) by a mad man on July 21, 356 BC.  Only a few partial columns remain to provide any glimpse of what the original structure might have been like.

That evening I took the bus to Izmir where I boarded a plane back to Istanbul.  I spent the night (the 15^th) in Istanbul and enjoyed a nice morning before heading back out to the airport for my flight back to Kathmandu (by way of Dubai).