Some Pics from Yesterday

We went to Sirince. It's one of the two towns in the world that were supposed to survive when the world ended last year  (according to the Mayan calender).  Sirince survived  into the new year and continues to make wine, which we sampled. 

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My Pilgramage

I took a cab to the house that The Virgin Mary lived in with the apostle John just outside of Ephesis.  It's where they think she lived out the rest of her life.  The house was not part of our tour so I had to make my way there myself.  Some people in my tour group thought I was crazy spending 60 lira on this little trip.  60 lira is about the cost of a case of beer in Canada. So my thought process  was that if I met the Virgin Mary and she wanted a case of beer I would gladly buy it for her as a gift.  So why wouldn't I spend that money to go to her house?

It was one of the most peaceful places It was a beautiful overgrown garden.  The chapel was built in the third century over the foundations of the house.  There were natural springs there for water.

And I lit  a candle. 

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The Bubble Bus

Add to the list of allergies and ailments-an Olive  allergy. 

self diagnosed of course. 

every meal in turkey includes Olives, either as  the oil or as the actual ingredient. just announced last night over dinner. not a problem before now. 

and the bubble bus continues to limp across turkey. 

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Mineral Springs-Pammukale

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The Mineral Springs at Hieraopolis

This area is now called Pammukale.

 It's  very famous for these natural mineral springs that have coated everything white with calcium. 

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St. Philips Tomb

I think if I had been told that one day I would visit the tomb of Philip the apostle I would have been surprised........but visit it in my bathing suit??!  I would have told you that you were mistaken.

But there I am in Sunday best :)

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Ruins of Hieraopolis

Hieraopolis translates to hero city.  It was settled by The Phregians (spelling ?) and then the Lyciens (spelling?) and then The Romans. Christians took it over in The Byzantium period And people lived there until the 1300's at which point there had been so many earthquakes they abandoned the place. There are also mineral springs on the site which most likely attracted people in the first place. One of the apostles -Philip-was also killed in Hieraopolos. An octagonal tomb and a church were built on the spot where he died.

It's hot here.  I am burning.  I am too  white for this part of the country. 

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The Town of Kas (pronounced cash)

Beautiful seaside town we stayed in after getting off  the boat. We will be traveling inland over the next few days. 

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Dawn on the boat

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Ancient Roman Ruins

While cruising up the coast we went by an island that had Ancient Roman ruins. The captain let us get out and hike to the top of the island so could get inside them.  There was even an amphitheatre  inside the Castle/fortification. 

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Cruising the Mediterranean

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Cruising the Mediterranean

No splashes were made while filming this jump. 

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Things I Never Thought Would Happen to Me

I was kicked out of a bar for not drinking enough.

Honest.

A waiter approached me at about 11pm and told me I had to leave the bar. Actually what he said was "you must get out now" I was not welcome here anymore because I was "drinking too slowly and not enough."   I had no idea there were try-outs to remain in this bar.  Had our  group known we might have tried to be a little more competitive in our drinking.  Although we were drinking it was not a quantity large enough to remain in this establishment.  One of or group tired to barter with the waiter promising to do better.  But there are no second chances in Turkish bars and the waiter  just kept pointing at the door until we shamefully left with all the nearby tables staring at us with disgust

Kicked out for not drinking enough. 

How ironic. 

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Cruising the Mediterranean

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The Bubble Bus Becomes The Bubble Boat

We exchanged our van for a boat and cruised the Mediterranean for two days.  Our group arrived on board exhibiting more than our usual number of ailments.  In addition to the numerous allergies and specialized food requirements that must be met ~we had a case of pink eye and one person who seemed to have picked up the stomach flu.  Not to mention that alarming number of people who declared they suffer from motion sickness while on boats.  It also came to light that on top of sun allergies we had a person that didn't like to be splashed with water.  Hard to accommodate on a party boat that is cruising around with people jumping off the top floor into the water.  

At supper one night we were fed sea brim,  a very expensive and delicious fish.  It arrived at or table with it's head attached-which seems to be typical Turkish style.  We have had fish three times now and it always arrives with head attached.  The girl across from me started to cry.  Tears were rolling down her face as she tried to cut the head off.  She was talking to the fish telling it she was "sorry, so sorry, oh so sorry".  I found it strange that she was crying about cutting the fishes head off but was ok with it's flesh being grilled.  Given the choice I would have my head cut off  rather than have my flesh grilled. The ship captain saw her crying and shook his head. 

The Turkish people are incredibly strong and tough.  I think we must embarrass them. 

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The Underground City

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There are approximately thirty under ground cities.  The one we visited was connected to the next nearest city by a 7km long underGround tunnel. The city was fully functional with areas for livestock, wine cellars, Olive presses,kitchens,living rooms and wells. There were round stones to roll across tunnels to protect yourself if you are under attack. Originally the cities were used by the local people to protect themselves from marauders.  They fell into disuse for  a while. Christians hiding from The Roman's started using them for the first few hundred years AC. as it was preferable to being fed to lions. 

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Couple more caravan hotel pics

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The Caravan Hotel

The silk road went through Turkey and The Seljuks,  wanting to encourage trade built these caravan hotels for the traders. There are many of them on the route.   They provided free accommodation, free food, free water and they took care of the traders camels for up to three days. This was one of the bigger ones.  Inside each caravan hotel was mini mosque for praying, a Turkish bath (oh yay!! ), bedrooms  and places  to store your goods. They were also guarded with soldiers so nobody could steal your stuff. This one is apparently a thousand years old. 

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