A PART OF TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES - THE END - SLIDE-SHOW

Another fine day... I had got up in a good mood to make the most of my last day in that beautiful area of Turkey. My legs were operational despite the long long walking on the day before. I was determined to walk as far as my legs would allow me. I wanted to explore the surrounding tourist area. 

The first thing that caught my eye was a lizard but I could not take a decent picture of him.  Maybe he had come out to eat... It was getting hot when an unlocked courtyard gate of a Moske invited me to take photos at the beautiful flowers that populated the garden. People might be at home or on the beach as the roads were empty.

Apartment complexes with well kept and clean gardens, bird feeders here and there, poppies growing on the roadside verges, people on a colourful balloon flight, cats that might have never had the pleasure of being caressed in stark contrast with a well groomed dog whose owner was having a drink at an open-air café... after all this, my legs asked me to have rest. When I saw a bus I waved down and boarded it. I said 'Serik' to the driver and he nodded his head up and down... Good! I would go to that small town where I had already been.

Serik is a small town, yet a busy one. The traffic was not heavy but there were many people on the streets doing their shopping in small shops. I didn't find any big department store.

As I felt hungry I had a quick lunch at a fast food restaurant: a large-sized shawarma (sandwich-like wrap of shaved chicken) and a glass of fresh orange juice. More than enough to satisfy my stomach.

I strolled through the town but nothing particularly interesting to see. After returning back to the hotel I had a Turkish bath. Nothing better than a hamman to relax, feel fresh and light to make myself ready for the early hour's flight back home.

One week had passed so quickly... one week spent in a world so different from mine... A one week stay that widened my horizons, enriched my life and left a lot of good memory in my mind...

I was pleased to share this travel experience with you...

 

TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES #6 - SLIDE-SHOW

The morning dawned warm and crystal clear. I didn't feel like staying at the resort, sunbathing by the poolside or on the beach. I didn't feel like joining an organized tour to visit Antalya city (30 miles away), either. I don't like to be guided to places that are not interesting to me. I don't like to listen to the information given by tour guides. Neither a tour guide nor a guide book makes me feel the pulse of the local life and.... I like feeling it.

On the day before, I had seen a bus stop not far from the hotel, which made me believe that there might be a frequent bus service to the city or somewhere else. Ok, I decided to walk up to that stop and wait for a bus coming, having assumed that the bus might drive me to the city. Approximately half an hour later, a bus without any passenger stopped. The driver didn't speak a word of a common language. I said 'Antalya' and he did an up-and-down head nod   as saying 'yes'.  I boarded the bus, he picked up some coins from my hand but I did not get any ticket. I took one of the front seats as I wanted to enjoy the landscape and if possible, take some photos. Assuming the bus would drive me to the city it would take up to one hour or so, I thought.

The bus interior was something I had never seen before. So many ornaments!!! The bus went through the rural area and I did not see bus stops anymore. Local people waved down the bus wherever they happened to be. Half an hour later or so, the bus was crowded and I started to wonder whether I was being driven towards Antalya. Perhaps, the bus terminal would be somewhere else in a rural area. I did not care. It would be interesting to get off at an unscheduled destination.

Actually, the bus terminal was not in the city but somewhere else named Serik. If I wanted to go to Antalya I should board another bus. I did it, thinking that on the following day I would come back to that rural town. After all, I already knew the way to!

One hour more of driving and I was in Antalya city, one of the most important tourist centers in Turkey. Following the suggestion of a Turkish lady who had immigrated to Switzerland and was revisiting her homeplace, I dropped off at a certain place in the city, in the belief that I would be not far from the city center. She had misinformed me... I walked and tried to get information from local people but once again nobody spoke a foreign language... I even got into a hotel - thinking that the front desk staff might help me - but nobody did. They had no city plan, either. In the meantime, I took photos of the places and street names that might guide me in the evening to walk back and take a bus to return to the hotel.

I knew the city center was not far from the city port. I often asked people for the direction by just mentioning 'port' but even though I was not understood. Later, at a coffee-shop, I realized that instead of port I should have mentioned 'marina'!!!

After a two-hour walk, I saw a little bit of blue colour on the horizon. Good, I was walking on the right direction...

I relaxed at an open-air café overlooking the scenic Mediterranean Gulf of Antalya. I visited the Ethnography Museum and I strolled through the picturesque old quarter with its narrow, winding cobbled streets of historic Turkish and Greek houses. This quarter is enclosed in ancient city walls, which now protect the peaceful quarter from the the noise of the concrete metropolies of a million people.

I passed by The Clock Tower that  has survived through the present day among the towers of the citadel surrounding the city of Antalya. In the past the total number of these towers was 80.

The Bazaar 'perspired' all the charm and hospitality that Antalaya had to offer, brought together in a single place. I got into a Turkish carpet store and bought three carpets after bargaining for more than one hour. Obviously, the seller was fluent in English and taking advantage of his knowledge, I asked him the best way to return back to the hotel. He wrote the bus direction name on a slip of paper and passed it to me. At that moment I felt confident how smooth the return way would be. Silly of me!!!

I walked for a mile or so and many buses were running ones after the others. Buses displayed a board on the windscreen indicating the route and number. For locals they must be easily recognizable from a distance, but for me it was difficult to decipher the route description quickly enough to wave down the right bus. Luckily, I saw a long queue of people and realized there might be the 'bus stop'. I showed the slip of paper to one of them and she nodded her head. Great... that would be the first stage of my adventure back to the hotel.

When the bus stopped, I showed the slip of paper to the driver and he made me a sign to hop on. I stayed all the time by the driver as the bus was crowded and I thought it would be easier for me to know where I should get off and take first bus to the rural village and from there another one to the hotel. As the bus was running slowly and getting more crowded and crowded, my eyes were telling me how that scenery was totally unknown to me. So different from what I had seen in the morning.... the bus was running not through the city but outside ... I was sure of it... industrial plants, no housing! Suddenly the driver made a sign to me to drop off. I did it without hesitation but all I saw was a gas station. OMG, where was I? I walked to the gas station and was told by hand-signs that I should go to the roadside and wait for the bus. Again, no bus stop at all... half a dozen of Turkish people were sitting by the roadside and I joined them... I had got the feeling they might be waiting for a bus... One hour later I was boarding the right bus via the back door... Interesting, this time the door to board was not the frontside one. The bus was crowded, no vacant seats, and I was so tired after walking with the three carpets in a big nylon sack (I've no idea of their weight but carrying that sack was very uncomfortable, indeed). I sat on one of the steps next to a big cardboard box. I felt like a sardine in a tin...

After a very unpleasurable driving, I reached that rural town (Serik) I had been for a while in the morning and from there I took another bus to the hotel. I had though I would be dropped not far from it but again, something adverse happened...

Two French ladies were on the bus and I asked them whether they were staying at the same hotel. They clearly confirmed it. But when they stood up to get off and told me to join them, I followed. They had told me before they were used to taking that bus. Once again, I shouldn't have trusted the information. As we were walking together I could not see any sign of my hotel, though I saw many others. They stopped in front of one and said to me: 'Here you are'. At that moment, I realized why I had been misguided. Their hotel was named Crystal like mine but it was not the Crystal Paradise Resort where I was staying. Mine was 5 miles away... I thought it would be better to take a taxi but I was already so much suspicious of drivers and people's information that even feeling weary I made an appeal to my legs and they accepted it. One hour later I was at my hotel... My adventure on that day was over!

A PART OF TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES #5 - SLIDE-SHOW

Cappadocia is along the trade route that joined the East with the West and the road taken by the Arab armies as they advanced against the Byzantines. It was for this reason that during the 7th through the 12th centuries AD, the people of this area were under a constant threat of unfriendly armies. The Christians who inhabited these lands excavated massive underground towns and villages. These areas were truly underground 'settlements'. In times of danger they could provide shelter to thousands of people. They had several floors and many large rooms.

I visited one of these cities and I tried to take photos inside it but unfortunately the camera could not properly process the underground ambiance. The corridors were very narrow, dark and the ceilings so low. Not good for claustrophobic people, I thought.

Outside, I felt that I was breathing the atmosphere of a truly area of untouched countryside. Birds of different species, chirping beautifully. Sometimes they brought to my mind the image of children playing hide and seek... livestock calmly pasturing... poultry enjoying freedom... a little boy looking happy with his bicycle... craftswomen selling folk dolls... peasants farming the land and... on the horizon, a snow-mantled mountain dominating the valley... The weather was glorious and the setting idyllic!

I left that area feeling happy for having looked at those rural people. There was something powerful in their carefree faces that we, who live in urban centers, have somehow forgotten.

Shortly after leaving that place, it started raining heavily. No problem. The next stop would be for lunch after which I visited another caravanserai (merchants'stop on the ancient sik road). Before returning back to the resort hotel in Antalya, a stop at a local market. Handicrafts and spices were on sale side-by-side with counterfeit versions of prestigious clothing and accessories makes: Burberry, Nike, Louis Vuitton, Prada and many others, not to refer counterfeit branded cosmetics and perfumes.... unbelievable!

When the sun was about to set, I had reached the Hotel. At the restaurant, once again skillfully carved watermelons added a very beautiful presentation to the buffet tables.

On the two following and last days of my stay, I would embark on my own adventures, again....

 

 

TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES #4 - SLIDE-SHOW

As I suffer from vertigo I didn’t go on any hot-air balloon flight over that fairy region, yet I admit, it must be a unique and fantastic adventure. I embarked on my own adventure, instead.

The hotel was in the middle of nowhere, so I took a taxi and got off at the Nevsehir city’s forum shopping center. This was nice with restaurants, a hypermarket and many stores but much farther from the city center than I had expected it to be. I did some window-shopping and fell in love with two pairs of ear-rings. When I was going to pay, the shop assistant did not accept foreign currency but Turkish lire, only. I had not even one coin of the local currency. Speaking in hand signs – very very few locals speak a foreign language – I was taken to a gold store that for my surprise did the currency exchange, without issuing any document, without asking my passport…. Later I realized that whenever I needed to exchange money, I had to step into a gold store…

After enjoying a glass of orange juice, I left the forum and started walking in search of the center of the city. I had no city map but I never thought this would be a problem as surely there would be signs. I was wrong. I walked and walked until my sense of orientation told me I might be taking the wrong direction. The very few people I saw on the way, none of them spoke a word of English, French or German. I noticed that some of them were carrying bread in their hands. This made me wonder whether a bakery or a market might exist nearby. Again, my eyes told me I was somewhere out the center..

I continued wandering up and down the streets, looking for any sign of urban life. I started feeling a bit confused but never discouraged to give up finding the heart of the city. In the meantime, I had been taking pictures of whatever caught my eye. The young boy with big bread in his hands was so smiley and friendly but he didn’t speak a lick of English. Children were playing as it used to be in our old past… with very simple things!

My intuition guided me towards a busy street…Eureka! I had been keeping a clear mental map in my head of where I was in relation to the forum… Later, I thought, I could walk back there and take a taxi to return to the hotel.

The city center was very interesting, yet it looked very poor at my eyes… people were rushing in and out of the enumerable stores, and the local bazaar was like a colorful and smelly patchwork. I took a moment to visit the flowers’ market staged at a square. Turkish people love flowers and you can see beautiful roses and tulips, mainly, at every corner of their gardens. Very often they grow in big tins that had been formerly filled with cooking oil.

The main square was decorated with a big clock tower. It read ‘Cappadocia lives in Peace’. This sentence made sense to me. I had been told before that the city was inhabited by people of various religions who live together in harmony.

 I started feeling hungry but I could not see any place where I would like to sit for a while and eat something until I found a friendly face sticking out from a window in the side of a very old house. Again speaking in hand-signs, I understood there was some place nearby. I got into a small bakery/pastry store and pointed out at a piece of a not so small half bread/half cake. The shop assistant kindly led me to an acceptable small room where I had rest as I enjoyed a coke and the piece of local pastry. Not bad…

I went on wandering and wandering through all those narrow and crowded streets. I saw most of the women wearing headscarves (hijab). Turkish women have a unique and lovely way to cover their hair with colorful, shiny silk scarves draped modestly around their heads. Not many but very few were wearing face covering cloth. Taking photos at them was not an easy task whereas younger people sometimes asked to pose for my camera.

There were not many cyber cafés but I could find one. For my curiosity, I tried to check my email box but I was unsuccessful. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps because of the keyboard… there were two different keys for the ‘i’, for instance.

Late in the afternoon, I started walking back to the Forum, where I stopped for a light snack at a terrace café, prior to taking a taxi back to the hotel. Oh, the terrace was full of Turkish young people… all of them looked so different from those I had seen in the city…. Why that? I have no idea…

Back in my hotel room I withdrew a conclusion: I had arrogantly assumed I would simply locate an English speaker for directions…but what happens when there isn't’t a single soul in sight who speaks a common language?

TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES #3 - SLIDE-SHOW

Cappadocia is a world heritage site that is one-of-a-kind. The three mountains located in the region, were active volcanoes in the geologic ages. The lava spurted from these active volcanoes, along with many other large and small volcanoes, creating layers of tuff in varying stiffness. Years later, the flood waters and winds coming down from the valley slopes corroded the structure made of tuffs and the interesting formations called 'fairy chimneys' were created. With Christian priests moving there in the 8th century, the region became a religious center, and many churches as well as underground cities were built. The morning tour started with a visit to a Cappadocian town, Ortahisar, dominated by a 90m high fortress-like rock rising above winding roads. The present-day town is located at the foot of the "fortress," and a complicated network of paths leads to abandoned rock dwellings. In addition to cultivating the land, the inhabitants of Ortahisar earn their living by storing fruits yearlong in the caves cut from the volcanic rock. The next stop was at Çavusin, a lovely quiet village, with some amazing sites to visit. The ‘old’ village, now abandoned, was all carved into the hillside. I’m not really sure how old the settlement is, but it’s definitely been around for a long, long time. All the buildings and churches and homes of the village were within the hill and were probably connected internally via tunnels and such. In the afternoon, I visited the Goreme Open Air Museum, probably the most interesting of the groups of rock-hewn chapels. The frescoes in these chapels depict the lives of Christ and His followers and are described according to the beliefs of the Orthodox church. I visited three of the churches which involved a climb up the rocks to reach the entrances. In the evening I watched a local folk and belly-dance show...

A PART OF TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES #2 - SLIDE-SHOW

Early in the morning, I said goodbye to the beautiful resort at which I would stay once again on my way back from Cappadocia.

From Antalya the highway crossed flat lands with poplar trees and it continued across the Taurus Mountains that separate the south Mediterranean coast from the center part of Turkey. It was a nice trip with very nice scenery through a pine forest and a good road through an 1800m high mountain. High enough to have snow at the top. You could also see picturesque villages perched on the landscape.

After a 'technical stop' at a restaurant next to a petrol station, the driving continued towards Konya - the second largest city in central Anatolia, after Ankara, founded by the Romans in the 2nd century - where I had lunch at a caravanserai. Caravanserais were camel stops on the silk route. Traders used to gather at these caravanserais built every 50 miles along the trade route, a resting place that provided food and shelter for men and animals. Rooms once served as stables, prayer rooms, baths, and bedrooms.

After lunch, I visited the Mevlana Museum, a small museum that is next to a 16th century mosque. The Museum used to be Mevlana's lodge, the founder of the Whirling Dervishes. The lodge was a very interesting place. Regretfully, camera shooting was not allowed inside.

I had time to give a quick look at a cemetery. Tombstones were beautiful examples of the language. I was told that dead people are buried in graves usually without coffin. However, sometimes a dead person may be buried with coffin. It is a widespread practice to inscribe and cut epitaphs and signs on tombstones for the purpose of describing identity, sex and destiny of the dead person.

From Konya to Nevsehir (Cappadocia), the highway crossed flat grasslands as far as the eye could see. Its infinite plains gave me the feeling that I was really far from home. After 6 hours of driving, I arrived at Nevsehir, the major city in Cappadocia. I checked into the hotel, went straight to my room and had rest... the following day would be a bit tough...

TURKEY THROUGH MY EYES #1 - SLIDE-SHOW

Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. From Antalya airport I headed to a beach resort hotel where I stayed for the overnight, only. My main purpose to set my feet again on the Turkish ground was not enjoying all the amenities that resorts normally offer but visiting Cappadocia, one of the places on my travel bucket list.

I had time to stroll around the hotel gardens, where there was a feeling of tranquility and calm, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. There were abundant roses and other flowers, as well as joyfully chirping birds. Here and there, quiet spots to relax in. I didn't dare swimming in the outdoors pool. The water temperature was a bit cold. Instead, I enjoyed a Turkish bath, a truly unmissable experience.

The weather was fine to have dinner at the outdoors terrace overlooking the pool. An array of dishes satisfied every appetite. I'm not a heavy eater but tasted a little bit of some typical Turkish dishes and sweets. The sweets were exquisite and very very sweet. I presume, honey was one of the main ingredients. Artistically carved pumpkins decorated the buffet restaurant.

I went to bed early... I had to get up at 6:00 am on the following morning... After a wonderful breakfast buffet - breakfast is my favorite meal - I left for Cappadocia (335 miles away), the land of enchanting fairy-chimney rocks...