Turkey’s Crown Jewels…at pace

After Gallipoli we worked our way down the Aegian Coast (Western Turkey) through Troy, Pergamom, and Ephesus, before cutting inland through Pamukkale to Cappadocia. An action-packed whirlwind tour of Turkey’s crown jewels (when it comes to ancient history and natural wonders) was perfectly organised through Hayden in Istanbul, with us staying in the best places (within budget, of course), getting the best transport, and, when necessary, the best guides (a luxury that was well worth it). Look out, here come those bullet points…

• Troy - Though there are very few remaining ruins, an excellent guide wrapped such a story around the 9 (nine!) separate civilisations that stood on the site that it could have been an empty field and we still would have been able to imagine the Trojans wheeling that giant wooden horse through the gates. Favourite facts included why the site was so popular (the wind blows seasonally, so trade ships would have to wait for the right winds before passing through the Dardanelles - and so they hung out at Troy), and the description of how the city of Troy moved towards the sea as it retreated (the current shore is now 5km from where it was when Achilles gifted the big wooden horse).
• Pergamom - An ancient Greek Acropolis (city on the top of the hill), where parchment was invented for the ancient world’s second biggest library (the biggest - in Alexandria - refused to trade papyrus to keep Pergamom from growing it’s collection). Also, according to our guide, where the convention of clapping at the end of a show began (citizens had to wait until the emperor had left the theatre before they could leave, and the emperor always fell asleep - so they would wake him at the end of the show with clapping. True or not, our wicked old guide delighted in telling the story and stringing us along for a good 5 minutes). Even driving towards the Acropolis was fascinating as we were shown the Greek names inscribed over the doorways of houses which had been left during the population exchange of the early 1920s. At the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, Greeks in Turkey and Turks in Greece were forced by their governments to switch places in the name of national unity. Many of the Greeks etched their names over their doorways in the hope of returning one day (I can’t imagine the NZ government ever getting away with something like this!).
• Ephesus - as far as ruins go, this was the business. Column-lined marble streets, 3 storey libraries, bath houses, apartments, a 25,000 seat theatre (Auckland’s Vector Arena is 10,000?) and even brothels stand as they were two thousand years ago. Even the herds of tourists following their guide’s white numbered flags couldn’t suppress the majesty of this place which is one of the centres (and wonders) of the ancient world. After a day of photographing, inspecting and feeling the architecture and monuments that we studied in high school classical studies, the most salient piece of trivia from the day was that there is speculation at the existence of an underground tunnel spanning the road between the library and the brothel - it seems that the excuse of working (or studying) late isn’t just a modern one.
• Basilica (and Tomb) of St John (John the Baptist) and the house of The Virgin Mary - it is not proven that these places are what they claim to be, but it is certain that John came to this part of the world, and sat atop this hill to write a good chunk of the Bible (there is also an island nearby with a cave where the book of Revelations was written). Christian or not, there is something special about standing here where part of the most influential text in history was produced.
• Selcuk - eating dinner under a ten metre high ancient roman aqueduct was pretty cool - water was carried from springs 40km away to supply an estimated 250,000 people at Ephesus. I doubt any of today’s infrastructure will be as impressive as this in 2000 years time.
• Pammukale - Brad, Emma and I were close to being totally ruined out, so the towering white cliffs of Pammukale were exactly the refresher that we needed. The town is a complete tourist trap, with the capacity to feed, water and shelter more than ten times as many people as were there at the time we were. But once we ditched our shoes and started climbing up the calcium cliffs, with the fabled healing water flowing down over our feet (unfortunately it didn’t seem to work on my ugly toe), we could have been a thousand miles away. The mountain-top Hierapolis (an ancient Roman spa and health resort) had a very cool theatre, but the highlight was definitely watching the sun set from atop the blinding white mountain.
• Cappadocia - In a month of Turkey travel, I’ve seen more pictures of Cappadocia than anything else. It’s the place with the underground cities that were used to hide from aggressors (and put the Viet Cong tunnels to shame), with fairy chimney rock formations that stretch for miles and miles, and where most hotels offer cave-rooms such as the one which we stayed in, for more than a touch of novelty value. If we weren’t chilling in our cave (the best place to retreat from the 44 degree midday heat), we were scootering around the valleys, running up rock formations, climbing through underground tunnels which used to be home to thousands of people, or wandering through 2000 year old cave churches which were the first in the region (when Christians were still the minority, and persecuted for their beliefs). The landscapes are like nothing else, and the history - and hardship - apparent everywhere is just as fascinating.

Photo: Walking the calcium cliffs of Pammukale