This being a typical package tour, a lot of activities were packed into the few days we had in Turkey. Regrettably, some of these places weren’t properly document with our camera, considering how languid I was midway into the trip.
Some of the more interesting sights and scenes have been selected to be highlighted in this picture gallery, more as an attempt to remind ourselves of the happy memories we did possess of the trip rather than merely documenting for the sake of it.
At the start of our trip, as we were crossing Sea of Marmara to get from Istanbul to Bursa. Totally captivated by how the sun rays streamed through the dark clouds.
Seagulls in flight as we ferried across the sea.
An opportuned moment captured by our camera.
In the cobbled streets of Bursa, we came by a scene where Turkish women were making local naan.
It was mesmerising watching the women work.
The hard work behind weaving carpets. It’s amazinghow these women can do such intricate designs without any reference.
Another essential process of carpet making, retrieving silk strands from silkworm cocoons.
Really reminds me of cotton balls.
How the cocoons look like when the silk strands have been removed.
Panoramic view of Istanbul close to dusk.
Entrance to Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world.
Over 4,000 shops within the Grand Bazaar, but nothing we could bring home without exerting too much effort.
Hagia Sophia with its four minarets spotted in the far distance as we cruised down Bosphorus River.
Bosphorus Bridge, the suspension bridge that extends between the Asia and Europe continents.
A closer view.
Along the banks of Bosphorus River, where locals fish and mingle.
Came by this interesting little shop selling local ltos of chocolate.
I’ll admit that Turkey was not my desired vacation destination, at least not during the time we travelled. I wanted to tour Greece but the mister found the package to be costly, hence the next best option.
Despite this, the rainy weather and my bout of food poisoning that cropped up during the trip, it still was an enjoyable trip. Eye-opening and educational, especially the visit to the carpet factory and the mosques. Till today (2021, the year I’m writing this post ๐ณ ), I lament the fact that we didn’t take a balloon tour at Cappadocia. Not that we could. In the mister’s words, ‘There’s no toilet on the air balloon’. True, that. Even if I my condition had improved by then, the jitters of being in the air would have given me a tummy upset again anyway. It was a decision for the best.
Of the numerous posts I’ve written on this travel blog, I’ll say researching and writing on Turkey in particular Istanbul has been an exceedingly enjoyable and fulfilling task, in no small part contributed by my captivation with the Roman Empire. This pleasant discovery has rekindled my resolve to complete the unfinished parts of this blog before our next possible trip.
Did you get it right? Don’t fret if you did not. It’s a common misnomer to think that Istanbul is the capital of this country bridging Asia and Europe. Incidentally, it is Istanbul that straddles between these two continents. It is also Istanbul that has a long history of being the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire but no, it’s not the capital during modern times. Ankara is. Ask this question and I assure you eight out of ten persons will reply ‘Istanbul’. The ninth is either a native or has been to Turkey and knows the correct answer, while the tenth is simply good in general knowledge.
I’m no historian, and it’s virtually impossible to summarily dismiss Turkey’s entire history into a paragraph or two. I can only grasp the couple most important eras the country has been through: the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Being so strategically located, I can only say that Turkey has been through quite a bit of turmoil throughout history. Do bear with me as I try my utmost to summarise these two important periods in history.
The Byzantine Empire
The Republic of Rome was founded in 6 BC. It started expanding shortly after, but only moved out of the Italian Peninsula in 3 BC. For centuries following, the Romans were unstoppable in their quest to expand territory.
The Roman Empire was at its largest extent under Trajan in AD 117. By the 3rd century, the entire empire was deemed too large to be ruled by one single emperor. In AD 286, Diocletian split the empire into two along a northwest axis just to the east of Italy. Diocletian himself became the emperor of eastern half and made Maximian the emperor of the western half.
Fast forward to AD 324 when Constantine I was in reign. He built a new imperial residence in Byzantium (also known as Constantinople in late antiquity, and Istanbul in the modern world) and named it the new capital of the Roman Empire. That began the Byzantine Empire, which survived the fall of its western counterpart in AD 480 until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Empire, almost a good 1,000 years later.
The Ottoman Empire
Founded in 1299 by Osman I, the Ottoman Empire had its base just south to Constantinople. The taking of Constantinople in 1453 was the empire’s first step to growing into a powerful empire, expanding its might deep into North Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor) which comprises most of Turkey as we know today, became part of the Byzantine Empire after the split of the Roman Empire into east and west. Notably, it was one of the first places where Christianity spread wide and far. By the end of the 14th century, much of Anatolia had already fallen to various Anatolain beyliks (something equivalent to lords).
Fast forward to Nov 1918 when Constantinople was occupied by the British, French and Italian troops following the end of WWI. A much weakened Ottoman Empire had no choice but to commence the process of partitioning the empire and that eventually led to the creation of a total of 39 new countries.
Turkey gained independence on 29 Oct 1923 after the Turkish War of Independence was won, at the same time, naming Ankara as its new capital.
Anakara is historically known as Angora. With a total population of 5.6 million, Ankara is the second largest city in Turkey, coming in behind Istanbul. It is famous for several things including Angora wool from Angora rabbits and mohair from Angora goats.
Our tour of Ankara was limited to only a train station nearby our lunch location and the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatรผrk, also known as Anฤฑtkabir. After our lunch while waiting for our coach, we strolled to the nearby train station to take a look. I was genuinely surprised by how modern the station is, considering what a long history Turkey has. Train stations in Paris most certainly do not even remotely look like this.
We entered the Atatรผrk mausoleum grounds via the entrance of the Road of Lions, and were introduced to the two sets of sculptures bearing great significance as they represent the population. The group of women sculpture ‘represents the Turkish womenโs pride, solemnity and determination, even in the deepest grief of losing Atatรผrk‘ and ‘By the grievous expressions in the faces of all three statues, solemnity and power of will proper to Turkish Nation are expressed‘ in the group of men sculpture.
The country has great respect for Mustafa Kemal Atatรผrk, who was the leader that led the country to victory during the Turkish War for Independence. He also became the republic’s first president.
The solemnity of the site was acutely felt everywhere we went. We visited the mausoleum on the 10th death anniversary of Atatรผrk, six days after the actual day. There were people aplenty, especially in the building. We had no idea if the significant day ten days afore had anything to do with the crowd, but if I were to hazard a guess, I would say it probably played a part. That made our tour of the interior rather haphazard and quick since there were just too many visitors that afternoon. I think we spent more time enjoying the spacious plaza than indoors.
The only group picture we took on the entire trip.Young children having an excursion to the mausoleum with their teachers.
While waiting for our transport toward the end of our visit, a group of young Turkish children walked by, waving their flags enthusiastically. We found them cute as much as they found us… strange? ๐
Enroute and we sighted a typical Turkish dovecote with pigeon holes for the birds.
From Ankara, we headed back to Istanbul, our first and final destination the next morning. It typically takes over six hours by coach, but since we already left Ankara last evening and stayed somewhere between these two cities, we took a little over four hours to arrive at Istanbul. Where we immediately began our walking tour, to my dismay.
Our first destination: Sultanahmet Square, also known as the Hippodrome of Constantinople or Hippodrome Square. During the Byzantine Empire, it was a square where sporting events like chariot races were held and throughout the period, it was central to social activities being held in Constantinople.
Constantine I was immensely proud of Constantinople, and it was evident from the way he and his successors spared no efforts in adorning the Hippodrome, including cutting an obelisk into three parts in order to transport it all the way from Egypt. The emperor who commissioned this move was Theodosius and thus the obelisk was renamed from Obelisk of Thutmose III to Obelisk of Theodosius.
From the Hippodrome Square, we saw a tall minaret in the distance and were told that it belonged to the Blue Mosque, our next destination, followed by the inimitable Hagia Sophia. These two mosques will be covered in the next post; they are important enough to deserve a post of their own.
After the visit to Ephesus, we were whisked off to a leather apparel factory, which unfortunately took up too much of our time that we arrived at Pamukkale, our next destination, much later than planned.
Pamukkale, meaning ‘cotton castle’ in Turkish, is a town in southwestern Turkey most well-known for its mineral rich thermal waters that slowly trickle down cotton-white travertine terraces. The most pervasive image of Pamukkale most people would have has to be white terraces with numerous mini craters filled with sky blue water. This was unfortunately nothing close to what we saw when we arrived close to sundown.
At the entrance to Pamukkale.
The white travertine terraces were, to our dismay, not white at all. Not even remotely close to white, to be honest. It looked like too many visitors to this site have trampled on and dirtied the once pristine white formations.
The picture above was heavily edited. Don’t be fooled by how bright it looked; it was almost pitch dark by then. Encouraged by our tour guide, we gingerly took off our shoes and walked around in the thermal waters to have a feel of it. Given how dark it was, we didn’t venture far from the designated pathway.
Since we didn’t get to see much of the site, we were promised that we would be brought back here again next morning for a quick look before continuing on to our next destination. Reluctantly but cautiously, we made our way back to the coach that brought us to our accommodation for the night.
And that was when trouble ensued. I started having the runs the entire night, together with stomach cramps. It wouldn’t be exaggerated to say that I’ve gone to the bathroom close to 20 times before we realised that something was very wrong. The mister sought help from our tour leader, who in turn got in touch with a local doctor to come look in on me. I went to the bathroom another ten times before he arrived, and gave me an injection to alleviate the symptoms. That injection cost us 100USD. ๐ฎ At least it worked; the bathroom visits reduced sharply after the doctor left.
From there on, the trip went downhill for the both of us. For the next couple of days, I almost never got off the coach for sightseeing, sleeping my way through while nursing the bout of stomachache (which very much later my local GP told me it was for certain a bout of food poisoning) unless it wasn’t possible for me to stay in the coach. Many a times I had to coax the mister to go sightsee without me. He would hastily go down, take some pictures, and rush back to the coach to accompany me without lingering. I felt bad and wanted to get well quickly, but it took several days for my stomach to settle again.
I think the group was rather disappointed that we only got to stop at the foot to take pictures of the terraced travertine instead of entering the attraction again. But there was a schedule to keep to, and it was the best our tour leader could bargain for. Kinda wished we didn’t have to go to the leather apparel factory.
After lunch, we headed for Gรถreme, a town in the Cappadocia region known for the strange naturally-formed rock formations called ‘fairy chimneys’ and hot air balloon rides over the region.
At first glance, the striking fairy chimneys looked really strange to us. Being the good student that I once was, I listened intently as our tour guide started explaining how the geologic processes that commenced millions of years ago first created this unique landscape. Then volcanic eruptions brought ash to this region, which settled and hardened into tuff. Tuff is relatively soft and porous, resulting in rather ingenious ways of using the interesting terrain, chief among which, homes. But this wouldn’t have been possible with simply tuff alone. Along with tuff, basaltic igneous rocks resulted from the violent volcanic eruptions also cooled and settled. Since tuff and basalt erode at different rates, million years of weathering resulted in the mushroom-headed tall columns that we see today. And it’s all natural, not unlike what we see in Meteora, Greece or Zhangjiajie, China.
Cappadocia sat along the historic Silk Road trading route. Prior to that, it was also centrally located, bringing to its region centuries of conflict between warring empires. For that very reason, the town was raided, plundered and invaded several times over the course of time. Natives had retreated into the area, and chiselled into the rock to escape political turmoil. Later, it also became an area of refuge for fleeing Christians escaping from persecution of the Romans, then the Muslims.
The niches chiselled into the fairy chimneys are such amazing work of art! They may not look much from outside, but these columns formed a network of living quarters, churches, stables, stores etc. like a small town would have. And if you look closely at the columns that have been preserved in this open-air museum, one can clearly see how the each room of each dwelling was being utilised.
Of course, these houses were not sufficient to help the refugee Christians escape from their persecutors. Oftentimes, they also had to retreat into their subterranean hideout cities when they heard/saw hostile forces approaching. We visited one of several in the region – Kaymakli Underground Town.
If Kaymakli was anything to go by, these underground towns were really not built for the clastrophobic or the giants that walk amongst us. Some areas were so small we could barely get through. It also reflected something that is universally true – grit and resilience in human beings should never be underestimated. In spite of the extremely harsh living conditions, life went on for the refugees. And in the face of adversity, they even built such remarkable underground towns! Nothing but admiration for them.
The last site we visited in Cappadocia before we left was to the Pigeon Valley. As the name suggests, it’s a valley where a vast number of man-made pigeon holes have been carved into the tuff. We have learnt throughout history, seldom did our ancestors do things out of boredom: the pigeons that lived in the valley in the past used to be trained as message carriers. In modern times though, this practice has gradually become archaic. Very few pigeons now still live in the valley although this stretch has become a rather popular hiking trail.
Throughout our tour of Turkey, we kept coming across this blue eye emblem. They come in the form of glass pendants, earrings etc. It is called the Nazar Boncuk, the evil blue eye. It’s supposedly an ancient talisman in the Middle East, that protects the owner/wearer from the bad energies caused by jealousy or envy toward the person. I truly wanted to purchase a small souvenir with the blue eye, but the mister insisted he wanted nothing of that sort anywhere in the house at all. He’s cautious (and perhaps superstitious) like that. And so, we left Turkey with none.
Ephesus (near Selรงuk in modern day Turkey) was an important ancient landmark. Especially with respect to Christianity, since it was mentioned several times in the Bible. Even the tenth book of the New Testament was a letter from Paul dedicated to Ephesian Christians.
Given its significance, it was fortuitous then, that after traversing from the Istanbul Airport to the western coast of Turkey adjacent to the Aegean Sea, our first stop was to the House of the Virgin Mary. It was said that Mother Mary travelled to Ephesus together with St. John the Evangelist, whom Jesus Christ entrusted his mother to as his newly adoptive mother during his crucifixion, and it was here that they lived.
While the Catholic Church neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of this house in which Mother Mary has lived and died, three Popes have visited this site namely: Pope VI, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. I would think the gesture alone speaks volume, to say the least, nevermind the official stance.
The ancient Baptismal font located near the entrance of the site.
The House of the Virgin Mary was located a mere 9km away from the ancient site of Ephesus, and what greeted us in the early afternoon when we visited was a picture of serenity. Greenery surrounded the site, and we were rather surprised to find ourselves the only visitors to this rather significant religious site. And as with most ancient Christian shrines, the dried up baptismal font was located near the entrance and was the first sombre reminder that we have entered a religious site.
We walked a little way ahead to catch up with the group (we dawdled and lagged behind while taking pictures) and came to a halt as we patiently waited for our tour group mates to make their way into the nondescript stone house via a tiny doorway. It gave me a great opportunity to stray away from the group once again, to the chagrin of the mister.
None of the original furniture remained in the house, if my memory serves me well. The interior has been converted into a chapel, wherein by the time we entered, was almost void of visitors. I lit a candle, said a little prayer, and we made our way out.
We explored the rest of the site, and came by the holy water taps and a wishing wall! There were three taps in total that released holy water. We didn’t know the difference between the three taps and randomly chose one like everyone else did. Water was cool and provided some respite from the afternoon sun, although in general the whole site was shady from the carefully pruned greenery that surrounded us.
The wishing wall though, was impressive and a rather curious sight to us! We’d come across bridges and walls filled with love locks, or in Japan, Shinto shrines with trees tied with paper ‘bad fortune lots’. But this, a wall filled with personal possessions of wishes, was a first.
On our way back to our accommodation, we passed by this bronze statue of Mother Mary. To us, it really seemed like it was erected by the roadside, in the middle of nowhere. Yet I believe its location was not a coincidence, given its proximity to the House. We alighted from our coach, crossed the road to take some pictures of the statue of Madonna and Ephesus in the distance before embarking again, calling it a day.
In comparison to the tranquility we experienced at the House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus was bustling with activity when we visited the following morning, despite the drizzle. It came across as rather strange that the former was skipped despite its proximity to Ephesus. We were glad we took up an organised tour that didn’t opt to skip it.
Ephesus was an ancient port city, and at a time, was populated with close to a quarter million of people, coming in a close second to most populous Rome. Excavations revealed that there was already an ancient human settlement in the area since the Neolithic Age. It went through numerous changes over the centuries that reflected a long human history and cultural traditions, from Hellenistic to Roman Imperial and early Christian periods.
Piles and piles of rocks greeted us as we walked through the ancient archaeological site, and they would have been totally unintelligible to us if not for our local guide. To be honest, even with his explanation, we couldn’t quite visualise the past grandeur of this ancient site that was once deemed to be the most important Greek city.
The mister was impatiently waiting for me to be done with picture-taking. Incidentally this picture turned out to be one of the most iconic pictures I’ve taken on this trip.
It was drizzling and we had to tread slowly over the slippery rocks, careful not to slip and fall. And finally, we came to a site that didn’t require too much of our imagination. All of us could tell that it was an amphitheatre of sorts, and true enough, that was the Odeon, a small theatre with a capacity of 1,500 spectators.
Back in 2007 when we visited (I’m really only writing this post in 2021, 14 years later), we were stepping all over the ancient theatre. It wasn’t disallowed. I wonder if things have changed now, in order to preserve the site. Degradation of archaeological sites due to natural causes through the course of time is a harsh reality all archaeologists fear and deal with on a daily basis. They really don’t need further destruction due to human negligence.
More ruins along the way as we meandered through the site. This round, more carvings and ornamental stones than random stones stacked on top of each other. In fact the white stone carving is one of the Greek goddess Nike who personified victory. Call me ignorant – I didn’t know there was a Greek goddess named Nike! ๐ฎ
And if you think you know what this is, you are probably right. It was the public latrine and everyone recognised it at first glance. ๐ We discussed at length on whether we would use it. To be honest, I’m really not so sure… given a choice, I would rather go home.
And at long last, we arrived at the Library of Celsus. This library was built at the behest of Gaius Julius Aquila, a consul in imperial Rome, in honour of his father. At its height, the library was believed to have contained a repository of as many as 12,000 scrolls and was said to be the third largest library in the Roman empire, behind Alexandria and Pergamum.
A fire or earthquake was believed to have destroyed the interior of the library and its contents in the 3rd century. The facade withstood the destruction, only to be destroyed during an earthquake a few centuries later. It laid in ruins quietly over the centuries until 1970 when a team led by a German archaeologist commenced a reconstruction campaign. Between 1970 and 1978, the facade of the ancient library was carefully reconstructed either from the pieces found at site or copies made from some pieces that were already acquired by museums. It was by and large a vastly successful reconstruction project, if you ask a layman like me.
And the last monument we arrived at before leaving the archaeological site was the well-preserved Grand Theatre of Ephesus, first constructed during the Hellenistic period and later, to be modified several times during Roman times. When it was fully functional, this theatre could hold up to some 24,000 seated spectators. With the Grand Theatre as our end point, we had some time to explore the area. By then, crowd at the archaeological site had visibly thinned. We were quite possibly the last group of people to clear the site for the day.
Leaving you with a picture of how impressive the Grand Theatre looked from afar as we departed.
Wayfaring: Still 