The Mediterranean – Wayfaring: Still

Mysterious Meteora: A Photo Gallery

September 21, 2019August 14, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Our drive to Meteora was eventful, to say the least. In the previous post on Meteora, it was mentioned that we were stopped and booked for speeding. In my defence, it was a new expressway that had practically no vehicles for kilometres at a stretch. Nevertheless, speeding is wrong and I should have known better; nevermind the reason.

We were clocking around 150km/h when the speed limit on the expressway was 120km/h, and I was caught by a mobile traffic police van. Sheepishly, I walked back to the van after stopping the car quite a distance away (while the mister continued sitting in the car, grinning and leaving me to handle the traffic police on my own 😡 ). I was surprised to see two other young females sitting in the van, probably from the other car that was stopped nearby; they were being booked too.

The fatherly male traffic police officer was stern but fair. Perhaps much more fair that I expected. He didn’t tell me how much the fine was for, except that it won’t be too much; I was on tenterhooks the whole time he took down really detailed information. He wanted my parents’ names as well, and wanted our accommodation details (I brought along my passport, International Driving Permit, local driving licence and wallet along when I alighted) so I walked back to our rental vehicle again, to retrieve the necessary documents.

By then, the mister was getting worried (served him right for abandoning me to face the music alone!). He got out of the car to ask me why it was taking so long. I briefly explained to him before briskly walking back to the waiting officer.

After what really felt like an eternity to me, the police officer explained to me that he was letting me off with a small fine of 35€ (or thereabout), 10% of the original fine because he didn’t think I was a habitual speeder. I heaved a sigh of relief. Honestly I was expecting a fine of above 100€. He then handed me the speeding ticket and told me that we have to pay the fine at a post office, and not to him.

Having learnt a well-deserved lesson, we took our time to get to Meteora as I suppressed the strong urge to go beyond the speed limit. I’m not a speed demon per se, but I’m also certainly not a slow driver.

We were both relieved when we finally arrived at our guesthouse. It has been a long day.

Apart from the 6 monasteries in Meteora that are still occupied, we also visited other places in our slightly over 2 days there, including a visit to the viewpoint for a gorgeous sunset and a couple of hermitages. In particular, the Meteora Sunset Tour we signed up for was well-worth the time and money; we learnt so much from our guide.

Our room at Monastiri Guesthouse in Kalampaka, one of the two towns near to Meteora.
Booked a room with a porch that led directly to the swimming pool area.
The bathroom was simple and functional.
American breakfast was provided by the guesthouse, and was a sumptuous full spread to fuel up before a day of activity.
The frontal facade of Monastiri Guesthouse. Interesting construction material, made of stone I think, and likely from the area.
Not entirely certain if we were overlooking Kalampaka or Kastraki, but since we were at either St. Stephen’s or Holy Trinity, I’ll hazard a guess and say this is probably Kalampaka.
How many monasteries can you spot in this picture? If you look closely, one of the three monks living at Holy Trinity Monastery was captured in the picture as well.
What a beautiful spot to have a picnic!
Rousanou Monastery, perched atop a narrow rock.
One of the few wefies we took in Meteora. The large monastery in the background would be Grand Meteoron Monastery.
The highlight in this shot is the rock in the centre. Our guide pointed out that there was once a monastery carved into the rock but after years of disrepair and eventual decay, we can no longer make out the structure of the monastery, just cave holes.
Byzantine Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, erected above the ruins of another church, in the 11th century.
Several cross pattée were sighted within the church, indicating that Knights Templar ever stepped foot into this ancient church.
The bell tower.
We would have completely missed this ancient church if we had not signed up for the sunset tour.
The Badova Hermit Caves are pretty well-known, mostly because they are still visible and well-preserved.
It takes a certain, almost maniacal, level of commitment and self-discipline to commit to a life of solitude in the name of religion. It happens in many religions and is still something I can’t quite fully comprehend. I have nothing but admiration for these individuals.
The ledges constructed out of wood helped the hermit monk get to a level low enough to retrieve food and supplies from volunteers who went to check on the monk periodically.
Impending sunset over the valley in Meteora. So blessed to have good weather on our first full day in Meteora because the second day was cloudy; we couldn’t see the sun setting.
According to the map provided by our guesthouse, there are two locations marked out as prime spots for sunset-viewing: one spot closer to Grand Meteoron Monastery and the other closer to St. Stephen’s Monastery. We were brought to the latter by our mini tour bus.
Very fiery and majestic sunset witnessed by a whole bunch of us at the viewpoint.
Once the sun set, it became dark fairly quickly. We stepped down the rocky viewpoint while we still had some light to illuminate our way.

Meteora exudes a mysterious aura; the religious fervour we felt throughout our few days in the region played no small part in this sentiment. Couple that with the wonderment of nature (of strong tectonic movements and weathering) resulting in a stunning, rugged scenery and it is crystal clear why this quietly imposing, looming rock formation is rapidly becoming a vastly popular tourist destination.

Tourists typically take a day tour from Athens to Meteora via a guided bus tour, just to have a sense of how the rock formation looked like. Far lesser choose to utilise public transport or self-drive although these two options offer more freedom to explore the area at a leisurely pace and enjoy the languid vibes of the neighbourhoods of Kalampaka or Kastraki. If you ask us, we would highly recommend spending at overnight in the area if you have the time to spare.

In Love with Mysterious Meteora

September 21, 2019August 14, 2021 Genn1 Comment

I’m not able to pinpoint when my fascination with Meteora began, but it would be about right to say that I’ve been wanting to see this mysterious place for myself for the longest time. Especially after two ditched plans to come to Greece.

Meteora is located in central Greece and a good 400km drive from Athens, including a pit stop in Delphi. In total, it took us almost 9 hours to finally arrive in Meteora, after a tour of Delphi ruins, being led on a merry-go-round with the provided GPS wanting us to get on E65 but kept leading us to E75 (had to use Google Maps to get it right) and getting booked for speeding while trying to catch up with time lost over the GPS boo-boo. All in all, it was an immensely eventful first day for us. In a day, we’ve experienced both an accident and a speeding ticket in a rental car, something we’ve never ever been through in more than a decade of vacation-driving.

We did get to see some bits of the Meteora rock formation from our guesthouse when we arrived at dusk but couldn’t sight any of the six monasteries we were intending to visit. The suspense made the next morning even more exciting.

It’s tricky business trying to cover all 6 monasteries in Meteora because all of them have different days of rest (once a week) so unless you plan two days to explore the area or visit during the weekend. Check their website for the latest opening hours.

St. Stephen’s Monastery

We started with the nearest one to our hotel early next morning. One of the two nunneries out of the 6 monasteries still standing today (in the 16th century there were as many as 24 monasteries but many were abandoned in the 17th & 18th centuries). St. Stephen’s was our first stop and by far the easiest one to reach after parking our car. No stairs, no slopes. Just flat ground to reach it.

There are a total of 28 nuns living in the nunnery. Everyone in our guesthouse told us they were strict so the mister was reminded repeatedly to wear long pants or he would be denied entry. I’m not sure if the black habit the nuns wore has any impact on my impression of them but I found them very stern when I was admiring the frescoes in the church. Two of them were watching the visitors closely to ensure nobody attempted to take any pictures or videos within the church interior. I have to admit that I was terrified of them.

The feminine touch was to be found everywhere within St. Stephens. The grounds was well-kept and even the frescoes were extremely well-maintained compared to the other monasteries. I’m not certain why this is so, but a guess would be that since this particular monastery was preserved by the town after it was abandoned until the nuns took over the place in 1962, the town had the means and made sure everything was well-preserved.

The interior of the church is beautiful but don’t take my word for it. Have a look yourself.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Mondays & 3.30-5.30pm daily

Holy Trinity Monastery

*Look closely and you can see how to path zigzagged down from the*
*road near the top.*

Otherwise dubbed the ‘James Bond Monastery’ because a scene in ‘For Your Eyes Only’ was shot there, Holy Trinity Monastery was much harder to reach than St. Stephen’s. After parking our car along the road side we were greeted with several stretches of steep slopes leading us down to the steps that were carved into the rock that Holy Trinity sat on. A total of 200+ steps to reach the church.

Amidst the huffs and puffs, we arrived at the church grounds. And I was requested to put on a skirt (as with every other female not in a long skirt or dress entering the monastery) they provided at the entrance even though I was very modestly dressed in a blouse and pants. I decided to use my shawl as a wraparound skirt instead.

It is a much smaller church, and we learnt later that only 2 monks lived in the monastery (I was fortunate to capture one of the 2 monks living there when I was taking some pictures). The monastery was undergoing some renovation works; we saw several workers on the church grounds.

I was particularly intrigued with the ancient pulley system they used to carry supplies up the monastery earlier in the days. Although it is now being replaced by a modern system, the whole set up was still very well-maintained. I wonder if it still works.

An interesting nugget of information we learnt from our Sunset Tour guide later in the day: the monastery did not know that their grounds was going to be featured in a movie; they were told that it was for a documentary so they were rather annoyed when they learnt the truth because it brought them unwanted attention.

I didn’t know which I hated more: the steps up the the church or the steep slopes back to the car.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Thursdays

Grand Meteoron Monastery

Since we managed to make good time on our first day we thought to cover Grand Meteoron Monastery as well. That was until we drove to the monastery and saw the steady line of visitors. It was clear we weren’t going to make good time AND be in time for our sunset tour in the evening, so we ditched our ambitious plan.

As the oldest and largest monastery out of the six, only 3 monks lived there. It’s amazing how they manage to keep the vast monastery grounds so pristine and undertake the administrative role of all the monasteries in Meteora at the same time.

For the massive space this monastery occupies, it exhibits an equally impressive number of artifact in the several museums for visitors to understand the heritage and tradition of the monks who lived there as far back as the 14th century. And despite starting our day early, we couldn’t beat the day-tour crowd who came in tour buses. It seemed that the tours like to begin with Grand Meteoron Monastery, possibly because of its location and perhaps level of importance as well.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Tuesdays

Varlaam Monastery

Situated between Grand Meteoron and Roussanou monasteries, Varlaam Monastery was a short drive away, and the 4th monastery we visited. Of all the monasteries, I found Varlaam Monastery to have the most picturesque courtyard, complete with a pavilion. Suffice it to say that we spent a lot more time outdoors than in the monastery itself.

Being the second largest monastery, 7 monks live there (as opposed to 3 at Grand Meteoron Monastery) and was first occupied in the early 14th century. It also has the most well-lit interior. I’ve avoided taking pictures of the monasteries’ interior as far as I could, but I did allow myself one shot over here because it seemed to be ‘silently’ permitted. A few visitors before me took out their picture-taking contraptions and the monk on duty looked on without saying a word or showing displeasure.

This one precious picture gives an idea of how a typical monastery in Meteora is furnished – rather bare and austere – with the exception of icons adorning the interior of the church, but large free-standing statues are rarely seen, if at all. This is in general rather typical of Eastern Orthodox Churches we visited in Greece.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Thursdays & Fridays

Rousanou Monastery

Apart from St. Stephen’s Monastery, Rousanou Monastery is the other of the 6 still-standing monasteries in Meteora to be occupied by nuns. In this case, 13 nuns. Structurally, the construction of Rousanou Monastery is an amazing feat, perched at the pinnacle of rock and occupied the whole plateau, blending perfectly into its natural surroundings.

It didn’t take long to arrive at Rousanou Monastery, given the close proximity of Grand Meteoron, Varlaam and Rousanou monasteries. Parking though, was a little challenging since we had to park along the road, together with other vehicles including several tour buses. What followed was a little trek up to the church, including slopes initially and stairs after.

There was a bottleneck at the stairs with visitors trying to ascend and descend on the narrow path simultaneously. Progress was excruciatingly slow. As we were slowly taking the stairs to the church at the top, we looked down on our left and saw the nuns’ living quarters. Neatly pruned rose bushes on the pristine lawn greeted us; the mister and I were not the only ones amazed by the carefully grown garden.

Rousanou Monastery is amongst the smallest monasteries; we took less than 10 minutes exploring the interior before we found ourselves at the terrace again, rubbing shoulders with too many other visitors. The severely lack of breathing space made us hasten our steps to leave once we’ve admired the view from the small terrace.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Wednesdays

St. Nicholas Anapafsas Monastery

A very small church with only one monk living there, St. Nicholas Anapafsas Monastery was the last of the 6 monasteries we wanted to visit. It was past noon, and the heat from the glaring sun was seriously making me sleepy.

The geological location of this monastery limited its capacity to expand in width; the only way was to build upwards. This resulted in a rather small and cramp monastery that’s a few storeys high.

I remember how I stood there, looking out at the view, marvelling and wondering how a delta, once submerged in water millions of years ago has now risen a few hundred metres above ground. These rock formation in Meteora that we see today were sediments stacked on the waterbed. In fact, Meteora’s strange geological phenomenon is not so different from Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the place in China where the movie ‘Avatar’ was filmed.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Fridays

By the time we were done with visiting all 6 monasteries, we were both hot and bothered, and terribly thirsty. Again, just like the day before. It was almost 3pm in the afternoon and way past our lunch hour. For some reason, our meal times were strangely all messed up the entire time we were in Greece; we were eating at very odd hours, much later than we usually did. Was it really caused by the hot weather?

Delphi, the Centre of the World

September 6, 2019August 7, 2021 GennLeave a comment

As considered by ancient Greeks, that is.

According to ancient Greek mythology, Zeus released two eagles in opposite directions of east and west, and the place where they met again – Delphi – was denoted to be the centre of the known world, the place where heaven and earth met. Inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987, Delphi was considered to be a sacred religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo, who spoke through his oracle there.

Most of the well-preserved archaeological ruins that we see today at Delphi dates back all the way to 6th century B.C. although Delphi was first developed in 8th century B.C. by priests from Crete, believed to be responsible for bringing the cult of Apollo to mainland. Delphi went on to become highly influential, whereby the oracle was frequently consulted on both private matters and affairs of the state, and that included prior to launching wars or founding new colonies. The oracle was in such high demand so much so that affluent individuals even resorted to paying large amounts in order to get ahead in line.

During the planning phase, I agonised over whether we should make Delphi (as opposed to another destination) as our first stop after landing. Given its importance in Greek history and the extent of the site, we estimated that it would take us several hours to cover whole place and it probably wasn’t the best idea to tire ourselves out on the first day of our vacation. Nonetheless we decided to push ahead.

And was immediately proven that it was a bad idea to drive out from Athens Airport to Delphi straight after a long 11.5-hr flight. In the process of trying to get used to driving on the right side of traffic and navigating Athens’ crazy morning traffic, I crashed the side mirror against a street lamp. This is the first time I’ve ever had an accident with a rental car. Thankfully only the cover of the mirror got knocked off, and could be attached back.

*Our reliable ride for the next few days.*

Delphi isn’t located that far away from Athens, and is the second most popular archaeological site in Greece, behind the Acropolis in Athens. Our drive took us a relatively short 2.5 hrs, but that was the least of our problem. We couldn’t find parking space anywhere near the entrance of the ruins and ended up parking in the town nearby, a long walk away.

We experienced the brutal heat of Greece’s summer first-hand the moment we got off the car. To be honest, we are not unfamiliar with summer conditions coming from a tropical country, but we seldom have a completely cloudless blue sky here in Singapore, a phenomenon we encountered almost daily in Greece. Heat aside, our pictures turned out really gorgeous because of the blue. Can’t have the cake and eat it too, I reckon.

One of the first monuments we saw was The Navel, an oval marble stone, denoting the point at which the two eagles which Zeus released crossed paths again. This point is also known as the centre of the world, or ‘navel of the Earth’. However what is set at the archaeological site is only a simplified duplicate; the original has been placed in the Museum of Delphi.

Next, we came to arguably the most important monument at the archaeological site – Temple of Apollo. To be exact, we first saw the group of towering Doric columns and took possibly close to a hundred pictures of the colonnades against the sun. Alright, that’s an exaggeration but suffice it to say that we did spend a lot of time admiring the limestone + porous stone constructed columns.

After passing the Temple of Apollo we began tackling the more tiring aspect of exploring the Delphi site – slopes. As age catch on, we truly understood first-hand how lack of sleep affects stamina. 😆

But the views were well worth it. From afar, it was easier to visualise how the Temple of Apollo used to look like before its decay. According to records, Pythia (the high priestess) the oracle sat within the temple, likely behind a curtain while the helper priests relayed questions from petitioners. What then followed is what I would call ‘a fuzzy mess’, subject to various questionable and sometimes, conflicting interpretations by the priests as Pythia entered a state of delirium and uttered incomprehensible words. Unreliable as it sounds, the Temple of Apollo enjoyed extremely high prestige between the 6th and 8th centuries B.C., often swaying both military and political decisions. Eventually the spread of Christianity in the region led to its decay, and it was permanently silenced in AD390 when the temple was destroyed.

Further upslope the ancient theatre constructed in 4th century B.C. came into sight. Just imagine what a spectacular sight greeted the audience as they sat on the stands and watched plays, poetry readings and music performances, with the entire sanctuary and valley as backdrop. In its entirety of 35 rows (27 rows in the lowers zone, 8 rows in the upper zone), the theatre could sit close to 5,000 spectators.

We continued climbing to the top of the hill to see the Stadium of Delphi. The crowd of visitors had thinned out visibly by then, with many choosing to retrace their steps down the hill instead of continuing on.

Occupying the highest spot of the archaeological site, the stadium was famous for its chariot races and could sit close to 6,500 spectators during the Pythian Games, held in honour of Apollo. The Pythian Games, at its height, was ranked second in importance, placed only behind the Olympic Games. The games were held once every four years, 2 years after the Olympic Games and included various athletic and artistic competitions. Both male and female competitors were allowed to compete in both types of events.

It was way past noon as we made our way down the archaeological site. We were surprised that most of the crowd had left in their tour buses, possibly for lunch. We welcomed the opportunity to take more wefies without photobombers. 😛

A lot has changed in terms of how we preserve archaeological monuments and sites over the years. Back in 2007 when the mister and I visited Ephesus in Turkey, visitors to the archaeological site were allowed to trample all over the site, including steps at the ancient theatre. Fast forward to 2109 when we were at Delphi: there were barricades all over, preventing anyone from entering the ancient theatre.

It’s a good change. However it also begs the question: were visitors not taking enough care with the trampling on ancient sites that necessitated the move?

Archaeological sites hold a certain fascination for many, myself included. Without notes and guides, many of these stones and broken remnants mean nothing to us laymen. I have great respect for everyone involved in archaeological work; it’s hard work and mostly thankless. Yet their work are so important in revealing the history and past activity of humankind, how we lived, how we thought and how we died.

After close to four hours at Delphi, it was time for us to proceed to our next destination, which was a rather long drive away. Way past our lunch hour, but we didn’t have appetite for food even after quite a bit of walking. I blamed it on the weather; at the point I only really wanted iced, cold coke to quench the insatiable thirst. Nevertheless, on our walk back to retrieve the car, we stopped by a restaurant to fuel up with some Mediterranean food.

And then it was back to the car for our onward drive to Meteora!

Turkish Delights: A Photo Gallery

November 21, 2007September 28, 2021 GennLeave a comment

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 😳 ), 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.

Ankara vs Istanbul

November 19, 2007September 28, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Ankara vs Istanbul.

Angora vs Constantinople.

The new vs old capital.

Which of them is the capital of Turkey?

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 Atatürk, also known as Anıtkabir. 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 Atatürk 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 women’s pride, solemnity and determination, even in the deepest grief of losing Atatürk‘ 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 Atatürk, 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 Atatürk, 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? 😆

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.

Of Cotton Castle and Fairy Chimneys

November 17, 2007September 28, 2021 GennLeave a comment

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.

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. 😮 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 Göreme, 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.

Whatever rocks his boat, I reckon.

The Ancient City of Ephesus

November 14, 2007September 28, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Ephesus (near Selçuk 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! 😮

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. 😆 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.