Ephesus and the Aegean Coast

Once in Izmir, we retrieved our reserved rental car from the Izmir airport. The train station and airport are connected by IZBAN - their BART - what a novel and convenient idea. We were on the road to Ephesus before noon. As the #1 tourist destination in Turkey outside Istanbul, we met up with the tourists in Ephesus. Lots of Chinese, Japanese, French, and Germans. Ephesus is quite a large archaeological sight, with excavation and restoration work ongoing since the 1860s. The most impressive sights were the theatre, the two agora, and the Celsus library. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the site. 

 

Ephesus is the burial site of St. John - so we stopped there to see that. 

We didn't have specific accommodations in mind, so we drove down the road and pulled in when we were ready to stop. Monday night we stayed in a little town south of Ephesus and Tuesday night we were in a town on the coast west of Bodrum. We stopped in Didum and Bodrum to check out those towns. Bodrum has an old Crusader fort similar to the ones I visited on Cyprus. 

Ephesus and Bodrum were both home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - in Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis and in Bodrum, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Not much of either of these wonders exists anymore. There's a great opportunity for Google Glass and augmented reality to give a visitor an idea of these two structures. We did, however, find the Temple of Apollo in Didum and managed to climb all around what's left of that structure, as you can see.

Konya and the Whirling Dervishes

The bus from Goreme to Konya comfortably traversed landscape somewhat reminiscent of Nebraska without the corn. Konya is a big city - similar to Kayseri. It was to be our most remote destination in terms of familiarity (e.g., English words on menus, western dress). Our reasons for visiting Konya were to attend the Saturday evening Sema Ritual during which the dervishes whirl and to see the Mevlana Museum, where they used to live. 

Konya is a very flat city surrounded by hills and mountains - some topped with snow. A brisk breeze blows down from the mountains, resulting in a bit of a nippy (ok, it was very cold) feel. There were not very many tourist sights to see, so we roamed around the shops, markets, and parks to pass the time until the 8pm Sema Ritual. 

This site (http://www.whirlingdervishes.org/whirlingdervishes.htm) explains the Sema Ritual and much more about Sufism and Rumi. Instead of trying to re-explain it, I'll just include our impressions. First of all, Konya has built a BIG center for this purpose. It includes a group of new buildings that is surrounded by large, packed dirt lots that presumably accommodate hundreds of buses. There is an outdoor sema area that is supposed to seat 7000 people. It is an inverted cone that starts at ground level and descends many levels. Thankfully, during the winter, they use an indoor area, which was also quite large. The room was perfectly round with many rows of seats. In the center were about 20 lamb pelts. When it was time to start, a person entered the room and placed a red carpet away from the pelts. Then there was an announcement (first in English and then Turkish), after which the band members and the dervishes entered the room and took their places. They moved very slowly, methodically, and reverently. They were initially covered in black robes. The dervish master was the last to enter, I believe. The whirling part of the ritual started after each dervish greeted the master. Immediately after the greeting, individually, each dervish would start to spin. Their movement was very fluid, similar to the others, but subtly unique too. They would spin mostly in place, but they gradually circled around the stage area. We were surprised to see men of all ages enacting the ritual. Some would tilt their heads with their tall woolen hats as if listening to some other message only they could hear. The ritual lasted over an hour, which included three sequences of whirling. They never seemed to tire or stray from their pattern of whirling. Seeing the Sema Ritual was definitely a unique and moving experience.

The walk back to our hotel was quite cold. On Sunday, we had plenty (too much) time to kill. We visited the Mevlana museum first thing in the morning and then a couple other smaller museums in the afternoon. Here are some views of Konya.

We had sleeper compartment tickets for the night train to Izmir. Sunday was election day in Turkey. All of the elections were local, but they postponed the scheduled time change for a day, so we made sure we had plenty of time to meet the train. The ride was smooth. We woke up to green hills of olive trees - somewhat similar to Greece. 

Some Fun Facts So Far

Longest delay - five hours on the SFO tarmac

Oddest taste - turnip juice

Most bus rides in a day - 5

Friendliest, most helpful person - Murat (our hotel manager in Goreme)

Most inaccurate statement - "It's not that far." (guess the speaker)

Best breakfast ever - olives and cheese (guess who)

Number of different breads in one meal - 4

Going Underground

Cappadocia was the home of the Hittites, who were surrounded by more powerful neighbors, including the Persians. The Hittites could not prevail against their enemies, so they built underground cities for refuge. There are 36 of them in the area - some of which are connected by tunnels running for ten kilometers. We toured the one at Kaymakli. The Hittites had built the first two levels and the later Christians built four more levels underground. People could live in these structures for up to 6 months if necessary. The first (uppermost) level housed the animals, for rather obvious reasons. The second level was the church and priest rooms. The third level contained living rooms. Below that was the kitchen, winery, laundry, and washroom. The infrastructure included HVAC - shafts for air circulation - and a telecom system - a series of small tunnels/tubes for shouting messages. The air shaft was multifunctional because it served as a well, an entrance/exit, and a means to hoist up chamber pots in addition to supplying fresh air and allowing smoke to escape. There were huge stones that could be rolled to close tunnels. Given the very cramped hallway tunnels, it is puzzling how those large stone wheels could be maneuvered into place. The pictures aren't the best, but they give the idea.

The largest river in Turkey, the Red River, flows through Cappadocia on its way to the Black Sea. We crossed it and walked along its banks in the town of Avanos, where we found a little restaurant to drink chai and play backgammon for a while. Avanos is the center of pottery making, which also dates back to the Hittites. We strolled around the town and even enjoyed a brief thunderstorm (with our rain gear comfortably back at the hotel). The farmers of Avanos grow some great-looking vegetables, including some of the largest cabbages and nicest cauliflower we'd ever seen. The Friday market in Avanos was packed with people and fun to walk through.