Monday 16th May – The day Michael, Nicole & Dylan took possession their House
It was really good to hear that Michael & Nicole have brought a house while we have been away and took possession today. This has all happened while we have been away and it just makes you realise how long that has been. Congratulations and I hope it is a happy house for you guys. Mum read out your text to me at some ungodly time this morning.
A 6.30 wake up call and we were on the bus for 8. Breakfast was ok they had some nice fried eggs but no bacon. Not quite what you would expect for a hotel of this standard. Interestingly all the vehicles coming into the hotel were checked for explosives and big rams had to be lowered into the road before the vehicle could proceed. Not like home at all with security checks on the doors.
We were off to Ephesus which is an excavation of a city that was founded sometime around 10,000 BC by the Ionians. It was about an hour on the bus from Izmar and a pleasant drive through countryside which I think I have said before could be NZ. The big difference you notice is the lack of fences. Gokce was saying that they get up to five crops a year off some of the fields.
We arrive at Ephesus and pile out of the bus to a stinking hot day. The weather has certainly warmed up. There is enough excavated here to actually give you a feel for the place and what it may have been like in its day. There was certainly a lot of decadence around suggested most likely from the Roman times. Apparently in it’s hey day 250,000 people lived here. That is not much less than Wellington today so it must have been a thriving place. It had a library here which was once considered the equal of Alexandra library. It had been destroyed in an earthquake and everything lost but they had done a very good job of restoring it. A two story building and we took a group photo in front of it. The other thing worth mentioning was the lavatories. They were restoring one which had 50 seats. Apparently it was a very social occasion with these 50 seats around in a big square. There were marble seat around the outside all very close to each other . A flowing drain passing along the front where you dipped a sponge in and cleaned yourself. It was probably better to be at the start of the line rather than the last. Apparently they even brought entertainment in. It was for men only. It seemed the men were the only ones who were allowed to openly socialise. The women were supposed to be looking after the home. This still goes on today in Turkey where the Coffee houses are apparently men only. They do have some good ideas over here.
It was really an interesting place and rates high on the sites to see. Not equal to Pompeii but getting there. There were people all over the place and of course 100’s of buses.
For some reason I can’t fathom out we were then off to a jewellery factory/store with the emphasis on store. I even heard the women complaining about the cost. One Aussie girl took a liking to a bracelet and when enquired on the cost even with our supposedly 28% discount it was US$34,000. However a couple of the yanks brought something.
It was then off for lunch, a pretty crappy buffet before heading for the Virgin Mary’s House. VM’s house was up on the top of the hill just past Ephesus. It was a very peaceful small shrine amongst the trees. We all filed through there before filling a bottle of holey water from a spring which passes under the house. Some people then wrote out a small wish and placed it on the wall. The water didn’t taste that good so used it for cleaning teeth.
It was a three hour drive from here to our next hotel, Pam Thermal Hotel at Pamukkale. (btw. Kkale means castle). It was a quant hotel with thermal pools we were housed in large chalet type blocks with an open area in the centre and no lifts. We were on the third floor. We would probably rate this at an 8. Certainly the food selection and quality while still reasonable had dropped away.
We dumped our bags and were off for a swim in the thermal pool s. They were a golden mud colour, probably because they were full of the clay type mud which of cause you were supposed to cover yourself with. You could move to a pool closer to the source and get 58 degrees. I only made the second to the top. It was then a refreshing swim in the large normal pool and a few beers around it before dinner. Dinner was a buffet again ok but just.
That evening we had a belly dancer dance for us in the Disco. She was really good and her actions very much choreographed to the music. She was also quite a stunner. She got some of our group up on stage for a bit of a wobble. It was a really good evening and people on the tour are beginning to mix well now
Home to our chalet to bed.
Tuesday 17th – Day 4: Pamukkale – Hierapolis – Antalya
We are allowed to sleep in today. The wake up call is not until seven WOW. It is becoming a bit of a routine now. Get up, have a shave, shower and for you today Max I put my black briefs on (the ones you like). It is then pack the suitcases and get them out the door to be picked up before wandering down to breakfast., back to the room for a constitutional , clean your teeth and off to the bus. We have it down to a fine art now.
Our first stop today is only minutes away at Pamukkale, a very impressive thermal area up on the side of a hill. We stopped at the bottom to take some photos before heading up to Hierapolis (meaning up on the hill). If the NZ Pink and White Terraces were supposed to have been a world wonder they must have been fantastic. These were almost all white and extensive and really were a great sight with pools and beautiful clear water flowing. However things are a bit influenced by man as they control where the water flows and they let areas dry out and therefore it does not moss up and become very dirty. No geysers’ that we saw but it used to be a really big city back in the BC’s where people came to be healed. Again extensive piles of rocks and lots of fancy Sarcophagus’s (tombs). It was a huge place and very beautiful. We could have spent most of the day wandering around but we had to be back to the bus by eleven.
A long drive from there through to Antalya with a stop for lunch and a couple of times for refreshments. It was a beautiful drive through some lovely countryside and a pass through the mountains.
We arrived at our hotel reasonably early perched on the cliff above the Mediterranean Sea. The Divan Talya with steps (and a lift) down to the sea rated an 11 but for sitting would have been tops. Fantastic and we were going to be here two nights.
We went for a walk in the sun up towards the old city and found a café to sit in and have a beer & wines for the girls. Back to the hotel for a nice dinner where we had steak for the first time in a while.
We were invited to one of the Aussie’s rooms (Damien & Noelene) so had to pop out for a bottle of wine.
