Our First Guide Group Tour Ever!
Oct 19 - 24, 2012
We have always done our own thing, discovering new places and finding new adventures on our own, without the help of tour operators, guide etc. (with the exception of a guide at the Vatican).
But this time, we decided a small group tour was the way to go inland in Turkey, not because of any security worries (there aren't any unless you go to some parts of eastern Turkey), ease of travel (the infrastructure is great, buses and roads excellent) or language barriers (the Turkish people are so friendly, you'll always sort your way through). We decided that since it was a good 12 hour drive each way and with sites along the way and the ultimate destination so varied, a driver and guide would allow us to enjoy and benefit more. So, we travelled with 6 other cruising couples from nearby marinas for 6 days and 5 nights.
Not only did we achieve our goal, but we meet a bunch of new friends. I hope you enjoy some of our photos. The scenery was so drop dead gorgeous at times, we took more photos than ever before.
Sagalassos, Meaning: City in the Clouds
Altitude: 1400 - 1600 M
Oct 19
Our first stop was Sagalassos, a ruined city that is terraced and set high up Ak Dag (White Mountain) overlooking a fertile valley and village. The location was originally founded in 1200 BC by a war-like tribe of "People from the Sea" as it was easily defensible with the ragged mountain ridge behind and the valley stretching miles with stunning views.
A winding road with many switchbacks led us to the site where the only other people were a few Turkish men building steps up to the site and a person in the Ticket booth.
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The Belgian archaeological team is here in the summer months only. Certainly a benefit getting off the beaten track to have a site like this to ourselves!
Sagalassos was renowned for its courageous and warlike inhabitants, who put up a vigorous defense against Alexander The Great who conquered this wealthy city in 333 BC. Then followed a period of prosperity and was the second most important city of Pisidia. In 25 BC Sagalossos became part of the Roman Empire and in the 1st century AD became the foremost city of the region. Until the 3rd century it enjoyed a golden age and many magnificent buildings were constructed here.
Unlike some other ruins in Turkey, Sagalassos' ruins were never pillaged so areas like the 9,000 seat Roman theatre is basically intact with the exception of earthquake damage from most notably during the 7th century. One thing you figure out traveling a lot is that each site attempts to make itself known for something 'unique and special' from all the rest. Well, this theatre is known as the world's highest altitude theatre. For Trevor, he'll remember it as the theatre where he posed under the arch that was precariously resting. He could hardly wait long enough for me to take his photo under it!
Other highlights were the Roman library, one of the largest in the Roman Empire, with a lovely mosaic floor and the Roman baths from AD 180. A huge fountain complex (noted as #6 in the drawing above), once part of the central part of the city, has also been restored. Some of the original statues surrounding the fountain were moved to various museums over the past 100-200 years so replicas have been put in place.
Sagallassos was abandoned when the people moved to the valley village after a massive earthquake in the 7th century. It had previously been dwindling due to plagues, earthquakes, water shortages and Arab raids.
The Marvels of Cappadocia (Kapadokya in Turkish)
October 21 & 22
Inland Turkey, about the centre of the country, lies a world you'll unlikely ever experience again. A combination of soft volcanic tuff has eroded over millennia and been shaped by water and erosion. The result is formations like you've never seen before - huge stone mushrooms, fairy chimneys (you'll understand this term as you look at some of the photos), soft ridges and deep valleys. Within these valleys are numerous cave dwellings, churches and even underground cities!
Originally the heart of the Hittite empire, it was settled around 1800 BC and then followed by the Persians, Romans and Byzantine periods. It was during the 4th century that Christians made their way to Cappadocia as a place of refuge and the area flourished with Christians until the 11th century.
Some of our first glimpses of what the following two days were going to reveal to us were visible as we approached the town of Goreme (our guide Tash noted that this means "
make sure you see" ). What looks like a sandy landscape is actually "waves" of soft volcanic ash that has been eroded into soft ridges and deep valleys that reflect the changing light so beautifully.
Goreme National Park covers a large area and within it is the town of Goreme. Our first stop is the Goreme Open-Air Museum which is a World Heritage Site. Filled with churches, chapels and monasteries all within caves you wander about discovering refectories with long dining table and benches cut out from the rock. The photo below shows some of us in a cave sitting on the long bench with the rock table in the background. Next to the table was a trough in the floor which is believed to have been used to stamp on grapes in the preparation of making wine.
The view changed from valley to valley and throughout you'd see caves, either one set by itself (as shown in each of the two "cone" shaped formations above the road in the photo below) or among a whole village of caves as shown further down.
The photo above and to the right were taken in
Love Valley. Some of the other valley names were "Red Valley" due to the colour of the rock and "Imagination Valley" where the formations were all so different you could use your imagination to find frogs, mushrooms, bears etc. The photos in the bottom right of the picture below area from Zelve Valley which was occupied by 12,000 people until the 1950's when the Turkish government decided to relocate the people to nearby new homes as the cave dwellings were becoming too dangerous due to erosion.
In this photo below, you can see a grid-like pattern of indentations that were used to hold items ... kinda like a shelving unit! To the right are more caves.
Even for lunch we visited a "cave restaurant" where we entertained by this gentleman playing this instrument and signing traditional songs.
Visit to Carpet Gallery with Fantastic Demonstrations
A visit to a carpet gallery was a real surprise for us. It exceeded our expectations as we thought it would be a typical tourist trap. But far from it. It was very professionally presented with a very good demonstration of the silk thread production beginning with the silk worm's cocoon. Trevor is shown pulling a very fine individual thread away from the cocoon and the inset shows multiple individual threads being drawn from numerous cocoons.
Women, sitting at looms, follow a paper guide placed across the top of the loom. The guide shows the pattern to be followed and is set on a grid comprised of thousands and thousands of small squares. Each square is colour coded and represents one silk thread to be knotted onto a vertical thread. The bottom of the photo shows each thread and indicates the intricacy, patience and skill required for this art.
A large area carpet can have 7 million knots and it takes 1 year for an accomplished woman to tie 1 million knots!
As several horizontal rows are completed, scissors are used to trim the threads to the correct carpet height. You can see the untrimmed threads in the photos.
Throughout the country side, women sit at these looms for 5 hours per day. Unfortunately, the young women of today want to have a different life with more opportunity and better pay, so the art is dying. The Turkish government, in attempts to keep the skill alive and continue to have buyers for these time-intensive (and hence expensive) carpets, offers to pay all tax, duty and shipping for tourists interested in purchasing carpets as these designated shops.
Pottery Gallery
Another stop along our way was a pottery gallery where we had a demonstration of pottery making on a mechanical wheel and then I had the chance to test out my skills.
Young women demonstrated how they spend all day hand drawing these patterns with an ink pen and then later colour them as shown on the finished decanter that the gentlemen is demonstrating below. In ancient times, these wine decanters were slipped onto the shoulder and then the wine decanted, but only used on special occasions and within homes of the elite.
We were so impressed by the amount of artwork on just one piece of pottery that decided we couldn't leave without purchasing a plate with a similar pattern as a keepsake.