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I believe that most of you know that I went
to the states for a week to visit the boys.
I had been missing them, especially since I
knew that I would not be spending the
holidays with them. It worked out that Jack
needed to take care of the bike and I was
able to fly home. It was so good to see the
boys and spend some time with them, even
though it never seems long enough…no matter
how long. Jack and I met up in Istanbul on
the European side to regroup and start the
second leg of our trip…this time on a
reliable bike. We decided to take a couple
of days to relax, coordinate our packing,
map out our itinerary and enjoy some quiet
time together. Of course, we certainly
enjoyed the local people and the food…always
the food and especially the bread.
On December 10, we headed south toward what
we thought would be warmer temperatures,
finding a bit more sun, but not a warmer
climate. We did find the expansiveness of
the countryside with its greenery, the
aromatic smells of the air and the deep,
rich colors of the soils and less congestion
a very pleasant change from the hubbub of
the city. We realized as we continued our
ride that many of the seaside communities
were deserted with local establishments and
high rise apartments sealed up for the
winter, except for the local year-round
residents. We did find one of the seaside
cities, Cannakkale, to be small and quaint,
finding the weather pleasant and worth a
stop. We stayed at the Helen Hotel, which
was apropos to our next exploration. This
city is also across from the famous site of
the battle of Gallipoli, which in 1915 the
allied armies of Britain, France, Australia
and New Zealand drove out the Ottoman forces
and. occupied this region until 1922.
During this time, Mustafa Kemal, later to be
known as Ataturk, drove out the allied
forces and in 1923 abolished the Ottoman
Empire and founded the Turkey Republic,
becoming its first president. Ataturk is
like the George Washington of the United
States.
Now traveling into tourist areas during the
off season can have some advantages: less
crowds, more reasonable prices and
reservations are not necessary. Then on the
other hand, it can have some disadvantages:
you do not have the interaction with as many
people; restaurants do not maintain a full
menu and many restaurants are closed. Quite
honestly, our experience has been quite
positive on all counts: interaction with
good, local people, no crowds at local sites
of interest, reasonable room rates and
certainly enough good food to satisfy us.
The weather is not the balmy sort that we
would have enjoyed, but it is certainly more
pleasant then in Istanbul and lands to the
North.
Jack did a great job on choosing our
itinerary, starting off with our first stop
at the sight of ancient Troia, Troy. Now
how cool is that to be able to visit the
ruins of the city whose Queen’s face
launched a thousand ships. Of course, we
have all heard of this tale of Helen of Troy
and Perris, and you have probably seen the
movie, “Troy” with Brad Pitt. There is no
proof to this legend, but “the tradition is
believed to reflect a real war between the
Greeks of the late Mycenaean period and the
inhabitants of the Troad, or Troas, in
Anatolia, part of present-day Turkey. Modern
archaeological excavations have shown that
Troy was destroyed by fire sometime between
1230 BC and 1180 BC and that the war may
have resulted from the desire either to
plunder the wealthy city or to put an end to
Troy's commercial control of the
Dardanelles”.
This is certainly not as romantic, but
sounds more believable. Well, visiting the
site for me was more exciting than the
actual tale. Troy has long been “regarded
as a purely legendary city, but in 1870 the
German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann
began excavations that unearthed the actual
stone walls and battlements of an ancient
city on the mound called Hissarlik (“Place
of Fortresses”), about 6.5 km (about 4 mi)
from the Aegean Sea and equidistant from the
Dardanelles”.
Schliemann's excavations were continued
after his death by his assistant, Wilhelm
Dörpfeld, and later under the direction of
the American archaeologist Carl Blegen. On
the original mound that Schliemann excavated
there were other Troy settlements: Troy I,
an early settlement with a wall built of
small stones and clay, its date being
perhaps about 3000 BC; Troy II, a
prehistoric fortress, with strong ramparts,
a palace, and houses, dating from the 3rd
millennium BC; Troy III, IV, and V,
prehistoric villages successively built on
the debris of Troy II during the period from
2300 to 2000 BC; Troy VI, a fortress,
including a larger area than any of the
preceding settlements, with huge walls,
towers, gates, and houses dating from 1900
to 1300 BC or later; Troy VIIA, a
reconstruction of Troy VI, built in the
later part of this period after the city had
been destroyed by an earthquake; Troy VIIB
and VIII, Greek villages, of simple stone
houses, dating from about 1100 BC to the 1st
century BC, and Troy IX, the acropolis of
the Greco-Roman city of Ilion, or New Ilion,
with a temple of Athena, public buildings,
and a large theater, and existing from the
1st century BC to about ad 500”.
Imagine that I was climbing and touching
rocks, walls, columns and carvings that had
been around for centuries. What a
magnificent way to spend an afternoon.
Our next exploration was in the city of
Bergama. High in the hills is the ancient
ruins of the city of Pergamum or Pergamon
that was the capital of the province of
Asia. What a magnificent site to behold as
you entered the harbor and looked up at this
gleaming city. The population was 150,000
and remained a prominent Macedonian city
until it was bequeathed to the Roman Empire
on the death of the last emperor, having no
heirs of succession. We were quite lucky to
find a local hotel that was very biker
friendly, having the proprietor’s son on the
Honda Racing Team. The first night Jack was
able to park the bike on the main deck of
the hotel, displacing many of the tables and
chairs. The next morning we found that his
rear tire was flat, oh, shucks. Luckily
there was a tire repair right down the
street and the problem was resolved in an
hour…what a pleasant change.
We overnighted in the town of Selçuk at a
great place called, Dreams Guest House. The
proprietor was friendly and spoke some
English. It certainly was biker friendly,
making it easy to park your bike in the
courtyard…if you didn’t have a sidecar. We
were able to ride up on the sidewalk and
park right in front of the guest house,
feeling more comfortable there than parked
on the street. The next morning we had a
leisurely breakfast, which was included, and
packed up to visit Ephesus, “one of the 12
cities of Ionia (an ancient Greek district
on the western coast of Asia Minor), located
near modern İzmir, Turkey. As a port city at
the mouth of the Cayster (modern
Küçükmenderes) River, it was a major
departure point for trade routes into Asia
Minor. Known in antiquity for its sacred
shrines, notably a famous temple (one of the
Seven Wonders of the World) to the goddess
Artemis, or Diana, the city was also an
important center of early Christianity”.
We drove to the entrance to park, being
driven to a carpet factory, which is one of
the three side tours made available to the
tourists, that was run by the Turkish Board
of Education…a great way to keep the ancient
art of carpet producing remain as an
important industry of their country. These
young women were quite adept at the process,
seeming to enjoy the work and art that they
were producing. Once we were given the
tour, we were then driven to the entrance of
the city and allowed to wander through this
ancient city on our own. It took us a
couple of hours to meander through from the
entrance to the exit point, finding later
that we had missed at least two-thirds of
the city area. The city was populated with
200,000 people and the area spread out over
many acres. There were possibly hundreds of
magnificent artifacts that were displayed
all along the pedestrian walkway into the
main heart of the city: columns carved from
one block of marble (one was in pink
marble); statues carved with intricate
details; bath house; Celsius’s Library; an
active excavation which houses examples of
the terrace houses of the times; mosaic
hallways and painted walls for decorations.
We saw the largest amphitheater that we have
seen so far…just mammoth to house the number
of residents and obviously visitors to the
city. I was quite taken with not only the
expanse of the city, but the labor that went
into the structures of the city. I would
love to have seen this city in its hay day.
The next morning we departed for our next
stop, taking us about 3-4 hours to reach
Pamukkale. Here it is December 20th
and we are in Pamukkale, Turkey. We had
seen pictures of the “Cotton” mountains at
Pamukkale that seem to melt and seep over
the ridges to form hot pools of mineral
waters. The sun was shining and it was just
an inviting scene to come relax and bathe
your cares away. We were heading south to
Bodrum, so why not make an out of the way
stop…who doesn’t want to wash away the aches
and pains of a days ride. Another
attraction, located above the spa, is the
ruins of Heirpolis, an ancient cure center
founded in 190 BC and abandoned after an
earthquake in ad 1334. I love to explore
ancient antiquities, so this stop would be
double the pleasure.
We were given a recommendation of a small
hotel in the city, which is located not far
from the mountains and the ancient ruins.
The Kale Hotel is run by a couple, being
quite friendly and inviting. The hotel is
clean, food is good and rates are
reasonable. Since the woman proprietor is
Japanese, we saw many Japanese tourists come
to stay here. There were two added treats:
1) a one month old lamb that was being
nursed and tended by the proprietor, having
a chance to feed and hold the baby, and 2)
we got to watch a master pipe maker of
Meerschaum pipes perform his art on a raw
block of meerschaum…what an incredible gift
he has. Jack got the pleasure of trying his
hand at carving. I think that he did well
for his first attempt. The real gift is to
take a raw piece of meerschaum and know what
model to fit the right shape of the
meerschaum block, and Jack certainly has an
eye for this.
Once we looked around the area, we realized
that we had come at the wrong time of the
year. The “Cotton” mountain was not oozing
with warm, mineral water and the day was too
old to explore the ruins…so no warm baths or
ancient artifacts; but with the other two
experiences our time spent was quite
enjoyable. We will leave on 22 December to
make our way southward to Antalya or
Anatolia, which we have been told is much
warmer and we may be able to find hot
baths. We are for that.
By the looks of the map, we may be spending
Christmas in Bodrum, which is another warm
climate area. From there we will catch a
ferry to Kos, an island off the coast of
Bodrum, continuing onto Athens. We will
spend New Years Eve in Greece. So far the
trip really has been problem free, and this
is how we had planned to trip to be…fun, fun
and more fun.
Have a great Christmas and a happy and
healthy 2007!!!!!!!
Bye for now,
Janet
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