It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Needs An Eyepatch - A Dec TR Complete 8/31

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Those mosaics were incredible !!

I always amazes me how these mosaics have survived through the ages!

It sounds like quite the adventure exploring.

Some days were more adventurous than others!

I'm learning so much reading this report! Beautiful views all around and it sounds like excellent service from the proprietors you encountered, especially Ece!

I was very happy with the hotels that we stayed at and Ece was by far the best hostess!

We found the Osborne Lights to be overwhelming crowded as well. Just a wall of people wherever you went. I loved the lights but I think the overall experience would have been more enjoyable with a little more personal space!

That is exactly how I felt!

What and outstanding trip you got to experience. I'm glad you able to have the keys couriered back to Ece- she seemed like such a nice, nice lady. HAHA, I'd visit just to meet her!

I was so relieved that the key situation was able to get handled easily, quickly and cheaply!

Ece was fantastic. She definitely is the difference that put her hotel at the top of our favourites list.

I"m afraid the repeated terrorist attacks may indeed cut into the tourism there. Makes me incredibly sad. They've done such a fantastic job at building it up and to see it be hurt by selfish, misguided people makes me so angry.

Yes, sadly terrorism, the war in Syria and the refugee situation had already had a very major impact on tourism (down by 60% when we visited) and I imagine it will drop even more now. So sad.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Turkey Vacation - April 20 2016

Today was going to be a long day so we woke up extra early and went up to the rooftop terrace for the breakfast that had been arranged to be ready 30 minutes early for us.

The server took our drink request (coffee for Dad, apple tea for me and water for Alek) and brought out our breakfast. Along with the cheese, fruit and bread that we were given we were also offered eggs prepared however we wished.

It was all delicious!



We had a nice view of the stork's nest across the street. There were so many storks in Selcuk, their nests were seen often on the top of poles and even on the top of the the ruins of aqueducts and temples!



After filling our bellies and watching the storks we went back to our room, brushed our teeth and then hit the road!

We were driving several hours inland that day to visit two different sites, Aphrodisias and Pamukkale.

According to the GPS it would be just under a three hour drive to Aphrodisias and should be a basically straight shot down the highway.

Well... there was highway construction in the town of Aydin which we had to drive through. This only delayed us about 20 minutes and we simply followed the traffic. The GPS wasn't too much help as it kept trying to get us back on the highway that was closed...

Once clear of Aydin it was an uneventful drive and we arrived on time in Aphrodisias. As you can probably tell from the name the goddess Aphrodite was the major deity worshipped in this ancient Greek and Roman city. The city was well-known during Roman times for its sculpture and an on-site museum housed a good collection of it.

Parking for the site is across the road from the ruins and a tram of sorts pulled by a tractor takes you over to the ruins. You could walk over and that would probably take about 20 minutes.

The first thing we did when we arrived was visit the museum. This was a good choice as much of the decorative statuary/friezes from the ruins that we would later see were housed in the museum. Seeing them first would allow us to better imagine what they would have looked like intact.

There was a school group in the museum when we were there, looked like they were about 8 years old, and three little girls approached us and shyly said "hello" to us in English. My Dad responded back to them in Turkish and they blushed and then ran away. I suspect that they wanted to try out their English and then got flustered.

This is what is left of the statue of Aphrodite from the Temple.



Here is another example of the statues in the museum. The faces were so expressive and unique that they had to have been based on a real person.



The main feature of the museum is the collection from the Sebasteion which was a building dedicated to the worship of Aphrodite, the Roman Emperor and the people of the empire. The sculptures/frieze featured here would have wound around the whole building. They depicted scenes from important mythological stories, the gods, and the Roman Imperial Family.

This depicts the Emperor Nero and his mother Agrippina. Interesting tidbit, Nero later had his mother Agripinna murdered! That crazy Nero! His mother Agripinna was no treat either. Who needs fiction like Game of Thrones when you could read Roman history?



This scene shows Aeneas escaping Troy with his father whom he is carrying and his young son. Floating behind them is Aphrodite who was Aeneas' mother. Julius Caesar and his family (The Julio-Claudian Emperors) claimed to be descended from Aeneas and therefore Aphrodite.



I took pictures of almost every scene depicted but won't post them all as that would be complete information overload. Here is a picture of the gallery though to get an idea of how many there were and how large the original building that housed them would have been.



After the museum we made our way back outside and started to explore the ruins of the city.

The most well-known part of the ruins is this monumental gateway that marked one of the major roads in the city and led to the Temple of Aphrodite







Next we came upon the stadium which is in much better shape than the Circus Maximus in Rome. This is where chariot races would have occurred.






Ruins of the Temple of Aphrodite



Home of a wealthy citizen



Part of the ruins of the Sebasteion





Entrance to the theatre







Ruins of the Sebasteion from another angle



We had seen the whole site at that point and stopped into the gift shop. Dad was pondering getting a cd for Maria (our stepmother) so while he did that I wandered back over to the monumental gateway to get another look at it and take some more pictures.







Dad and Alek came to find me after the purchase was made and we made our way back to the "tram" and then to the car.

It was noe time to drive about an hour to our next stop, Pamukkale!

Continued in next post...

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

It was mid-afternoon by the time we reached Pamukkale which was unfortunate as it led to us being a bit rushed. I would have liked to have spent a bit more time here. Pamukkale is most famous for the calcium travertine cliffs and hot springs, and was the site of Hierapolis, an ancient spa city dating back to Roman times.

We started our exploration of the site by exploring the ruins of Hieropolis.



The most impressive of the ruins was the theatre which has been restored.





Before visiting the site we had read that there was a Plutonium here which is a site dedicated to the god Pluto (Hades) who was god of the Underworld. It was believed that this was one of the entrances into the Underworld. We were bound and determined to find it but the signage was not very good. While searching for it we came across many other ruins.

We trudged through the heat up the hill to some ruins we saw in the distance which turned out to be the Tomb of St. Philip (one of the twelve Apostles) and an ancient church, so not the entrance to the Underworld!



Looking down towards the "cotton castle" aka calcium travertines. We would get there soon!



Giving up on the Plutonium for the time being we made our way back down to the main site and started to make our way towards the far end of Hierapolis which is where the necropolis (city of the dead) was located. Along the way we walked past some of the calcium travertines. This section of travertines is protected and you are not allowed to enter. There is a section on which you are allowed to walk and I was very eager to do so but we were going to finish exploring the ruins first.











You are probably wondering what causes these formations. Far below the ground water is heated by volcanic lava. Calcium becomes dissolved in this water turning it white and then it travels to the surface. Once in the open air this turns into the calcium travertines that we see today. The ancient spa city of Hierapolis was built here precisely because of this mineral water. The reason most of the cliffs are dried out is because much of the water was diverted for commercial purposes. There are tighter regulations around the area now regarding development and walking on the cliffs is limited to certain areas so hopefully one day the damage will be repaired!

We still had more ruins to see though before I could get my feet wet!

Since many people visited Hieropolis for the healing spa waters it also followed that many of those people would not have been cured of their ills and there is a large necropolis outside of the ancient city walls as a result.







The dead were placed in these small stone houses hence the name "necropolis" aka "city of the dead".



Some of these tombs have even ended up being part of the calcium travertines as the centuries passed.



We had our fill of the archeological site and we were trying to move things along now as we wanted to be on the road again by 6 to avoid driving in the dark. So back through the site we went to the part of the travertines where you are allowed to walk.







Dad and Alek decided not to go into the water so they grabbed a spot on a bench and watched my shoes while I walked around on the travertines. The dry part of the travertines was rough on the feet but once in the pools of water it was heavenly! The water was so warm and soothing and the bottom of the travertine was soft but not slippery. I would have liked to walk up/down the cliffs but time did not allow that so I only allowed myself a few minutes in some of the top pools before rejoining Dad and Alek.













Looking back we should have spent the night here so we could have taken our time and not been rushed at the end of the day as I would have loved to have spent more time enjoying the mineral water.

Feet dried off and shoes back on we went and checked out the Antique Pool. These are the old Roman Baths fed by the hot springs which you are allowed to swim in for a fee. Alek and I had packed our bathing suits for this day in hopes of taking a dip but sadly we had no time. Would have been fun to swim amongst the ancient columns!



Built up around the "antique pool" is now a restaurant and bar and there are lounge chairs scattered about. Use of this facility requires paying an extra fee. If you had the whole day to spend in Pamukkale would be worth it!

Luckily on our way out of the site we finally found the Plutonium that we had spent so much time looking for earlier!

Here is Alek looking into the Underworld



It was believed this was an entrance to the Underworld due to its placement over a cave that emits toxic gases... Maybe Alek shouldn't have been sticking his head in that hole!!!

Back in the car and out of the heat we started our journey back to Selcuk. We were hoping to get past the highway construction in Aydin before it got dark out... Well that did not happen. This is the part of the trip that got dicey. The detour signs were not clear and due to the late hour there was not much traffic to follow so we had no idea where we were going. We had the GPS with us but it kept trying to get us onto the highway which we couldn't do as it was closed... We ended up driving through some sketchy areas of the town where we were absolutely positive nobody would be able to speak English and we were getting very nervous. Eventually the GPS did get us back on the highway but it was a nerve-wracking 30 minutes as we drove through windy roads in the dark just praying that the GPS would eventually get us back to where we needed to be.

It was with a huge sigh of relief that we found the highway again still having no clue where we went wrong in the detour. Not a fun experience! We were all very tense and nervous during those 30 minutes. We were very lucky we had paid to rent the GPS or we would have been screwed!

After our long day we were so happy to be back at the hotel. Dad was especially happy as he would not have to drive anywhere for the next two days.

Our bellies were grumbling as we hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now past 9pm. We wandered down the street into the village centre and found a restaurant where we enjoyed some good food and watched soccer/football.

Back in our room we found some more towel animals!



We all fell asleep pretty easily that night and we were looking forward to visiting Ephesus in the morning!

 

[englishrose47]

I would have loved to walk in those waters too !! Not sure I want to look into the underworld though!!I am enjoying this Turkey vacation thru your words and pix !!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[figment52]

I apologize if I am bringing up something you covered earlier but how did you become so interested in Turkey and where/how did you acquire all your knowledge about the ruins? TIA

I am fascinated by your report and now am wishing I traveled there years ago before all this other stuff happened.

 

[hokieinpa]

Another fascinating update! Those calcium travertines are unlike anything I've ever seen! It does sound like a stressful time as getting lost is never fun. But getting lost in a foreign country in the dark is high stress! Glad you made it back for food and rest!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I would have loved to walk in those waters too !! Not sure I want to look into the underworld though!!I am enjoying this Turkey vacation thru your words and pix !!

Glad you are enjoying the pictures and report!

I hope your good experience and sharing it will help people understand that our differences as humans are not actually that different.

I hope so as well. It surprises me how supposedly open-minded people are so close-minded about areas of the world (and people from around the world) they really know nothing about. I was commenting to my co-workers how little attention was given to the Istanbul airport bombing vs the Brussels airport bombing and they said it came down to one simple thing really: Istanbul is in an Islamic country and so therefore is seen by many as not as important as a Western (Christian) country. I think that is really sad. A terrorist attack is a terrorist attack no matter where in the world it happens and innocent people were killed and injured. It shouldn't matter where they are from or what their religion is when it comes to determining the level of tragedy. Anyways, off my soapbox now.

I apologize if I am bringing up something you covered earlier but how did you become so interested in Turkey and where/how did you acquire all your knowledge about the ruins? TIA

No apologies needed! Growing up I always loved ancient history, especially ancient Greek and Roman history, and my first university degree is in Classical History. My dad is also a big history buff and loves ancient history as well. It was that love of ancient history that drew us to Turkey as there is so much history there. We also were intrigued by the idea of exploring another culture and visiting a country that is very different from our own. How better to broaden the mind than to experience other cultures?

As for my knowledge of the ruins, some of it came from my university education and some of it came from the extensive research and reading we did about the places that we were going to visit before the trip.

I am fascinated by your report and now am wishing I traveled there years ago before all this other stuff happened.

Hopefully things will settle and you will get to visit in the future! It is a wonderful country with friendly and welcoming people, a long and varied history, and beautiful sights!

Those calcium travertines are unlike anything I've ever seen!

They were pretty cool! I was definitely glad that we made the drive out there to see them.

But getting lost in a foreign country in the dark is high stress!

It certainly is!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Just booked my September vacation! Been checking airfare for weeks and finally found "reasonable" flights for within Canada ($600). Looking forward to my annual trek out to British Columbia to see my dad, my sweet puppies and my baby brother Erich! Erich moved out there in January and this is the longest we have ever been apart. Should be a good week and a half with lots of hiking, good food and wine!

 

[tazdev3225]

Another great update of the ruins. I did study some ancient history and find your pics and report fascinating.
I did take a lesson from you and am researching every stop on our trip. While not as adventurous as Turkey it is still the first time I am going overseas. I really want to understand each stop along the way as Scotland has a wonderful history also. I actually majored in Medieval Literature and History many years ago and Scotland figures prominently.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I did take a lesson from you and am researching every stop on our trip.

That's great! Best way to get the most out of your trip!

While not as adventurous as Turkey it is still the first time I am going overseas.

Scotland sounds pretty adventurous to me with the wild highlands and the wonderful history.

I actually majored in Medieval Literature and History many years ago and Scotland figures prominently.

Pretty cool!

 

[Elandon]

I just discovered your trip report and got all caught up! Thanks for writing it. I'm enjoying it.

 

[Steppesister]

Impressive as usual Lessa. The travertines were especially very, very cool! How utterly beautiful. I really didn't realize just how many ruins Turkey has. And they are incredibly well preserved.

YAY for booking your trip to BC. I love to visit there, but haven't for quite some time. We usually go through there when we visit Calgary and other towns in Alb.

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[jelloarms]

Hi! I used to be a lot more active in the boards a few years ago but have not been around the last two years (not to say I haven't been to Disney since...just have not been on the boards!) I remember your reports from several years ago as they were so entertaining! I love how you don't sugar coat your whole report with only good times...those are no fun and boring to read. You include good AND bad (and the hilarious!) I randomly decided to read TRs the other day and was happy to see that you had a new one! I'm all caught up with both your Disney report AND your Turkey report! I decided to log in just to let you know you have another reader. Looking forward to more!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I just discovered your trip report and got all caught up! Thanks for writing it. I'm enjoying it.

Welcome! I'm glad you are enjoying it and thanks for posting!

I really didn't realize just how many ruins Turkey has. And they are incredibly well preserved.

Oh yes, so many ruins and very beautiful and full of history.

And this is why I enjoyed nabbing the flight from Edmonton to Paris for $500 return including taxes!

That is an awesome price!

Hi! I used to be a lot more active in the boards a few years ago but have not been around the last two years (not to say I haven't been to Disney since...just have not been on the boards!) I remember your reports from several years ago as they were so entertaining! I love how you don't sugar coat your whole report with only good times...those are no fun and boring to read. You include good AND bad (and the hilarious!) I randomly decided to read TRs the other day and was happy to see that you had a new one! I'm all caught up with both your Disney report AND your Turkey report! I decided to log in just to let you know you have another reader. Looking forward to more!

Hello! I remember you from years ago, Glad to see you still around the boards.

 

[GoofyFan1515]

I had this update typed up earlier today before seeing the news... Unfortunately, today there was a suicide bombing at the airport in Istanbul. I find it revolting that we live in a world where this type of violence exists. I feel deeply for all of those impacted whether they are the direct victims or the people of Turkey who will now suffer from even further economic losses as a result of yet again another terror attack. That being said I will continue to remember the beautiful country that I visited and all the lovely people that I met and I hope that people will keep them in their thoughts.

So much craziness going on right now............

When we entered the site there was a model that showed what the city would have looked like once upon a time.

Love stuff like this...........so cool!

We decided to test out the acoustics so Dad and I took a seat at the top and Alek made his way down to the bottom. We were able to hear him clear as a bell.

That black speck is Alek

Now THAT'S impressive!!!

On the north side of the acropolis we had a great view of the countryside

Gorgeous view!

Still impressive........even from a distance!

When we got to the hotel the owner was waiting for us and helped us bring our luggage in. He then said that he had received a call from Ece at the Assos Alarga, she wanted to know where we had left the keys to our room... My heart dropped, I hadn't turned the keys in! They were still sitting in my purse!! I felt like such an idiot and I felt so badly for inconveniencing Ece. Luckily our new hotel arranged to have the keys sent up to her and she received them the next day. This service cost me a mere $3. I did contact Ece and apologize profusely for my mistake and she was so nice about it! In fact, Ece kept in touch with us throughout our trip. She expressed interest in the places we had been and gave advise on restaurants etc. She also offered to help with any translations etc that we might need during our visit. This was outstanding service as we were not even guests at her hotel anymore and we had been such a nuisance!

Now that is top notch service!

Looking down towards the "cotton castle" aka calcium travertines. We would get there soon!

So very interesting. I bet this is a really amazing sight in person!

Feet dried off and shoes back on we went and checked out the Antique Pool.

Named after Rosie I bet..............

It was believed this was an entrance to the Underworld due to its placement over a cave that emits toxic gases... Maybe Alek shouldn't have been sticking his head in that hole!!!

It's okay.........he already emits toxic gases!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Named after Rosie I bet..............

Poor Rosie

It's okay.........he already emits toxic gases!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Our departure day had arrived and we woke up to our last morning at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We enjoyed our breakfast while watching the animals one last time. There were lots of them out there that morning. Perfect view for the last day. We leisurely finished packing up our bags and then decided to head on out. Everybody left the room while I did the final sweep to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind. I then grabbed mine and mom's suitcase and tried to leave the room... The suitcase didn't want to move and felt incredibly heavy. It was dragging on the floor rather than rolling. I took a look at it and the wheels on the suitcase had broken! The plastic that held them was all cracked and the wheels had collapsed into the suitcase. No idea how that happened sitting in a closet for a week??? It was at this point I was hating that our room was at the furthest point from the lobby. My family eventually noticed that I hadn't joined them and saw I was way behind them in the hall and having difficulty with the suitcase. Alek came and took the suitcase from me and carried it down to the lobby. It would have taken me forever to do that as the suitcase was heavy!

Down in the lobby I told them I would go get the car and pull it up to the front doors to avoid having to lug that suitcase to the very back of the parking lot.

Car all loaded up we were off!




Not off to the airport though, we still had most of the day ahead of us!





I drove over to the Beach Club where we checked in at Security and told them we had an ADR. They noted we were pretty early and I told them we were going to explore the resorts and check out all the decorations.

I parked down by the villas out of the way since we would be there for awhile.


We have visited the Beach Club many times on past trips when eating at Beaches and Cream but we had never explored the villas so today was the day. I really liked them, they were charming!










We then made our way over to the lobby of the Beach Club where we checked out the gingerbread/chocolate carousel.










Very cool!

We went over to the Yacht Club next, a first for us!

I thought it was a pretty hotel but more refined looking than its sister hotel The Beach Club.

There was a cute holiday village and train set-up in the lobby as well as a small tree.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Turkey Vacation - April 21 2016

Another beautiful day in Turkey arrived and we did not have far to travel this day. One of the main reasons that I chose Selcuk as our base was that it was home to the ancient city of Ephesus. Ephesus is a very well-known place and is visited by major cruise lines, group tours and the independent travellers such as ourselves. One of the top places to visit in Turkey. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on the terrace of our hotel before starting our day.

I had arranged for a private guide through the hotel to take us around the ruins and this turned out to be a great investment! I'm sure that we would have enjoyed the ruins on our own but having a local guide really added that something extra! Our guide met us at the hotel and then the hotel owner drove us approximately 5 minutes to the upper entrance to Ephesus.

This day we finally saw a fair amount of tourists but still nowhere near the level that this place would usually experience. Our guide steered us away from the big groups that had come from the cruise ships and took us aside to see some of the small details such as these clay pipes which still remain intact today!



A little history of the city: Dates back as far as 10,000 BC. It was a Greek city for much of its life and was famous for being home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Temple of Artemis. Under the Romans, Augustus made Ephesus the capital of Asia Minor. It is believed that the Apostle John brought the Virgin Mary to Ephesus where she lived out her final days. The city passed from Roman hands to the Byzantines and then to the Ottomans. The city suffered from multiple earthquakes and was eventually abandoned although the people of the city did not move far as evidenced by the modern city of Selcuk.


Once the tour groups moved on into the site our guide took us into the small theatre and talked a bit about the history and then showed us examples of the different column styles.







Our guide pointed out to us a game board that had been etched into the marble sidewalk adjacent to the small theatre that would have been used for governmental purposes. I took a picture of it but the markings were too faint to really make out in the picture.

Looking down towards the famous Library of Celsus. Despite there being tour groups there that day the site was still markedly empty.



There were many cats lounging around the ruins so of course I was captivated! Our guide even emptied some of his water bottle into a dish that is left our for them. That made me like him even more!





We came to a crossroads and the guide showed us a way marker that showed which way to go to get to certain attractions in the city.

This side of the marker showed the way to the physician



This showed the way to the gymnasium



This relief of Nike is believed to be part of the Heracles Gate pictured below



Another cute Ephesus cat...



Heracles (Hercules) Gate



Heracles is shown wearing the skin of the Nemean Lion. This lion was said to be impossible to kill due to its thick skin. Killing the lion was one of Heracles' 12 labours. If you want to read about his twelve labours here is a link:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/labors.html

Starting to look a little busier!



When I was going through my pictures I noticed something in the above picture. There is a woman in a pink shirt walking with a man wearing shorts and a backpack. I instantly recognized them as "the weird German couple" that we would meet the following day on a group tour. Funny how I could recognize them in a picture from just their backsides!

What remains of the once magnificent Fountain of Trajan





It always amazes me when visiting these ancient sites when I see mosaics such as this left exposed. I wonder how they decide what to preserve in museums and what to leave out in the open?





Another view of the Library of Celsus



Temple of Hadrian, so beautiful!









Near the Temple of Hadrain was the most thrilling site of all, the public latrines!



No privacy in ancient Ephesus!

Continued in next post...