Tramping Across Turkey

For thousands of years, Turkey has been torn between powers of the East and powers of the west. During the Ottoman period, Turkey herself became a major power. Because of this, Turkey has a rich historical heritage and a wealth of historical sites. Kelsi also wanted to mention that Turkey also has a wealth of frogs (they are absolutely everywhere in some places - it's hard not to step on them walking down the sidewalk), storks, and GIANT wild dogs. This aside, after leaving Alberto's boat, we began our journey in Turkey at the Spectacular Roman ruins in Ephesus, where the Apostle Paul taught the Ephesians.


During Roman times, public toilets were an important social setting. The men would sit around on the toilets and discuss local business while they took care of personal business. As you can see in the picture above (taken at Ephesus), these old Roman toilets are pretty tightly packed together to afford plenty of opportunity for personal contact. They even had a center fountain (located just in front of Rusty) to help drown out any awkward toilet noises. It isn't a far stretch to imagine that when Paul was teaching the Ephesians, the public toilets played a key role in his success by providing him with a "captive" audience.


Aside from public toilets, public baths also played an important socialization role in Roman society. Following Ephesus, we went to the ancient Roman bath ruins at Pamukkale. The baths are still in use, although the ancient Roman structure has fallen into the pool (picture above).

Pictured below is the amazing white travertine terraces flowing for hundreds of yards down the hill from the baths, which are located on top of the hill. They projected mulit-colored lights onto the terraces at night, which created a lovely scene. Rusty was relieved to learn that the travertine is the result of natural mineral leeching in the bath water, and is not a horrible case of ancient Roman bath scum.


After the Roman ruins, we headed in Turkey's heart, Anatolia. In the heart of the heart lies a magical place called Cappadocia. Since the times of the Hittites, this has been constantly inhabited, and has been an important stop on major trade routes. Because of its strategic importance, it was constantly under attack, so the inhabitants decided to build their homes inside of the mountains.


When outsiders first saw house lights glowing from the chimney rock formations of Capadocia, they thought that ferries were living in the rocks. Because of this, the rocks were called "ferry chimneys." The Chimneys are a geological phenomenon of erosian. They are formed from softer rock underneath, capped with harder lava rock on top.


Inside the rocks the carvings are often astonishing. Early Christians carved churches, wineries, graneries, and even stables into the rocks. To this day, the churches still have beautiful frescos inside of them.


To explore the area, we decided to rent mountain bikes. Rusty thought he looked really great with his hat sticking out from his helmet... you decide!

We even slept in a cave motel called "The Flintstones." Aside from being a bit cold and dusty, it wasn't too bad. We're glad that we aren't living permanently in a cave, though.

We are suckers for open markets and thought that this colorful collage of vegetables was particularly inspiring. Kelsi loves fresh cherry season, and Turkey was well supplied to please her!

On our way across central Turkey we stopped off at a bus station and noticed some of the local toys. Turkey boasts one of the largest armies in the world and service is compulsory. It is seen as a rite of passage for young men, and we were happy to witness a huge send off party at a bus station. You can see from the dolls below that the orientation toward military begins early in life... reminded me of my GI Joe army toys when I was a kid!


Our final stop on our West to East way across Turkey was the Kurdish town of Kars. It's located the far flung eastern edge of Turkey, and has a real Central Asiatic feel. The Kurds were an interesting people with a unique culture. Many of the Kurds dress formally, circa 1900 Europe (most men wore sports coats and wool caps), and it was a delight to stroll around the city. While in Kars our main activity was a visit to a site called Ani on the Armenian boarder which has a collection of churches remaining from thousands of years of constant civilization.

Ani has passed between many religions including Zoroastrian, Georgian Christian, and Armenian Christian. Turkey finally took the land from Armenia in the early 20th century, and built a mosque here. Armenia claims that they murdered 1.5 million Armenians in the process, although Turkey blames some tensions with Armenian allegiance to Russia as the causal factor. The Armenians are seeking compensation and claim that in modern history, this genocide is second only to that of the Nazis. Turkey denies the genocide claim, and this point of contention has become on of the obstacles for Turkey as it tries to gain entrance into the European Union.

In any case, the land and site were beautiful with a river gorge separating Turkey from Armenia. If you look closely, you can see two Russian backed Armenian military bases across the gorge, peering suspiciously back across at Turkey.