Turkey

Day 23 ctd



We bus into Antakya, Turkey. The only real event of consequence is the experience of rain; quite a revelation after travelling through desert for 3 weeks.



Day 24



Another full day of travel and we arrive in Nigde. Again, only one event of consequence: a shave for me and Kailash by barbers with cut throat razors and a small audience of inquisitive women.





Day 25

We're in the Ihlara Valley. The area is famous for its underground cities. The terrain is essentially one large ash deposit formed after various eruptions from the three surrounding volcanos. The ash is fairly unique in that when freshly exposed it is very soft and easily worked. Shortly thereafter the exposed rock becomes very hard as a consequence of oxidation.


First stop was a small chapel/church and underground town complex.




It's wonderfully cool inside.




Next the huge underground city of Derinkuyu. There's not much on top to see except a handful of women touting handmade dolls. The ladies are a mixed set of sweet and abrasive women. We bought a small doll from the sweet old lady. They clearly don't know how to value their labour: the dolls ranged from 3 Lira to 5 Lira (the same amount in AUD).

The city itself is pretty big and deep. About 80 metres deep or so. This chapel can be found at about 40 metres or so.

Then the Ihlara Gorge.

And frescoes from one of the Byzantine chapels carved into the canyon walls.


The kids taking it easy on tour.

Then finally magical Cappadocia, the land of the smurfs.

This particular spot is called love valley (hint: use your imagination).

A particularly nice afternoon walking.

And finally Digby and Myla hanging out with some of the tour group.


Days 28 and 29

We arrive in Istanbul.

Just how amazing it is to arrive in a (pseudo) European city after a month of hard middle eastern travel cannot be conveyed by words alone.

Istanbul has a lot going for it. The couple of days spent there left us wanting to return and complete the sights and to imbibe some more of the atmosphere.

First there is Aya Sophia. Roman Emperor Justinian had this built in 537AD. That means it is over 1500 years old. It is massive, by anyone's standards. It is also beautiful.

Here it is by day.

And here it is by night.

Most unfortunately we did not have time to go inside - one for next time.

Next is the Blue Mosque. This one is a mere 500 years old and sits opposite the Aya Sophia. Again, here it is by day.

And here it is by night.

As impressive as these places seem, for me, they paled in comparison to the Basilica Cistern. "What's that?" you ask. I had no idea either before we got to Istanbul. Neither did the Ottomans for about 100 years or so after they conquered Istanbul. Essentially it's just a giant underground water tank. But have a look...

The Ottomans only discovered the cistern after they witnessed some locals finding fish in buckets of water pulled up from a well. Here's a few of them.

The cistern was also commissioned by Emperor Justinian. It measures 143 metres by 65 metres. The walls are 4 metres thick and made of a special water tight mortar. It is supported by 336 marble columns - mainly ionic and corinthian with the odd doric. The columns were gathered up from various old sites around the place. The most impressive of these are two columns with a medusa head at their base as well as a peacock eyed column.

Day 30

Unfortunately it came time for us to bid farewell to our tour group and jump on an overnight bus for Ayvalik - a small coastal town opposite Lesvos, the start of our next country and our next post.