They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!

Monday, June 2, 2014

Hello!

The tourists, that is!  We have finally come out of the non-touristy part of Turkey, and smack bang into entire busloads of tourists!  Whew!  They truly are everywhere!

We both had homemade tomato soup

Meat stuffed eggplant

So…dinner last night…It was raining when we headed downstairs for dinner.  We both started with bowls of tomato soup – very good.  Robert had lamb and vegetables – onions, tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes – all in a broth in a clay casserole dish; he finished every bite!  I had aubergine stuffed with meat, and it was fabulous! 

Robert's lamb casserole

Then back through the rain and upstairs, where it rained off and on most of the night!  Up this morning to very fresh weather – very coolish, but not raining with intermittent bursts of sunshine.  Really do love this weather!

More views of Lake Egirdir

Heading inland once again

We were packed up and on the road about 9 a.m.  We really had such a lovely time in Egirdir; certainly hope that our travels will one day take us back there. 

Poppies looking ready for harvest!

We took a very leisurely drive through the mountains to Beycesultan, a Neolithic site first excavated in the 1950’s.  And, while we actually found the site, unfortunately it was locked up tight!  I’m thinking they will probably reopen in a few weeks, when the newest batch of archaeologists come for the season to dig.  From there, we headed straight to Pamukkale, where we had visited two years before.  This is the place with the amazing travertine terraces that we had to walk down and through to get back to our hotel. 

 

Got to Hotel Hal-Tur about 1:30 p.m. and checked into the hotel.  We’re in room 23 again, which was the same room we had last time we were here!  On the second (top) floor, overlooking the terraces and the pool.  Very comfortable room, but they are really pushing the carpet sales here; hmmm…

If you look very closely, you'll see people on the terraces!

View from our window!

So…last time we were here, the hotel folks drove us up to the ruins of Hieropolis and dropped us off.  We then walked down the really long entrance way, and back down through the pools of warm water.  As we had done that once, (and honestly, it was pretty touch and go at times, and I was very concerned about Robert possibly slipping as there are some pools that have some moss growing, making it super slippery!) I didn’t really have to do it again.  But what I really wanted to do was to see Hieropolis, the Roman city ruins that we hadn’t had too much time to see last time we were here.  So, checked with the manager at the hotel and he advised that yes, we could drive up to the south gate and enter from there … which is what we did!  So, while the bandits on the road who are trying to get people into their hotels or restaurants or parking lots were waving frantically, we drove past them all and started up the hill.

The theatre at Hieropolis

Detail of the stage

Found a true gaggle of buses of every sort – big to small all trying to find room in the parking lot and dropping off literally hordes of people!  However, we did find a tiny place to park – much too small for a bus!! And we entered in the south gate.  As Robert commented (several times) we have certainly left the conservative, religious part of Turkey WAY far behind!  [We didn’t see any young girls in bikinis when we were in Konya. – R]  As there is a wonderful thermal pool that you may swim in (for a price; 32 TL, which is about $16/each) that actually has pieces of the excavation on the bottom of the pool, people were everywhere in bathing suits, walking around the site as well as back to their buses!  And let me tell you, there are some people who should NOT be allowed out in just bathing suits alone!  Whew!  Quite a change from just a few days ago!

Our first stop was UP hill to the wonderfully restored theatre of Hieropolis; it is truly lovely, and very much worth the uphill climb (although R may argue the point…).  At one point, people started clapping, and the sound quality of the echo was amazing!  From there we walked up to the Church of St. Philip, the apostle, who was martyred here in Hieropolis, and the remains of the church dedicated to him.  The entire site of Hieropolis is really HUGE; there are sarcophagi and building blocks everywhere!  Hieropolis is said to have contained the largest necropolis in Asia Minor.

St. Philip's church

Detail of church ceiling

Roman road to St. Philip's Church

Roman plumbing!

We then walked over to the travertines to watch the tourists trying to make their way up (or down) the slippery pools.  I had thought about possibly doing it again, but have come to the conclusion that swimming in the thermal pool will be fine for me, and R is certainly not interested in a repeat descent. The thermal pool opens at 8 a.m. tomorrow, and our plan is to be there when they open…hopefully we’ll lose some tourists that way, and as the water is supposed to be a constant 36 degrees, we should be just fine! (Famous last words…)  We will also go through the Hieropolis museum, as today being Monday, of course they were closed!  But do have to admit that using the south gate makes it really convenient for getting back and forth…ya gotta have the knowledge!!

Tourists enjoying the travertine pools!

Decided about 4-ish to head back to the hotel for a rest, especially as it was looking like it might rain!  Robert wanted an Efes beer, so we sat next to the pool and enjoyed that and a glass of local white wine for me.  It did come on to rain, but not hard – just some huge drops!  Finally back into the hotel about 5:30 p.m. to start the blog and warm up…definitely rather a coolish evening!

So!  More later!

m

xxx