May 6, 2014
Hello!
What a day of firsts for me!
From foods to sites – WOW!
Okay! Up around 6
after 9 lovely hours of sleep! It
stopped raining sometime in the night, and looked to be clearing up slightly,
which is great news! Now…the bad news…hot
water, you say? Hmmm…well, after letting
the water run for a very, very long time (which is truly against my principals
as a former Californian and current Arizonan) – and while it wasn’t ice cold as
it had started, it was nowhere NEAR warm, let alone hot! But Robert, brave man that he is, went ahead
anyway…kudos galore; I would NOT have done it!
Fortunately, he reverted back to his backpacking days and those cold
high Sierra lakes and would not be deterred.
Also fortunately, we’ve got a space heater in the room which helped to
thaw him out! Down for breakfast around 7,
as all books/websites say that the things we most want to see today open at 8
a.m.
Breakfast (and I believe we are the only people staying
here!) was a plate of cheeses, baloney, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes and their
really delicious bread. I opted for
apple tea, which was excellent, and R had coffee, which he very much enjoyed. 
Then came the soft-boiled eggs…and I actually
ate mine! I’ve never had one before, but
fortunately, paid attention when Mom was eating hers! So, got through it with no problems. Also, discovered Turkish Nutella! It was ever-present in Switzerland, when I
was traveling there a lot, but it never sounded good to me for breakfast…so I
tried it …it’s like eating chocolate frosting!
YUM! Can’t wait until breakfast
tomorrow!
Then came the soft-boiled eggs…and I actually
ate mine! I’ve never had one before, but
fortunately, paid attention when Mom was eating hers! So, got through it with no problems. Also, discovered Turkish Nutella! It was ever-present in Switzerland, when I
was traveling there a lot, but it never sounded good to me for breakfast…so I
tried it …it’s like eating chocolate frosting!
YUM! Can’t wait until breakfast
tomorrow!
We were out of the hotel by about 7:50 a.m. and drove the couple
of kms to Yazilikaya. Unfortunately,
even though we were a few minutes early – and waited for a bit – nobody came to
open up! So, we headed to Hatashua…and
it was now about 8:10 a.m. Nobody there
either! So, we drove into town to the
museum. It was still closed, but at
least there was a guard available – we heard him make a phone call, and then,
voila, a few minutes later, he opened the doors!
The Bogazkale museum is small but really lovely; and do I
need to say we had the place to ourselves? They have some absolutely stunning
pottery on display, as well as many finds depicting household items – plates,
cups, teapots, jars, bowls. There was
also a very interesting study of Hittite personal armaments – what passed for chain
mail in the really olden days! They also
have two of the original lion sphinxes from the Lion’s gate. After they were initially discovered 95+
years ago by a German archeological team, they were sent to Germany for
restoration – but only one was returned!
The Turks had been trying to get
the second returned as well – through two wars and a succession of regime
changes (East Germany, etc.)
From the museum, we
headed to Yazilikaya, which was, I’m happy to say, now open! This is a very famous Hittite site, a shrine,
actually. It was built within a canyon,
two separate rooms. Chamber A was fairly
well weathered – in fact, I’m really surprised that more hasn’t been done to
protect it from the elements! There were
carvings along both entry walls, as well as the large back wall. The gods on the left were male, and on the
right, female (apparently identified by their clothing). The back wall shows the meeting of the gods as
depicted by their major gods, Teshuba and Hebut. There was also a wonderfully well preserved
carving of King Tudhalya IV, to whom both chambers were dedicated. Walking next into Chamber B, for three more
wonderful carvings! In this chamber,
because it had been mostly filled with rubble over the years, the carvings are
much better preserved. Again, we had the
entire place to ourselves, which was just amazing! Chamber B had a room of twelve gods of the
underworld along one wall, and across from it, King Tudhaliya IV was being
protected by the god Shattuma. The third
sculpture was of the god Nergal, sword god and god of the underworld. Truly incredible; really couldn’t believe
that we were actually there seeing it in person!
From Yazilikaya, we decided to make the journey to
Alacahoyek to see the Hittite ruins there.
It was probably a 30 minute drive; lovely rolling hills, lots of
green. Here in central Anatolia (Turkey)
it is much less farther along season-wise – some of the trees are just now
starting to bud. 
Those Hittites were
truly a hardy people!
Alacahoyek was another spot initially excavated by the
Germans, so in addition to Turkish and English on the signage, there was also
German. 
The front entrance to the site
was guarded by more sphinxes, this time with sweeping headdresses and a bit
overgrown with lichen. There are reliefs
on either side of the entrance, which are copies of the originals now in the
museum in Ankara (which, we ask ourselves, will they EVER finish their updating
so that everything will again be on display???)
One of the really interesting things about Alacahoyek is that a series
of 13 tombs were discovered, which are dated from the Hatti people, the
predecessors of the Hittites. The tombs
are really well preserved and represented – lovely stag and bull standards and
pottery. They also have a museum there –
smaller than Bogazkale, but impressive nonetheless.
The front entrance to the site
was guarded by more sphinxes, this time with sweeping headdresses and a bit
overgrown with lichen. There are reliefs
on either side of the entrance, which are copies of the originals now in the
museum in Ankara (which, we ask ourselves, will they EVER finish their updating
so that everything will again be on display???)
One of the really interesting things about Alacahoyek is that a series
of 13 tombs were discovered, which are dated from the Hatti people, the
predecessors of the Hittites. The tombs
are really well preserved and represented – lovely stag and bull standards and
pottery. They also have a museum there –
smaller than Bogazkale, but impressive nonetheless.
When we were finished with both museum and site, it was
lunch time, so we decided to take our own advice and actually eat something in
a timely manner! Went to the Hitit Café right across the street from
the site. Robert got chicken wings with
tomatoes and onions and bread – he said they were great!
I had a toasted sandwich with the wonderful white cheese. Both very happy!
On the way back to Bogazkale, we found another small site,
but it was still very much under excavation, and not open to the public. Obviously another reason to return some
day!
Our last stop of the day – and certainly not the least! -- was
a continuation of our tour of Hattusha from yesterday. Once it started pouring, we decided enough
was enough. Fortunately, staying in the
area for two days, we were able to revisit…much better without rain!
The first time we visited Hattusha, I managed to come down with
a migraine within the first half hour or so, which really spoiled the rest of
the visit for me. I can’t even remember
some of the places we stopped. This
time, though (thankfully!!) we were able to see everything! We started today’s visit at the Buyukale, which
translate to “Great Fortress” and was actually the royal palace. It was built way up on a precipice, with
three flanks all protected by very steep gorges. 
Obviously those Hittites knew how to site a
castle! With the help of our guidebook,
we covered many of the principal spots – royal living chambers, audience rooms,
courtyards. It was in one of the side
rooms here that excavators came upon a real treasure trove! There was a huge archive of clay tablets that
were stored there, and when the city and palace was eventually sacked and
burned, the fire actually “fired” the clay tablets, and preserved them for
posterity! (The same, sadly, cannot be
said of all the wood tablets that had been stored there…)
Obviously those Hittites knew how to site a
castle! With the help of our guidebook,
we covered many of the principal spots – royal living chambers, audience rooms,
courtyards. It was in one of the side
rooms here that excavators came upon a real treasure trove! There was a huge archive of clay tablets that
were stored there, and when the city and palace was eventually sacked and
burned, the fire actually “fired” the clay tablets, and preserved them for
posterity! (The same, sadly, cannot be
said of all the wood tablets that had been stored there…)
Our last stop – on top of another hill, naturally, was the hieroglyph
chamber. There, a room had been
constructed that contained sculptures of the last Hittite King, Suppiluliuma II,
the Sun Goddess with a winged sun disk, as well as hieroglyphics describing the
invasions and successes of the king.
Just stunning!
At this point, we figured we had seen enough sites/sights
for one day, and headed back to the hotel, R for some Caltech business, and me
for a well-deserved nap! (After all,
only 9 hours of sleep last night!)
Up and out about 6 p.m. for dinner here at the hotel. Tonight, we had the same salad – tomatoes,
cucumbers and onions and parsley – but this time, we had a noodle soup
(excellent) followed by a plate of ground beef well spiced and cooked with peppers
and onions and served with macaroni. We
did have a sweet tonight – something wonderful and served with honey (which R
insists isn’t honey, but I say he’s wrong!). Done about 7, and back here to blog, work and
go to bed! Oh! As I was able to get some luke-warm water out
of the tap (thanks to R’s talking to the manager…but as he doesn’t speak very
much English, don’t know how much got communicated…) R advised showering now…which
I did…and I can honestly say that I haven’t washed my hair in water this cold
since I was a teenager and washed my hair under a pump somewhere in the wilds
of Michigan…brrrr…
Tomorrow we’re moving on to Corum – hopefully after some
Nutella for breakfast!
Lots of love,
m
xxx
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