Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Hello!
Note here: Last
night, as we got ready for bed, we realized that we didn’t have any
blankets! There were very light bed
coverings (which didn’t actually cover the whole bed!) and that was it! So, R called down and asked for a blanket…didn’t
come, didn’t come…and he called again, and apparently this time he reached
someone who knew what he was talking about!
Then, about 10 minutes later, a knock at the door and a nice and heavy
duvet – YEA!! Warmth! I don’t care how warm/cold it is, I still
want a blanket over me at night!
Our day started fairly early, as we wanted to get to as many
places as possible today, so down to breakfast at 7 a.m. The usual fare, but this time included both
yellow and chocolate cakes … to which I added a frosting of Nutella, and they
were wonderful! (I’m sure the waiter
thought I was crazy…but I am!)
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| Aksaray Museum building |
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| Stealth Hittite Stele |
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| Hittite era Pithoi |
Then outside and to our first stop, the Aksaray Museum. It opened at 8:30 and we were the first (and
only!) ones there – in fact, we were a few minutes early, but they very
graciously opened the museum up. The BIG
problem is that they don’t allow photographs AT ALL! And there were some things that I REALLY
wanted photographs… (As it was, Robert
did do one “stealth” photo of a Hittite orthostat…just don’t tell anybody!) At any rate, this was a first rate museum –
beautiful new building, lovely layout – the lighting kept turning off and on,
but that was because of the motion sensors…grrrr…and absolutely stellar
displays! (Have to admit that it is
taking a bit of time to readjust my thinking – away from the Hittites and on to
the neo and chalcolithic civilizations.)
I have read several books (several times!) about the site
known as Catal Hoyuk. We visited there
two years ago, and are heading that way again this week. One of the things discussed at length was the
role played by obsidian, the black volcanic glassy rock, in the culture. Apparently, as it was needed to make cutting
surfaces – knives, arrow heads, etc. the possession of a “core” of obsidian was
essential to each family group. They
would actually bury the core in the floor of the kitchen area, and excavate it when
new things were needed. They would then
use hard stone to literally “flake” off the obsidian until the desired
sharpness was reached. The museum had an
amazing collection of obsidian points, as well as a pile of real obsidian
flakes! I’d always had a problem
visualizing how this worked, and this exhibit was absolutely amazing!
We spent a fair amount of time at the museum, which was
concerning as we weren’t sure how much we would now be able to get done…so on
to the first site, Acemhoyuk.
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| Acemhoyek - much is still covered up |
Acemhoyuk
is located, literally, in the center of a small town.
There are, in normal Turkish manner, brown
archeological signs to the actual site, that stop cold about 5 miles away…VERY
frustrating to say the least!
However,
as Robert pointed out, drive toward the ONLY mound in sight, and that should be
the place – and it was!
Parked the car
and headed out to look.
Actually, not
too much to see as the site is very well covered in most areas, but it was
interesting to walk around.
As Robert
pointed out, there were pottery shards all over the ground, and it was SO
difficult NOT to pick up a few.
But, the
Turks look very poorly on any illegal transportation of their artifacts, and
it’s certainly not worth going to jail, however far-fetched it might seem.
Stopped briefly at the hotel on our way to Nevsehir. Note hotel on the hill!
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| Our lovely hotel on the hill! |
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| Examples of Hittite metal work |
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| More Hittite metal work |
Back into the car and on to Nevsehir for museum #2. Well…we drove into the city – Robert
remembered it from buying new windshield wipers for our car two years ago! And followed Emmy to where she said the
museum was. Couldn’t exactly spot it,
but figured that it was somewhere in the area.
So, we parked the car on a back street and headed out to find the
museum. First stop was the police
station, as we were walking past – and we gathered that we had turned the wrong
way, and need to head back past the parked car and down the street. So…we did…and still couldn’t find it in the
distance indicated by the police officer.
Asked again … this time, the man pointed still further down the street, and
around the corner. Walked that way, and
voila, an actual “MUZE” sign!
Progress! Finding the front door
of the museum was another quest, though, as it was up a flight of stairs. I had read in one book or website that the
museum was open from 8:30 a.m. – Noon and then 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. And of course, it was now something like
12:25 p.m. However, we walked in the
door of the museum now known as the “Stealth Museum” and were greeted by a very
pleasant guard. And if they were
supposed to be closed, that didn’t seem to be a problem! He actually went in front of us and turned on
the lights! Well…not only was the
stealth museum difficult to find, but honestly?
The collection was terrible! We
found very little of interest – a few Hittite remains, and a few chalcolithic
things, but that was it! Very, very
disappointing!
By this time, it was almost 1 p.m. and we were definitely in
need of lunch.
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| Picture of Gorme |
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| Me at the Meeting Point for lunch! |
Robert had the brilliant
idea of returning to Goreme, where we have stayed in the past and visited
yesterday, to find food, as it was only about 8 km away.
Lovely drive (except the part of following
two tour buses…) and we parked near the Otogar (bus station).
It occurred to me that we did have
Lonely Planet with us, so we looked up
their recommendations on where to eat.
They suggested the “
Meeting Point”
which was just down the block so we went there.
It is an interesting place!
The
kitchen where the food is prepared is actually on the street level.
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| R sampling the "local" Efes |
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| My spinach and cheese Turkish quesadilla |
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| R's fried vegetables! |
However, to eat, you go up a flight of fairly
rickety stairs and into a very nice small dining room, with open windows on
both sides.
Robert ordered “fried
vegetables” and I ordered a spinach and cheese on Turkish bread sandwich, which
turned out to be a form of quesadilla, which was great!!
Robert’s fried veggies were interesting –
eggplant, zucchini, green pepper and carrots, generously interspersed with
French fries, and covered with a spiced yogurt sauce!
It was surprising, but Robert enjoyed it!
Then a quick stop for a Magnum Classic in the
park, before our last museum, Nigde, about 80 km.
Got to Nigde with no problem, (lovely small university
city), but again, we couldn’t actually
SEE
the museum, even though we thought we could identify things in their garden…we
couldn’t find the front door!
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| Obsidian "cores" |
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| Obsidian blades |
Asked at a
local building, and were told it was around the block – and at the same time, a
man with a child about 5 or 6 asked if we were heading to the museum, and said
that we should follow them, as that was where they were going too!
So, around the block – do NOT know what is up
with Emmy and her museum finding! [Emmy works from the Turkish maps and, as is
said in the computing business, “Garbage in, garbage out.” –
R] – to the best museum of the lot!
A fabulous collection, intelligently
presented with excellent English translations –
AND we could take photos!!
Yippee!
They had some wonderful
Hittite inscriptions and orthostats, and their recreation of a typical “house”
at Acemhoyuk was terrific!
We really
felt we had saved the best for last!!
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| Pots found at Acemhoyek site! |
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| My old friend, Teshub! |
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| Stunning chalcolithic pot |
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| Another chalcolithic pot! |
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| Yet another Hittite Lion! |
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| Me and orthostats in the garden! |
Then, back in the car, as it was now getting late; back to
the hotel about 6 p.m. No problems
getting back to the hotel, but in total, we were out and about for 10 hours
today, and we’re now heading down for dinner so that I can get to bed as early
as possible!
More later!
m
PS - Dinner -- we both started with lentil soup, which was good, but not quite as good as yesterday's vegetable soup. Then, R had "shrimp pan" which was cocktail shrimp with peppers and onions, and I had chicken pounded flat with a cheese and mushroom sauce; it was great!
