Archeology Museum Ankara

Ancient statue of woman in labor, in birthing chair

From the Hittites in Antique Museum.

 

Guard at Ataturk Mausoleum

 

our trip marked on Mr. Gandhi's map - Started Istanbul in upper left

 

diorama of Kemal Ataturk in office in the 20s

 

 

 model for David?

 

last motel - 5*****

 

last buffet breakfast! Going to fast for a week!!

Cappadocia

 

 

Dressed for the 5 a.m. cold!

 

 

Almost ready to load

 

 

Up,,up,,and,away!

 

 

Gorgeous! 85+ balloons!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crew loading back up

Champagne after!

 

Hussein our pilot

Tufa formations from lava flow before Christ.

On the road to Ankara

One of the many caravan stops along the Silk Road where the whole caravan went inside for the stop.



Highways are wonderful here, as is the bus.

Arrived in Ankara at this gorgeous Hilton but only wified in the lobby for free. One more day, long drive to Istanbul and cruise on the Bosphorus and final dinner. Can't wait!

Photos of school in central Turkey

Serap our guide on the bus

Third graders

Third graders

 

Third graders

Showoff second graders

 

I'm guessing she is an albino

Very friendly

Day 7 Pamukkale & Hieropolis

We headed out of Izmir today early to beat the traffic and were immediately stuck in a traffic jam. Yorgo, our driver assistant, got off the bus and started directing traffic so we could get clear and turn around. Turns out some woman had gotten hit by a bus and was still lying on the ground. He hopped back on and we were on our way. After an hour and a half we stopped for a bathroom break. I had a fresh squeezed OJ and some Turkish delight to take home. One has hazelnut, one pistachio and the other sesame seeds. We left right on time.

With Yorgo going up and down the aisle counting. Five minutes on the road and it turns out we left someone! There are four Iranians from California, a mother, two grown daughters and the aunt. The mother had gotten back off to use the WC and we left without her. So we all laughed and went back for her!!

In our group of 33 there are two Canadians, Carolyn and Ellen, whom I went swimming with in Canakkale and shared some wine. There are three Indian couples, Ravi and Ra..... Who are semi-retired surgeon and psychiatrist near Worcester, have two daughters, one in Chicago and one a nurse in Philadelphia. She said her mother and her brother came to live with them for nine years after her father died (talking about Nana having lived with my family).

Harish and his wife M.... -she had a general practice and I think he was in like medical  supplies -live in Norfolk near Foxborough.  They have three daughters. Harish and I had a nice conversation about India, colonialism - in most all cases the conquered country is poorer as the raw materials get taken out of country, manufactured products, for example cotton, and then brought back in country to be resold at higher prices. He also talked about being introduced to his wife -they've been together almost 50 years - by family members and they court to decide. Both these couples seem so wonderful and solicitous of each other - the husbands and wives, I mean. There is another Indian couple but I haven't really met them.

Then there is Brian from Philly who is in tech business I think. A Polish woman is traveling with her son who just got a master's degree in computer science so he picked this trip. They are from Chicago. Three Vietnamese women are traveling together: one runs a restaurant in Minneapolis, and the other two are from CA in tech business. A Chinese couple who live in Wilmington work for J P Morgan. He's from Xinjiang province on far northwestern China where Uighur, Muslim sect, are predominant. She's from Shaanxi near Beijing. Alan and Michael are from Chicago, I think. He looks very young for almost 60! I mentioned the four Iranian women, I think. there's another couple from New Jersey but that's all I know about them.

I forgot another couple and their ten year old girl from somewhere. Haven't talked to them. and then a couple from Florida who live in Atlanta. We had a nice talk at dinner about education. Their daughter has a doctorate in special Ed. Serap, our guide, is recently married; her husband is in construction. She studied and worked in archeology.

At the hot springs I went with Carolyn and Ellen and we added in after walking gingerly over the calcium beds. It was pretty rocky and slippery and crowded with many people almost falling in. So we only stayed in a few minutes, dried our feet and moved. Later there was a regular swimming pool that Carolyn and Ellen went in and said was nice. I didn't really have time and didn't bring my swimming outfit anyway. I walked back where the light blue colored pools cascaded down and water was gushing out of the wall. I took some pictures there and then knelt down to get the water on my knees and feet. I asked a Russian woman who was traveling with her son to take my picture. We chatted awhile. Maria and Valentine are from Siberia. She said there is still snow there now! She studied English and spoke well. Valentine could understand what I said but not speak as well. We talked about hostels in Russia of which there are none. She is from a university town with 9 schools. She said the students come from all over but can't really travel around Russia because hotels are the only option. I think her town was something like Tosk?

I then paid the 5 TL to go in the Roman bath ruins where there were artifacts, jewelry, statues. Sarcophogi (sp?) - means flesh eater as they are lined with limestone which quickly dissolves flesh left on the body. It was nice and cool which was worth the 5TL admission as the sun was beastly. I finally got to the big pool where people were soaking in the thermal waters and had a beer where Brian was waiting for food. I hopped the shuttle down the long road past the Necropolis where I could take pictures from the window to the north entrance where the bus was waiting. I only got a photo from the distance of the amphitheater. This was a huge city at one time and only a small part of it has been excavated. Turkey is fascinating archaeologically speaking because it was such a crossroads of various civilization. Once you start digging somewhere you end up finding layer after layer of previous settlements. Some ruins we visited had Roman numeral signs on a bank up to IX indicating different settlements one on top of the other! This could keep archeologists busy for hundreds of years! Serap just told me that was the ruins at Troy.

We headed over the high mountain passes down to the Aegean Sea at Antayla, a big resort especially for Germans who have bought lots of homes around here; also Russians, Dutch and English. The beaches are pebbly like the Riviera and very calm safe waters.

Blue Mosque, Troy and Cannakkale, Saturday, May 24

So I combined Thursday traveling with my first day of the tour in Istanbul. I'm now on day two as we are leaving. Two Anadian woman in the group from New Brunswick walked from our hotel over the bridge to the other side of the Golden Horn. It's called that because the piece of land that we're on is kind of shaped like a horn and the water turns golden at sunset. This other side is still in Europe. You have to cross the larger bridge to cross into Asia. We'll do that tomorrow when we cross the Dardanelles. The ladies and I found a little fisherman spot across the bridge for tea. and then a great restaurant at a hole in the wall that Rick Steve's recommended. Carolyn and Ellen are retired civil service workers in Canada.



After we checked out at 8 a.m.we headed back up the hill to visit the Blue Mosque which is only blue on the inside because of the tiles and stained glass that is all mostly blue. We all removed our shoes and carried them around in plastic bags as we exited out the other side. This is the fourth highest dome after St. Peter's in Rome, St. Paul in London and the Duomo in Milan, all of which I've been in! I think Mary, Betty and I were actually in this one because it was free, unlike Topkapi Palace which was not, and I don't remember that at all. We had so little money in 1965 that we mostly walked around places on the outside only. But still we covered 28 countries in that year, including stopping for four months in Munich to work so I had a ticket home!! Seems like only yesterday!



We then had a long bus ride through the rolling, lush countryside to the ferry where we crossed the Dardanelles. We passed near where the battle of Gallipoli was fought for ten months in the First World War, then Australian and New Zealand forces (ANZAC) fighting for the British Empire tried to capture the Dardanelles and Bosporus straight to give Russia access from the Black Sea. They failed and the Ottomans under Kemel Ataturk defeated them and that was the start of Turkey's independence movement. Ataturk made amazing changes and really helped the country turn around. We'll learn more when we visit his mausoleum in Ankara.



We moved on to Troy, the supposedly mythological place where the Greek Spartans defeated the Trojans, but,then,a German guy named Schliemann became obsessed with the story of the,  lliad in the late 19th century? He made money in the gold rush in America and spent it searching for Priam's treasure! He wasn't that interested in archeology but proved this was the ancient of a real battle. There were 9 consecutive layers of cities on this same site. And he did some back and find a treasure of gold but it was from an earlier period AND he had made an agreement with the Ottomans to split the find in half but never did! There was the obligatory wooden horse but I only took a picture. The battle was really about power, Homer just made up a good story sticking Helen in as the motive.

May 18

(This is Judy. I'm going to post these photos here so Sue can find them and put where she wants. I have no verbiage for them.) 

SPANISH SANGA PARTY

Delicious spread!

Sr. Tri, Sr. Dao, Doug, Elinor and Michael

 

Miles from UK in glasses and Shivacami, Sr. Dao's daughter

Pep is in the grey sweater leaning on Miles. He has 3 grown kids anod 3 grand kids!

Mercedes, dr. Who treated Doug and it's her apartment

Weds, May 22, Toulouse to Istanbul

 

 

So I spent the night at the La Auberge de la Saint Semins hostel on the second floor in a four bed dorm, just those two guys from Montreal, an Asian guy that disappeared early a.m. and me! They were all out late. I got to shower easily in the room, and go to sleep. I never heard anyone come in, climb in the top bunk, nothing! I had gotten up really early the day before at PV as I thought the morning meditation was at 5:15 but was not until 6 a.m. so I was in the hall by myself doing yoga and some walking meditation! And then schlepping my luggage from the train station for half an hour through Toulouse to the hostel! I was tired!

 

last night in Toulouse

La auberge de Saint Senin - kitchen in room. Didn't use it!

Altar in 12th century church in Toulouse

 

Basilica in Toulouse

Tour group in church
I had a lovely walk around Toulouse and picked a jambon (jamon Spanish), fromage and baguette for breakfast on a bench by the Garonne River. Then I caught the airport bus for E5 to the airport. I had a long wait until the Turkish Airlines counter opened to check my bag. The girl at the hostel let me use her computer to print out my boarding pass the night before. Got through security and was at the gate 2 hours early, of course! But I always have a book.

Just finished a book I bought in PV by and about Sr. D, a Vietnamese refugee who had had a terribly abusive childhood since being born in Saigon in 1968. She's not sure if her father was an older American soldier as her mother had said, or a Vietnamese man. She looks very Vietnamese but was taunted when young for being Amerasian. Her younger brother was blond and very light and he was REALLY taunted! She had a wonderful relationship with her grandmother who told her, " take care of your brother, get an education, and become a nun (she was Buddhist)". She got a medical degree in San Francisco after she moved to US at 16. Her brother 12 was taunted even worse here, called commie, etc. She had a wonderful partner John, whom she had difficulties with as she was raped at 9 and saw her mother go from man to man. He was practicing mindfulness and tried to make the relationship work but he drowned at 33 while she had just started residency. She ends up a nun in Plum Village and it's a wonderful story of survival and recovery!

The flight was smooth and uneventful, with good food and wine! Can't say enough about Turkish Airlines. Did I mention I flew them from NY to Amsterdam through IST, then Toulouse to IST, and June 2nd from IST back to New York, all for $873!!! I think that's unbelievable!!
 Flying over southern France!


I was frustrated in the very long and winding customs line as I swear 20 planes all arrived at the same time. I had read my pickup driver would only wait one hour then I'd have to find my own way. However, it didn't happen and my driver was there with a sign for Gate 1. It was about a 45 minute drive, past Roman ruins and aqueduct, into the old city. This Legacy Ottoman is in a 19th century decorated with high crown molded ceilings! It's 5 star, not my usual fare!! Love it! Since I 'm traveling on my own, I had to pay a single supplement and have a room to myself. Luxury!!

Lobby of Legacy Hotel

Tonight's room! I'm in culture shock! :)


The tour group was in the middle of dinner after having the first informational meeting that I missed. I joined a table with two medical couples from Boston, live in Norfolk right near Kerry, and a couple from Atlanta. All seem nice. After a wonderful night's sleep, our bus headed for the Hippodrome, a chariot track built by the Romans, with two obelisks from the 2nd century BC.

Obelisk at Hippodrome
 

Frescos inside Aga Sofya which means Holy Wisdom

Green marble from Ephesus




Calligraphy, wood frame, camel skin!

Ancient bronze doors

Behind altar
We then walked past hoards of tourists to the Aga Sofya, a huge former church, mosque, now museum begin in the 3rd century AD. It's magnificent, with wonderful mosaics and calligraphy. I left the tour then as I hadn't opted for the optional Topkapi tour and Grand Bazaar. I waited for a minute in the long ticket line but then went with an English speaking tour guide and 8 people for a skip the line tour of the palace of a sultan and into the Harem, a second ticket. He was very informative and gave a lot of cultural background.

Roses symbol for Islam

Entrance to Topkapi
 

Fountain

Courtyard in harem

 

Education room of harem

 

Library in harem

Olden Horn

Kids who took my picture!

I walked back down the hill, found a little restaurant for lunch/dinner and headed to hotel. I can save the Grand Bazaar for June 1 when we are back here. Don't really need to shop and get hassled! Went down to the spa after a rest for a swim sauna, and then a half hour HEAVENLY massage! It was expensive but I'm worth it!!!

Early departure tomorrow to Troy with a stop first at the Blue Mosque.