HOLIDAY IN TURKEY, 1999
In May we spent 2 weeks holiday in Turkey and I can tell you: we had a wonderful holiday. Turkey has a lot to offer: culture, sun, sea, good weather and very friendly people. It has a rich history: for many thousands of years Turkey has been the meetingpoint between East and West, here the caravans came, loaded with spices and silk from the Far East, on the way to the markets in Europe.
We first were a week on a tour in Western Turkey, from Eindhoven airport we flew in 3 hours to Izmir (in earlier times Smyrna) and that evening already we spent on a terrace near the sea, enjoying Turkish music and, of course, Raki, their national drink. The next day we drove on; first to Pergamon. This city used to be one of the most impressing places in the classical antiquity, they had e.g a library with 200.000 books once (it is said that Marcus Antonius gave a big collection to Cleopatra) and the theatre could place 10.000 people. Then to the Asklepion, an old medical center. Before we came to our hotel near Canakkale, we visited Troje, famous from the Ilias, the famous work of Homerus. In 2600 BC there used to live people already. There also was the famous big wooden horse of Troje. The following day to Istanbul, we crossed the Dardanelles by ferry and spent 2,5 days in this big city of 13 mill. inhabitants. In '96 I had been here also some days with Denise, but for Arie this was the first time. We visited all the famous buildings: the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, The Hippodrome, the Yerabathan Cisterne, Topkapi Palace etc. etc. Istanbul is the only city in the world which is built on 2 continents: Europe and Asia. There are 2 bridges over the Bosporus and many, many ferries. The Blue Mosque(Sultan Ahmet Camii) is one of the symbols of Istanbul, the only mosque with 6 minarets and it's called the Blue Mosque because of the tiledecoration. The Aya (Hagia) Sophia now is a museum, it used to be (more than a 1000 years) a Christian Church; the enormous building was built in only 6 years (532-537). The Hippodrome was fit up in 203 already with a.o. the Egyptian Obelisk which was 1900 years old already when it was set up here in 390. If that Obelisk could talk........... The Topkapi Palace is very big, a magic world of thousand-and-one-night.
Then on Monday to The Egyptian Bazaar with all the spices, a boattour on the Bosporus, The Suleymaniye Mosque and The Big Bazaar with it's almost 4000 shops (mainly jewelries).
On Tuesday to Bursa, the Silkcity, once the capital of the Ottoman empire in the 14th century. We visited the Green Mosque and the Silk Bazaar and I bought some silk shawls there of course.
Then on Wednesday a long drive to GuzelcalmI, a village 25 km. south of Kusadasi, where we spent 1 week. A wonderful week. It was situated near the sea and near the Milliparc, we walked, made some excursions, to Siringe - a mountain village - , to the sulfurbath in Davudlar (the water was 43 C), to Efese and we spent a day in Kusadasi -shopping. Efese is one of the most famous historical places in Turkey and well visited also. The amfitheatre could place 24.000 people, it's one of the biggest theatres in Anatolia, but the most impressing there I thought was the Celsus Library, really wonderful. Fortunately (for us, not for the Turkish people) there were not as many tourists, due to the arrest of Ocalan, the Pkk-leader, but we noticed absolutely nothing of any troubles, everything was very paeceful.
One of the reasons that this holiday was so great was because we had a wonderful group, as well on the tour as in GuzelcalmI. We laughed a lot, talked a lot (sometimes even very profoundly) also, one morning I joined their meditation (at 07.30 already, the other mornings I woke up later. It was holiday!!). Perhaps, I hope, we will join this group once again, perhaps next year when they plan a tour through Cappadocie (Central Turkey). We'll see.
HOLIDAY IN TURKEY - AUTUMN 2000
On September 28th we left for our holiday in Turkey, we flew from Eindhoven Airport which was very convenient. We were 14 persons, a nice group. From those 14 we knew 4 from last year holiday to Turkey already. In Izmir our guide Ramazan and busdriver Turhan (both very nice men) were waiting for us and there we went, first to Alasehir where we spent the first night. The next day we drove to Konya, but we first visited the ruins of the old Hierapolis, a city founded in the 2nd Century B.C., famous because of the many tombs (it used to be a holy city in the ancient time). From there on to Pamukkale with the wonderful travertin terraces. The water which contains calcium has formed a white waterfall of stalactites and limeterraces. After lunch we drove on to Konya; on the way we saw cottonpickers working in the fields. Konya is the city of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, the founder of the dancing derwish-people and it is also the capital of the Turkish fundamentalists, almost all women were dressed in long coats and a shawl.
Next morning we visited the Mevlana Mausoleum and a mosque before we drove over the Central Anatolian Steppe (this way used to be part of the old Silk Route) to Urgup, the center of Cappadocia where we spent 3 nights. Cappadocia is a real fairytale area, about 3 million years ago the vulcano Erciyes erupted and covered the area with a thick layer of lava and volcanic ashes. The volcanic rocks were caused by this eruption and changed under the influence of the elements and big differences in temperature into this surrealistic landscape that we now know. The rocks consist of tuff which is a soft material and so houses could be cut out in it. When a baby was born it was simple to cut out another room! In Cappadocia we visited the Zelve-valley, the Goreme Open Air Museum with many churches where you can see beautiful fresco's from the 10th and 11th Century.
We were in Uchisar, the pigeonsvalley, Nigde- a monastry from the 10th Century in tuff also with also beautiful fresco's, the pink valley which was so beautiful and we were in Kaymakli, a subsoiled city of 16 levels. We were in the upper 4 levels. They were used by a.o. the Christians in the 7th Century to escape from prosecution..
near Igidir, in a mountain village
On Tuesday we left Cappadocia again and via Konya again (which was habited in 4000 B.C. already) we drove to Egirdir where we spent 2 nights. Wednesday we spent a nice day there with a.o. a visit to a big apple-orchard (this is the apple region). On Thursday we drove to Guzelcalmi, a village on the westcoast, south of Kusadasi where we spent another, relaxing week. When we arrived at he hotel, same as last year, Aad , the owner and Himmet and Kemal, the servants recognized us and I was welcomed with 3 kisses from each of them!
We had a nice week there, one of the highlights was a Concert of Carmina Burana (kind of Opera) in the ancient amfitheater of Efese. That was so impressing, the amfitheatre is one of the biggest in Anatolia with 24.000 seats, built in the 2nd Century A.D. To think that 1800 years ago people were sitting and listening there also......
After 1 week in Guzelcalmi we returned to Eindhoven again and we can look back at a wonderful holiday. The group was nice and Turkey is such a beautiful country with a very friendly population. We hope to go back once again, to Turkey, but also to Hotel Doridas in Guzelcalmi, a 2 star hotel "only" but with the service of a 5 star hotel as Wil (one of our group) said!!
'pink valley' in Capadocia
feeding the street dogs
farmer