Greenhouses and Rocks

There are a lot of ruins around Finikie so we had to basically pick the one that seemed to be the easiest to get to and then the one worth the time to get there.  We chose to go to Arykanda because according to Fodor’s it was closest and it seemed to have the most to offer.

The first step is always to figure out which bus to get on.  I asked the girls in the marina and they wrote on a piece of paper Elmali (minibus).  What we discovered was that this was the name of the town that was beyond Arykanda.  It took us awhile to figure that much out though.  A very nice English speaking man helped us at the Otogar or bus stop and we got on a very full bus. 

We were seated where we thought was the back of the bus.  We were sitting with a Dutch couple who were going to the actual town and we were all shocked when people started sitting on plastic crates in aisles and then in the cargo area behind us.  At one point there were 5 people behind us sitting on crates. 

The bus driver was told that we were going to Arykanda and he announced it and let us off on the side of the road.  We looked around and saw the sign but wasn’t real sure where we were supposed to be. 

There are piles of garbage and broken stones under the sign.  It took us a minute to find the dirt road that led up to a farm neighborhood and what we hoped were the ruins.

It was quite a hike up the road to the ruins.  We had a great view of the valley and clouds that were coming in.  This is a big farming area so we got to see a bunch of green houses and woman leaned over plowing their land. 

We finally made it to the top!  A couple passed us on the way up in a car and then ran into us inside of the ruins.  They are German and asked, “Why were you walking up that way?” and we simply replied “Because we don’t have a car?”.  They thought we were nuts for walking up the steep roads to get there when you can just drive up.

This is the site from the first level.  Arykanda didn’t appear to hold any political significance, but was known as a city for lazy and hedonist people.  It has all of the components of an ancient city and many of them are still recognizable thanks to the natural barriers that created natural defenses. 

Dad and I decided to take a break and enjoy the scenery after climbing further up to get to the basilica. 

Location, location, location.  This is a church with a view.  There was a whole wall of openings like these looking down on the valley.  It currently has a great view of the mosque down below and rows of green houses, but there is also a terrific view of the mountains and of anyone that would be traveling in the valley.

These green plans were growing in the cracks of every ruin and were so interesting.  They looked so cozy and content in the cracks of the rock and created a great contrast to the tan color.

The basilica was one of my favorite buildings and doesn’t get enough play in the brochure.  They push the theater, and for good reason, but many of the massive walls of the basilica were intact and it was very easy to identify. 

Up another set of stairs was the necropolis.  The tombs here were more Roman than Lycian but this rock tomb stood out like the others we had seen along the Lycian Way.  The dome to the left of me was just amazing.  I still get awe struck when I see these things.

It took a lot more climbing, but we found the theater!  It’s just a give in that it’s going to be at a very high point up against the cliff side because it made for better acoustics.   Dad decided to just chill out and take in a show while I circled the theater looking for the “postcard shot”.

There were a bunch of little rooms in front of the theater and then a bath on the top.  It was a whole social gathering.  The agora was just down a level from the theater and then there was the cliff.  I’m pretty sure I was walking like a super model in this picture… or just walking.

As we were hiking down the road to get back to the high way in search of a bus it began to rain.  Dad and I ran to what I’m going to call a wayside or truck stop right in time for the sky to open up.  We passed these places a lot on our road trips and I never thought they got much business but boy was I wrong.  There were a few vendors selling honey or fruit, a bathroom building, and then a small restaurant that had ever flowing tea and a Panini machine.  There was running water coming from various hoses where truck drivers would fill up their water bottles and cars constantly stopping.  We sat at a dry spot and had a cup of tea and waited.  The bus to Finikie came at around 3:00pm we were told.  I was happy when we saw it coming from the other town and could flag it down because it was getting down right cold.

On the way back I started to look at the green houses we were passing and tried to identify what was being grown.  I could identify oranges, tomatoes, eggplant, lemons, and a few olive trees.  For everything I can identify there was two things I couldn’t.  This land was so fertile.

The man sitting in front of us was clearly a farmer.  I could tell by his hands, big strong hands with dirt in them.  He was taking a little snooze when I snapped this and it just makes me smile.  The women wear head scarves and the men wear these beanie hats.

We got back to the boat just as the wind started picking up and I’d say right on time.  Dad stopped to use the restroom and when I got there the wind was blowing our boat into the boat next to us and it was not looking good.  The bow of the boat was being pushed to the left into the other boat while the back left corner of the boat was being pressed into the dock.  The gang plant was barely holding on and the big fender we have in the back was doing a lot of work.  The boat was basically diagonal, which isn’t a natural or safe position for it to be in.  Apparently the lady on the boat across the dock from us ran up to tell the marina people and they came out on bikes shortly after I boarded.  It took two of them to tighten the bow line and straighten it out a little.  By then Dad came back and it took a lot of heaving to get things straighten out and safe.  Then the wind died down and all was calm.  Naturally.

It's like riding a bike...

The first day back on the water was a little rough.  It always takes a couple of time to get your sea legs back.  Even though we had been living on the boat, there is a very different movement when you are out on the water. 

Dad’s choice of snack food while we are under way is hardboiled eggs.  He boils about a dozen and snacks on those the whole trip.  This one had cracked a bit so was a little deformed and the yolks in these super large eggs are bright orange which takes some getting used to.

The forecast called for favorable winds, but what we got was a bit more and of course… on our nose.  Ron, from Gemini in Kemer called the Mediterranean the Motor-ranean Sea.  It is an appropriate title.  We ended up motoring the entire day and was able to sail a very little bit as the sun was going down.  We had estimated a 6 hour day going 5 knots… but didn’t get 5 knots until the last hour and a half of the trip so it ended up being more like a 10 hour day. 

We had gotten up early to get the boat ready to leave and the soothing rock of the waves put me right to sleep.  The Dramamine I took to ward off sea sickness didn’t help either.  Dad likes to call this one "Katie's watch".

Because the wind was blowing on average 20 knots on our nose there was some swell and that was what took getting used to.  Managing to get the fenders in while the boat was rocking and rolling or even the cat of getting the sails up proved to be more of a challenge.  It got even harder as the wind picked up and the sun went down.  There are no street lights on the water so getting the sail down by brail essentially was a crash course reminder of how it should be done. 

By the time we saw the lights for Fininkie I was ready to stop for the night.  I was still super tired from the Dramamine, cold because the sun was gone, and starting to get a bit queasy.  What wasn’t superb was that we were going to do the first docking of the season at night.  I have to give mad props to the Turks.  We have only been to two marinas, but in both instances they made night docking almost look easy.  We were put at the very end of a pontoon and the guy was ready in the dingy with the lead line.  He simply handed it to me to put on and then rode back to help Dad with the stern lines.  I tugged and proceeded to get covered in mud from where the line had been living which was a bit gross, but it could’ve been a lot worse. 

We asked an English speaking man at the bathroom where a good place to eat was and he pointed up the road saying it was a really good value.  So we figured out how to leave the marina and went to Anfora Balik Restaurant.  I got chicken schnitzel and Dad went for the Turkish meat balls.  The food was great and we were surrounded by locals dining there also so we knew it had to be good.  We later found out that this was also a restaurant listed in Fodor’s book and we totally agreed with the write up given.

This is the restaurant during the day.  All of the buildings seem to be cut out of the rock which is pretty cool.

Fair Winds - Our Final Days in Kemer

Our last days in Kemer were spent greasing, shopping, doing laundry, and cleaning.  Dad kept finding little things that hadn’t been attended to, like greasing the winches with a giant tub of “Super Lube”.  I did a big provision shop, despite the fact that it had been raining for 3 days, and was in charge of cleaning up down below.  We both made sure everything had a home and turned the boat from what we being used as a stationary house, to a sea worthy boat again.

When a boater signs up for laundry there is the option of signing up for use of both washer/dryer combos or for just one.  We generally sign up for the use of one and have more than enough time to complete a couple of loads when run on the short cycles.  Well this time I underestimated how much laundry we had and ran out of time to dry everything.  It had been raining on and off all day so everything was wet and the clothes would have never dried so I rigged some clothes lines down below and hung everything to dry down there.

Generally people don’t mind if you go over with the use of the dryer, but due to a huge mix up in the morning, the boaters after me really wanted use of all the machines so I removed everything and just saw it as a new project.  It was cold out so we had the heat on anyway and we just cycled things through in front of the heater as needed.  Everything was dry by morning and it was sort of fun figuring out how to hang it all.

The last night we were in Kemer there was a special party going on during Happy Hour at the Navigator.  I wasn’t sure what was going on so I didn’t bring my camera, but I now regret that decision.  Ron and Sue on Gemini got married over the winter holiday and were having a Kemer friend’s reception.  They bought plates full of strawberries and had dipping chocolate to go with them.  There were bottles of champagne for an official toast and even a chocolate and hazelnut cake that was brought out with sparklers.  Everyone I knew at the marina showed up and it was a great way to socialize with people and to say good bye to those I wasn’t sure I’d see in the morning.  It was a really great party to end the season with.

We wanted to leave at around 9:00am so got up at 6:30am to finish up little things and get ready to shove off.  Ben and Eliza on Three Rivers were the first to go by a matter of minutes and were happy to be the first.  Our engine started up without a hitch and one of the coolest things happened, all of the people on our pontoon came out to send us off.  They had horns and noise makers, Jaap was singing the Fiddler’s Green song and it was one of those really cool moments that I will always remember.  As we pulled away from the dock I got teary eyed as everyone was standing where our slip used to be and then I saw Stuart the elder wave from his boat, people from the pontoon across the water out and waving from theirs, the Navigator was ringing their bell and Ellen and Haakon from Kou-Kou were at the end of the break water with a camera yelling their good byes.  It was a really cool experience and made me feel incredibly bitter sweet.

What’s wrong with this picture?  Oh right! I’m not on the boat.  We were lining up to say good bye to Three Rivers.  Stuart and Jenny from Annanita and Jaap and Maria from Gandalf waving with me.  If you look to the mountain in the far left corner, you'll see snow!

I had to wait until we were clear from the other boats and dock before I could take this photo… work getting in the way of art.  But you can see the space where our boat was and see where there are people standing at the dock.  I’m not sure if this is customary everywhere else, but it was something that made the cruisers at Kemer that much cooler.

One final look at Kemer and the mountains before we made the turn. 

Full of Hot Air

We got up bright and early with the hot air balloons on the last day in Cappadocia.  We had heard that taking a hot air balloon ride was a must do, but with a chance of rain and an overcast sky we couldn’t justify the cost.  Plus with all of the hiking we had done, we felt like we covered most of what there was to see.  This may have been a mistake on our part, but I will wait and ride a balloon over New Mexico or some other scenic route.

This was the view from our window at the Panoramic Cave Pension.  We had a terrific view of the town and in the morning of the balloons taking off.

This was my favorite part of the hotel.  It was a common area where you could use the wireless internet, watch TV, or just hang out and chat with other guests.  It was a hostel like environment that was laid back and comfortable.

Breakfast was served here also and you couldn’t beat the view. 

There are something like 50 hot air balloon companies in the Cappadocia area.  Prices ranged everywhere from 120€ for the basic hotel discount rate which gets you an hour of balloon time to the 250€ range for the deluxe.  The prices aren’t even listed for the VIP tours.  The more money you spend the more time you spend up there but nothing seemed to exceed two hours.

This is a very picturesque mosque at the bottom of the hill from our hotel… but at 5:30am when the call to prayer is bellowing out of the speaker on top of the minarets… it’s not so pretty.  That was the one thing about Konya also, there were so many mosques that the 5:30am call lasted a good half an hour before everyone was done.

We got on the road after breakfast and Dad was the first to drive.  In true Bolla traveling fashion he was in driving mode and got caught off guard when he was asked to stop for a stretch.  We all struck up a compromise by stopping at a caravanserai since they didn’t get to see the one the night before and we figured it wouldn’t hurt to see another.  So we stopped in Aksaray to see the one there and as we were going down the road to get to the building, there were carpets on the street.  I guess it was easier to put down a big carpet instead of repave the road?

This is the front of the Akasary Sultanhani Caravanserai built in 1929.  The front is almost exactly the same as the one we had seen the dervish ceremony in the night before.

This is Dad looking distinguished?  Official? Insert appropriate adjective here.  This was a much bigger caravanserai than the one we had been in.  It was set up the same, but like I said was much bigger.  It was destroyed in a fire in 1278 at which point the sultan at the time extended it making this the largest caravanserai in Turkey.

Dad and I decided to have a dervish whirloff.  This was Dad’s attempt at the ceremony.  It was held at the same exact place the night before, under a big dome in the middle of the covered area used to house life stock.

This was my attempt at the dervish ceremony with Mow.  I think we did a pretty good job, but I think my hands may have been in the wrong place. 

Once back on the road we made great time and arrived in Antalya in time for dinner.  We went to the Migros shopping center because our boat and their boat were planning to depart the following week so it was a chance to stock up on provisions with a car to cart them all back.  Dad and I stopped at the Arby’s in the mall and then got what we needed with enough time to spare for a small ice cream cone.  (we were on vacation right?)

Hobnob wanted to see Mozart’s Requiem which was playing at the Antalya concert hall that night so we crossed the road and walked to the hall only to find out they had decided to change it to two nights prior.  I suppose they can do that? So we had a tea and walked back to the car.  We got back to the boat by dark and everything was as it should be which is always a good thing.

Turkish “fast food”.  There were very few places to stop for lunch so we pulled over right outside of Konya and got the local specialty – etli ekmek or flatbread with ground lamb.  It’s basically a ground lamb and other meat pizza, but about 3ft long.

A search for an Urgup that ends in a bus chase

Cappadocia is a region that was formed more than 10 million years ago when three volcanoes began erupting dropping lava, mud, and ash all over the region.  Over eons the byproducts of Mt. Erciyes, Mt. Hasan, and Mt. Melendiz cooled and compressed to form tufa, a soft porous rock that is easily worn by erosion.  Wind and water shaped the rocks creating the cones and Swiss cheese look.  Harder rock on top resisted the erosion longer and often ended up perfectly balanced on top of tall cones.  The result is a “giant outdoor sculpture garden” full of “fairy chimneys” and other rock formations in various shapes and sizes.

The Christians established communities here because they found the “otherworldly landscape” aesthetically pleasing and served their needs to hide from persecution.  They carved hundreds of churches and towns into the soft rock and used preexisting caves as homes. 

We stayed in the town of Goreme which is where the Goreme Open-Air Museum is.  Our first full day in Cappadocia started with a Turkish breakfast buffet which consisted of bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, spreads of some sort, and tea.  We formulated the plan for the day and decided that the best place to start was the museum.  It was the one thing we all wanted to do and we knew where it was after getting lost the day before.

The museum is a fairy chimney valley that is a prime example of how the community was set up.  There is a little bit of everything, including a very extensive collection of frescoed churches.  This rock was a six story convent which had a kitchen, refectory on lower levels and a chapel on the third. 

More rock formations surround the area showing off pigeon or dove holes.  I’m still a bit confused on what the real purpose of these was.  I know they would attract a dove to the hole and then either use it for religious ceremonies or just having the dove around was considered a religious plus?  I’m not real sure.

This was a super long dining table.  We thought it may have been a latrine at first, but a tour guide informed us that it was a dining room that could seat up to 40 people at a time.

The Elmani Kilise or Church with the Apple had amazing frescoes.  We weren't supposed to take photographs but the guard went for a cigarette break so I was able to take a few snap shots here.  So much time, and lay on your back painting went into this church. 

Dad and I posing for a photo with the museum around us. 

This was something we hadn’t run into yet.  This is a girl’s field hockey team and they came running up to us “Hello!” “Where are you from?” “What is your name?”.  They were very excited to be able to see Americans

and practice their English.  We were swarmed, but it was sort of fun giving them first hand experience.

This rock was on the way out.  I’m sure there was some significance to it, but I never found out what.  There were people still living in some of the rocks in the area which was pretty cool, but this one seemed to be unoccupied. 

After our visit to the museum, Doug and Shanna wanted to go hiking in the vallies.  Dad and I were meeting my Aunt Karen for dinner later that evening and decided we weren’t quite up for a hike after the day before so they said we could drop them off and then have full use of the car as long as we found them later.  Everyone was happy with the arrangement so we dropped them off at the beginning of the Rose Valley hike and continued driving up the high way in search of a rock formation we had seen on a post card labeled “Urgup”.

And we found it!  The post card called it “The Three Sisters”.  We just thought it looked cool and once we knew what city to look in, we just had to look for the tour buses and sure enough there it was!

Dad and I asked a very nice German man to take our photo in front of our Holy Grail.  There was some sort of work visa program or something with Germany awhile back so there are buses full of German speaking people that visit Turkey.  I had no idea.

The rock on top is a harder stone that hasn’t been effected by erosion as much as the soft tufa rock underneath.  It looks like the bottom rock is wearing a hat.

I like this side of the rocks because you can see a little carved ladder leading up to what appears to be a room or hiding spot of some sort in the rock.  If you look really closely you can also see a man down there which puts the size of the rocks into perspective.

Dad and I ventured into town for lunch and stopped at a bar in the middle of town.  The hotels here seemed a little nicer than Goreme, but it was still a tourist centered town.  When we parked the car we saw a guy with a bright yellow vest walking around and putting tickets on windshields.  Clearly looking lost a man at a travel agency asked if we needed help.  When we turned around and saw the slightly large man with the NY Yankees hat on speaking perfect English Dad asked if he was from New York.  The man laughed and had apparently spent a couple of years there.  He informed us that it was a lira to park in Urgup and to just give the parking guy the money.  Easy as that.

Lunch was a hamburger and fries, the only thing we could recognize on the poster of what food could be served where we were, and an Efes.  We sat and watched a man smoke his hookah and then the rain started to come down.  At that point it was time to at least head out of town.  On the way out we passed the Turasan Winery which I remembered reading about in the Fodor’s book so we stopped and went on the tour for 10TL.

Turasan is a label that was started in Cappadocia in 1943 making 3,000LT and by 1972 was making 2,161,000LT.  Dad is posing in front of the crest that was located in the collection room.

This is the collection room.  It was my first tour of a winery but I thought it was pretty cool seeing everything on display like this.

This was our tour guide.  After this photo was taken he made a comment to my Dad about how nice I looked and Dad made the comment back that he would trade me for half of the winery… I wish I could say I knew Dad was joking, but with growth like that I’m not sure he was.

We got to see where the grapes come into the room, are squished and de-seeded (no they don’t use feet anymore) and then where the wine was actually made. 

No wine tour would be complete without a tasting!  We tasted a very nice white and two reds.  The final taste, Seneler, was the best and of course the most expensive.  It was 30TL which still isn’t a lot, especially here, but we didn’t feel like carrying it around all day so we chose to pass.

The altitude and lack of humidity in the air started to get to us and after two days of getting up super early Dad and I decided to head back to the hotel for a nap before our evening out with my Aunt Karen. 

This is a much friendlier way to tell us where the hotel is than the goat heads in Konya.  It was a VW Bus with the top of a VW Bug welded on top.  Since Dad had experience with both of them we decided it warranted a photo.

After our nap we made it a quest to find my Aunt Karen’s hotel so we wouldn’t get super lost later when we had to be there.  Doug and Shanna decided to hike another valley and were in Love Valley when they called and said to take our time and that they would call when they were closer to the high way.  So Dad and I got directions (sort of) and realized Aunt Karen was staying in Nevsehir, which we passed through on the way into Goreme after the underground city. 

(On a side note Fodor’s describes Nevsehir as: “a dreadful little town that you should avoid”.  There is a very small paragraph dedicated to it and that is it.)

We found the town ok, but got terribly lost looking for the hotel.  What should’ve been a 15 minute car ride ended up being about 45 minutes because we plain out got lost.  It took a lot of patience and a few trips around a sculpture of a giant bunch of green grapes to find Aunt Karen’s hotel which was huge and stuck out like a sore thumb once spotted.

Crunched for time we managed to find Hobnob, change, and make it back to her hotel by 5:50pm.  Her tour ran a little late so we waited in the lobby and watched English news from a Chinese broadcast station and was again reminded of the turmoil that is in our current backdoor. 

We had a great visit with Aunt Karen before dinner and then joined her tour group in the hotel for a Turkish buffet.  The food was good and there was a huge selection of things to eat, but the waiters were a bit odd.  I had my first creep out moment when one of the waiters walked by and actually touched my neck and hair.  At that point I declared my dinner over and was saved by the clock when it was time to go to the show.

The tour guide was able to get us tickets to see the Whirling Dervish show that they were going to, but we had to follow behind in our car.  We didn’t mind at all and followed the bus out of the hotel parking lot.  Right as the bus was turning onto the ramp to go down to the highway the car in front of him stopped as another car was making its way UP the ramp.  The car coming up (the wrong way) scarped past the car going down and we all came to a stop as the drivers got out to talk.  Apparently the two people in the car going down were undercover cops… and the driver in the car coming up didn’t have a driver’s license.  There was a lot of discussion and the licenseless driver ended up getting into the car with the cops and they drove away.  This left his wife, mother, and small child in the car.  So the wife had to get behind the wheel and take the car wherever its original destination was.  As it turns out the wife wasn’t able to make a three-point turn to get the car facing the correct direction so Aunt Karen’s tour guide got behind the wheel, made the turn, and the woman got in the driver’s seat at that point.  I’m not sure this was the best call to make, but it happened.

Once we got on the road we realized we weren’t following a cautious bus driver… we were following a bus driver who knew a show was going to start soon and had to get people there.  This was an experience.  We were almost team driving.  Dad was watching his headlights while I was watching the street lights… flash green (which means the yellow is about to turn on)… turn yellow and then red!  That happened at least twice.  The speed limit as we knew it on these highways was 90KPH and he was going at least 120KPH.  We had seen speed traps set up all over so were hesitant to follow him, but we had no idea where the show was and didn’t have much choice.  It was a true adventure that I would compare to the Runaway Train ride at Magic Kingdom. 

The whirling dervish ceremony took place at the Saruhan Carevanserai.  It was one of the places caravans and merchants would stop on the Silk Road.  They were set up every 12 miles or so and would provide a place to rest along the way.

This was the stage that was set up inside for the ceremony to take place.  Because it is technically a religious ceremony, photographs weren’t allowed during the ceremony.

The Sema ceremony represents a mystical journey of man’s spiritual ascent through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives to the “Perfect” according to the brochure we received.  The dervish wears his head dress (his ego’s tombstone), his white skirt (his ego’s shroud), is spiritually born to the truth by removing his black cloak, and he journeys and advances to spiritual maturity through the stages of the Sema (twirling). 

The ceremony had musical dervishes who did not twirl but played and chanted the parts of the Sema.  There were 5 dervishes who did twirl and one who sort of watched and judged what was going on and then said the final prayers at the end of the ceremony.  It was an amazing thing to watch these men twirl and whirl for about 30 minutes straight with what appeared to be complete concentration.  I really enjoyed the ceremony and think that the setting helped make it special; Dad thought it was a bit slow. 

Aunt Karen and I after the ceremony.  We were able to enjoy a cup of apple cider and then her bus had to be on its way.

It was so amazing that we were able to coordinate meeting up with her.  We had a little help from her tour guide having our cell phone number, but to be in a world where we can just meet up on the other side of the world is pretty awesome.

Dad and I broke away from the bus and were able to make our way back to the hotel without any problems.  Doug and Shanna went to “Turkish Night” which was something the hotel was able to sign them up for.  They got a ride from the hotel, dinner, a preview of what the dervishes looked like, followed by scantily clad belly dancers.  Shanna’s favorite part was watching the table full of Turkish gentlemen next to her more than the actual belly dancers themselves.  Everyone got entertained and had a terrific ending to a jam packed day.