Back from Turkey 2012

Tuesday, 23 October

A long but uneventful travel day returned us to the US last night.

Monday found us up at 4:30a (Sunday 9:30p EST) for our early morning flight to Munich.  Our insistence that we could take a cab to the airport fell on deaf ears as usual, and Aylin and Murat drove us to Adnan Menderes Airport on the outskirts of İzmir.  At that hour of the day, there was little traffic and we made the drive in 20 minutes.  The check-in line was a little longer than we expected, but moved along quickly.  Soon, teary-eyed farewells said, we were on our way to the gate.  With plenty of time to spare before departure, we took advantage of the only café open at that time of the morning to have a light breakfast of simit and tea.

This is what the The terminal usually looks like for our early morning departures from
Adnan Menderes Airport; today was the exception, but the check-in lines moved fast.

The Lufthansa aircraft coming in from Germany was uncharacterically late.  Once the Airbus A320-200 had landed and was prepared for the turnaround flight, we went through the turnstiles with the usual hub-bub that defines the boarding process in Turkey and were taken out to the plane by shuttle bus.  We were settled into exit row seats 12C/D by 7:45a, and were wheels up at 8:15a.  Since we had a couple hours’ layover in Munich, we weren’t concerned about the 30-minute delay in our departure.  In fact, a portion of the delay was made up en route, and we landed in Munich at 9:35a with plenty of time to spare before the next leg of our trip.

Our aircraft being readied for the hop over the Big Pond.

With a two-hour layover, we did what we usually do when we travel through München International Airport — we strolled from one end of the international terminal to the other to stretch our legs before the long haul to the US.  Eventually we made our way to Gate 43, which is behind a second security check-point.  Not fun; but we have come to expect and accept these post 9/11 measures for flights to the US.

Par for the day, a 30-minutes delay was announced for this flight as well, but it was actually an hour behind schedule by the time we were wheels up at 12:40p.  We were again in the great Economy+ seats we had lucked out with when United reconfigured its 777-200 fleet to 2-5-2 seating, so the long flight back was comfortable.

Plenty of leg room for the long flight back.

Can’t say that the flight went by in the blink of an eye.  It was, after all, an 8½ hour flight.  A little reading, a little blogging, a little photo culling — and in Mui’s case, a lot of napping — helped pass the time away.  The lunch service was unremarkable, but better than the dry gouda sandwich box we were given shortly before landing.

Grilled chicken cremolata and beef in a pepper cognac cream sauce …
tasted better than it looked.

Encountering tailwinds instead of the usual headwinds, the cockpit crew managed to eliminate most of the one hour delay with which we started off.  When we landed at Dulles International at 2:55p, we were just 10 minutes behind the scheduled ETA.

That was the good part of our arrival.  Even the lines in immigration moved fast, so no problem there either.  The bad part was the ridiculously long lines to get through customs after we collected our bags.  For whatever reason, they were re-checking passports again, and the line, which was four deep, wrapped all the way back to Immigration.  It took us over an hour to get through the line and make our escape.

DC’s infamous rush hour traffic was in full swing by the time we boarded the Washington Flyer bus to the West Falls Church metro station.  The decision to take the bus worked to our advantage as the bus lanes were open and we moved right along without getting entangled in the traffic.  A one-stop ride to the Dunn Loring metro station, a two-minute walk to our condo, and we were finally home … just long enough to drop off our bags and pick up the car to go get dinner at Sweetwater Tavern and shop for groceries at the nearby market.

And thus another trip to Turkey has come and gone.

From boutique museums, to ruins of antiquity, to wildlife parks, to fortresses, churches and mosques, to colorful market places.  From intimate tea parties, to breakfasts and dinners best described as feasts.  From airplanes, to automobiles, to trains, to busses, to ferries and small boats.  This was a busy trip to be sure.  We explored new places and visited favorite old haunts.  In short, we had a fantastic time.

Until our next non-motorhome travel venture — wherever that might be — visit us at Phaeton Journeys to find out what we’re up to as we embark on our new retirement lifestyle … and the adventure of a lifetime :-)

Seferihisar: Sığacık … a “Cittaslow” Town & Teos … an Ancient City

Sunday, 21 October

Our last day in Turkey was not spent packing our bags and preparing for the long flight ahead.  No sirree; having already taken care of that miserable travel chore, we were all set to go on a day trip to Seferihisar, a district of İzmir.

After enjoying a tasty breakfast hosted by Aylin, we bundled into the car and headed 30 miles (48 km) southwest of the city to our first stop of the day: Sığacık.  Proudly displaying terracotta snails on the roofline of its buildings, this “slow” town proclaims that it is part of the “cittaslow movement,” which was founded in Italy in 1999.  Per Wikipedia, the main goal of the movement is “improving the quality of life in towns by slowing down its overall pace, especially in a city's use of spaces and the flow of life and traffic through them.”  (More info here.)

PART OF THE 30-MILE (48 KM) DRIVE IS ON THE FREEWAY TO ÇEŞME.

Located on the coast, this fishing town has made a name for itself as a popular Sunday pazar (marketplace).  The roads leading to and around the town square are shut down to vehicular traffic, and the locals set up stalls from which they sell everything from handcrafted items, such as jewelry, shawls and stuffed toys; to home-cooked foods, such as stuffed squash florets and peppers, böreks, and a variety of sweets; to fresh produce of all kinds.

From fresh produce, to a variety of homemade pasta and pickels …
you can find pretty much everything at the Sığacık Pazari.
(Pictured bottom left is Kudret Nari [Momordica charantia …
aka bitter melon or bitter gourd].)

Stuffed squash florets.

Wandering around the stalls, mom picked up some foodstuff to take home, and Mui picked up some kol börek and kalburabastı for us to all enjoy at Bab-ı-Devran, a tea house with an adjoining boutique.

kol böreğİ means “arm” BÖrek.  the dough (or phyllo) is filled and shaped in long
circular strips that are cut up into individual portions at the point of sale.

The gang awaiting their beverages of choice at Bab-ı-Devran.

kol börek (left) and kalburabastı (right) … and a glass of lemonade … what a treat!

Muhİttİn & Murat
Funny that the two men who married into our family have names beginning with “M.”

We finished off our visit to Sığacık by wandering over to the ruins of the castle believed to have been constructed during the Selçuk Period (1040-1157), and last restored in the 16th century by Kanuni Sultan Süleyman (Suleiman the Magnificent) when he gave the order to prepare for the Rhodes Campaign.  Leaving everyone to check out the produce stalls set up within the walls of the castle, I climbed the narrow, rickety stone steps for a view of the harbor and marina from atop the walls.

Looking in from the top of the walls towards the marketplace.

Looking out towards the small boat harbor just outside the castle walls.

From Sığacık we next drove a couple of miles to Teos, an ancient city of the Ionian League first mentioned by Geographer Strabo, who lived between 64 BC – AD 24.  Unlike the better known Ephesus, which was also part of the league, the ruins of Teos are just that — ruins. There is an active archaeological dig on the site, but it’s slow going.

We limited our visit to the Temple of Dionysius this time.  Perhaps there will be much more to see by the time we next stop by to check out the dig.  (More info about the temple, the largest of its kind dedicated to Dionysius in Anatolia, is on page 10 of this e-guidebook.)

We wrapped up our day in Seferihisar at Teos Park, a family-owned open air facility with hammocks under the trees, seating areas and tables interspersed around the grounds, and a restaurant serving everything from breakfast to dinner.  Sitting at one of the terrace tables, where a light breeze coming off the Aegean Sea kept us cool, we enjoyed our afternoon tea before heading back to İzmir.

Thus we wrapped up the last day of this year’s trip to Turkey.  Tomorrow, we fly back home to the US.

Selçuk Railway Museum

(catch-up Post)

Saturday, 20 October (Part III)

I mentioned in a previous post that Selçuk is mostly a waypoint on our way to nearby places of interest — such as Şirince (post here) and Efes (aka Ephesus; post here).  Today, we actually spent some time in Selçuk.

Our first stop was the Railway Museum — or more accurately, the Çamlık Steam Locomotive Museum.

Engine 3304; a C-h2 type locomotive manufactured by Henschel out of Germany.  The engine entered service in 1918 and worked the Zonguldak line.  It was capable of a max. speed of 50 km/h.

The museum is located on the site of the former train station by the same name.  The station was built in 1866 by the Oriental Railway Company (ORC), a British company that was awarded the concession from the Ottoman government to construct the rail line between İzmir and Aydın.

The former train shed, which contains exhibits, was undergoing restoration work.
thus we were unable to visit it.

While we like trains, I can’t say that we are true aficionados.  For the dyed-in-the-wool train enthusiast, this museum, with its collection of locomotives built in Turkey, as well as other countries around the world, would probably be a treasure trove to explore.  And for them, here’s a link to a pdf guide I found after the fact.

Engine 46244; a 1D1-h2 type engine manufactured by American Locomotive Company.
It entered service in 1942 and worked the Balıkesir Line.  It had a maximum speed of 70 km/h.

So, why go and pay the 5TL ($2.75) per person admission for this museum?  Because we wanted to see one of the private railcars in which Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, travelled around the country.  It was sad to see that the interior of a train car that has such historic significance is in need of a good restoration, but we appreciated wandering around it nonetheless.

Saloon 4ufw No1 is one of several train cars built for Atatürk’s private use.

(couldn’t get a decent picture of the bedroom; which is where Mui is sitting in the photo on the left.)

After touring the car, we strolled to the far end of the grounds, stopping frequently to checkout the various locomotives and train cars on display.

The turntable is like a lazy-Susan used to turn railroad rolling stock, usually
locomotives, so that they can be moved back in the direction from which they came.

This is a steam crane I believe.

Sorry, Aylİn; I don’t think this train car is scheduled to go anywhere soon ;-)

Hoping for a cup of tea or other beverage to conclude our visit to the museum, we stopped by the on-site café, but it was closed.  So, we drove into Selçuk and found ourselves a café in the town center instead.  We would have enjoyed some tasty tidbits along with our tea, but we didn’t want to ruin our appetite for the perch mom had stayed behind to prepare for dinner.  Making a promise to ourselves to explore Selçuk the next time we’re in Turkey, we headed home to enjoy the delicious meal that was awaiting us.  (Sorry, forgot to take pictures.)

Ephesus … Step Back Through the Centuries at the Terrace Houses

Saturday, 20 October (Part II)

After a delightful breakfast in Şirince (post here), we drove 10 miles (16 km) to Efes — aka Ephesus — a prosperous city of antiquity that was founded in the 10th Century BC, and ruled by the Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires before being abandoned in the 15th Century AD.  It is considered to be the best preserved city of antiquity in this part of the world — and one of my favorite places to visit in Turkey.

I’ve seen Ephesus through the eyes of a child … a teenager … and an adult — it has never failed to awe and inspire me.  Today’s visit was no exception.

Usually, we park in the lot that is nearest the lower section of the ruins and walk up and back down from there.  Today, we reversed our route, parking in the lot at the top section of the ruins.  All but Mui had a Müzekart that we had purchased last year for 20TL ($11), so the entrance fee of 25TL ($13.75) was waived for us; he bought his card at the entrance gate.

Two to Travel with the Celsus Library in the background.

[The Müzekart is only available for purchase by Turkish Nationals.  Now priced at 30TL [$16.50], it is good for a year’s worth of free admission to museums and historic sites across the country.  Since we will be returning to Turkey next year, the card was a good buy for Mui even at the higher price he paid.  The card I bought in October 2012 paid for itself last year, so the free admission to Ephesus today was a real bonus; I’ll have to buy a new card next year.]

I entered the ruins intending to keep the camera in my bag.  After all, considering my many previous visits to Ephesus, I really didn’t need any more pictures.  You know how that plan turned out, don’t you?  By the time we had reached the Odeon a short distance from the turnstiles, the camera was clicking away.  Since I did an extensive post on Ephesus in 2010, I’m going to refer you to that post and use this one for a part of the ruins that I’d never visited before.  (As a bonus, that post also contains images from our visit to Meryemana [the House of the Virgin Mary].)

In addition to the post linked above, you can see the photos from this
year’s trip by clicking on this collage.

One of the most exciting sections of the ruins at Ephesus is the Terrace Houses.  This active dig is located across from the Temple of Hadrian.  The 15TL ($8.25) fee is in addition to the general admission, and is not covered by the Müzekart.  Well worth it IMHO.  Purchasing our tickets at the entrance to the dig, which is covered with special material to protect the frescoes and mosaics that have been excavated, we stepped inside … and with that, we stepped back to the times of antiquity.  The only thing I regret is that there was no guide to tell us about what we were seeing.  On the other hand, the few people who were visiting the terrace houses when we were there didn’t linger long and that worked to our advantage later.

Talk about putting together the pieces of a puzzle!

Here’s some information about Terrace House 2, taken directly from the signage at the door:

The traces of settlement on the northern slope of Mount Bülbül go back to the Archaic Period (7th/6th century BC) when this area was used as a cemetery.  During the Hellenistic Period (ca. 200 BC) the slope was terraced extensively and, in addition to this, a complex and unstructured development was built.

Work is ongoing to reconstruct the marble-clad walls of the marble hall.

Artist's rendering of the marble hall.
It is believed that the walls were clad in marble around AD 100.

Collage of images showing the restoration of the marble hall walls.

Terrace House 2 is today defined as a 4,000 m² insula (a rental house for several parties).  Over three terraces, six separate residential units with separate entrances were originally constructed.  Two alleys flanked the insula covering a difference in ground elevation of 27.5 m.  The north front of the house bordered Curetes Street with a series of tabernae (shops), and the ‘Terrace House Street’ formed the southern limit.

Frescoes in a barrel-vaulted room.

The glass catwalk permits visitors a peek into sections that are not open to visitors.

The residential units built during the early Roman Imperial period (ca. AD 20) are characterized by a multi-storied peristyle courtyard around which were the living space and work areas.  Water supply and drainage occurred through shaft wells, and a branched canal system was also provided.  While the reception rooms were richly decorated, the domestic work areas such as toilets and kitchens were simply furnished.  The lost upper floors, in which rooms for receptions and banquets were located, should be imagined as having been especially luxurious.

That these richly decorated walls and floors with mosaic insets have survived …

… at all is nothing short of amazing.

A closer look at the mosaic floor insets;
the one on the left features images of Emperor Hadrian and Medusa.

Beautifully preserved frescoes.

Besides numerous small-scale and individual modifications, a total of four or five architectural phases affecting Terrace House 2 have been identified.  Through these reconfigurations, two residential units (3 and 5) were created out of one on the middle terrace; furthermore, a city palace (6) was built at the expense of residential unit 4, shrinking its living space.

Left: A 2000-year-old sewer line.
Right: a beautiful mosaic runner.

Mosaic floor inset as viewed through the dusty glass floor of the catwalk.

A series of earthquakes in the 3rd century AD put a sudden end to the dwellings in the city center of Ephesus.  The unpredictable natural disaster, however, resulted in a partly undisturbed inventory of domestic utensils preserved in the earthquake strata.  In the late Antique Period, the ruin was provisionally adapted and used, and only during the 5th century AD were rebuilding measures taken.  An extensive reorganization of the area took place in the early 7th century when an early Byzantine handicraft quarter with mills, smithies, and potteries was established over the Roman residential building.

More beautiful mosaic floor insets.

Aylin and Hakan patiently wait for me to catch up to them to take a look at …

… a beautifully preserved mosaic floor medallion.

Now for the really special part of our visit to the Terrace Houses … I hope I don’t get anyone into trouble by writing about it.  I mentioned earlier that by the time we had arrived at the upper reaches of the dig, we were the only visitors inside.  For this I will be forever grateful as the story I am about to share would never have happened otherwise.

When I finally caught up to the rest of my party, Mui was chatting with one of the guards on duty.  A few minutes later, Mui came over, asked for my camera, and handed it to the guard.  I thought he was going to take a photo of us with the ruins as a backdrop.  Nope; the guard promptly ran off with my camera, leaving me with my mouth agape.  He’d apparently offered to take some photos in the sections not open to visitors!  He was grinning when he returned 15 minutes later and handed the camera to me.  No, he wouldn’t take a tip; but he did accept my heartfelt thanks.

No words … just photos …

And finally, the pièce de résistance of the photos the guard took were these brilliantly colored wall mosaics …

… and this gorgeous floor mosaic.

My mind was a-whirl when we finally left the terrace houses.  Had there been a guide around, I might have begged everyone’s indulgence and gone back in.  But the afternoon hour had grown late and the guards were actually locking up behind us; it was time to move on.

View from the terrace houses down Arcadian Street with the agora to the left
(foreground) and the theater where restoration work is ongoing.

After such a full day you’d think we’d be heading home.  Not quite yet; we had one more stop to make first.