Updates from Türkiye

Last Sunday I returned to Istanbul after an amazing and eventful tour of Western Anatolia. These memories of ancient ruins, beautiful landscape, friendship, joy and laughter will never leave me. This week stands out as one of the best I’ve had on my exchange so far. It will forever be a golden memory and fill my heart full of love. Ok, so enough of the mushy stuff. Here is a summary of our tour:

1. Istanbul to Pamukkale: a long drive from Istanbul to this city on the coast of Southwestern Turkey. At the hotel, we had an opportunity to swim in a hot medicinal spring pool. The water was warm and relaxing and had a greenish tint. My skin felt nice afterward! It was mostly an evening of relaxing, settling in, and chatting. Oh! But my three girlfriends and I did get a jujitsu lesson in our hotel room from a Brazilian exchange student named Andre, who over the course of the trip became our good friend.

My Friend Julia and I on the ferry boat crossing the Marmara Sea!

2. Pamukkale to Antalya: visit to the ancient city of Pamukkale. Better than the ancient Plutonium, tombs, bath, and gymnasium that we saw were the natural springs and mineral deposits….a mountain of white beauty with small pools of water that we got to take off our shoes and walk through. From there we drove west to Antalya, a large city on the Mediterranean coast. We walked around the old city of Antalya for a bit and got to one of its harbors just in time to sit on the wall and watch the sunset together.

Exchange Students together on an ancient wall!

Pamukkale

Old Antalya

Sunset in Antalya

3. Antalya: We drove to the ancient Acropolis of Perge and then to Aspendos to see the largest ancient theater still intact.

Columns at Perge

Perge

North American girls at Perge!

Aspendos Amphitheater

Aspendos

4. Antalya to Kas: from our hotel in Antalya we arrived first in Demre, for an excursion to the church of St. Nicholas. This is where my camera was dropped and broken. I’ve been stealing pictures from my friends though, so it’s all good. The frescos at the Church of St. Nicholas were well preserved and interesting to look at. Demre is a quaint little place too- small shops with vendors that are surprisingly not all that pushy. I was very happy with my purchase of handmade and painted bowls from one stall- before I left I was offered cay (tea) and got to watch the shop owner carefully paint his designs. Lots of Russian writing everywhere in Demre too, probably because the place gets a lot of Russian tourists. From Demre we set off to Kekova for a boat tour of an ancient city that is part underwater. It was interesting but the most fun was watching exchange students strip off their clothes and jump into the sea. Our hotel in Kas had a beautiful view and we had some free time to explore and walk around. My friends and I went to a small inlet and I ended up going swimming in the water! I missed the Mediterranean!! IT was a fun and enjoyable night with friends and after dinner we went out too, to drink cay and Sahlep (a hot Turkish drink) at a seaside café. I thoroughly enjoyed Kas!!! Along with Antalya, it was my favorite city!!

Our scenic drive along the coast from Antalya to Kas!

Fresco on the wall of the Church of St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas statue outside of the church

In the courtyard of the church

Kekova Boat Tour! I know it looks like natural rocks, but it actually used to be a city. Part of it is now underwater.....

On the Kekova tour!

Girls dancing on the boat!

Me with my roomate Mathilda

Our tour group! 10 countries were represented: Brazil, USA, Canada, Mexico, England/France, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, and Turkey!

Beautiful Kas

This is where I went swimming by our hotel!

The view from our hotel in Kas!

5. Kas to Fethiye: an early morning rising for us as we left the hotel for an excursion in Xanthos. Not many pictures taken there- we were pretty tired and must have been walking around like zombies!! However, everyone was pumped for our trip to Oludeniz (the Dead Sea). I turned out to be a lot colder then we all expected….I can’t believe I went swimming in February!!! From there we continued on our drive to Fethiye. Another stay at a quaint hotel where, lucky for us, there were TONS of Turkish hotties because the junior rowing teams of two major sport clubs, Fenerbace and Galatasaray, were also staying at our hotel . I didn’t leave to go explore Fethiye. I went to the Hamam, or Turkish Bath, with two of my girlfriends instead!!! We were stuck in the sauna then scrubbed down by a muscular Turkish woman. We felt so relaxed afterwards. Later that night, my four girlfriends and I organized a small surprise birthday party for our Brazilian friend Andre. The evenings and nights of this trip seemed to be so long…..probably because we were going to sleep so late!

Xanthos Amphitheater

The harbor in Fethiye where we stopped for lunch. A great place to walk around!!!

The Oludeniz (Dead Sea)

We went swimming in February!! It was nice weather but the water was cold!

6. Fethiye to Bodrum: woke up in the morning for another boat tour, this time it was of the ancient tombs of Dalyan. Most of us were cuddled up with each other on the boat because it was so cold! After lunch of delicious warm pide (pita) with beyaz peynir (white cheese) we had about a three hour drive to Bodrum. More fun, chatting, and sleeping on the bus . Upon our arrival to Bodrum, we rushed to the Bodrum castle and were able to do a quick tour of it before closing time. I have heard Bodrum called the Miami of Turkey, the hot vacation spot for modern middle to upper class Turks. It was not my favorite city (too white-cement and modern looking) but it easily rivaled all the other cities with its beautiful view and location on the Akdeniz (Mediterranean Sea). Also, our hotel in Bodrum was high-class and gorgeous. We enjoyed the sauna, food, and hanging out as we were blessed with an especially late curfew that night.

Tombs of Dalyan (the sun has given the stones a reddish color)

With my girls Christina (Colorado), Mathilda (England/France), Julia (Canada), Riley (USA-Michagan), and me. Mathilda (one with the brown coat and glasses) was my roommate for the week, but all of us practically lived with each other! Even though we are yabancilar (foreigners), we think our friendship resembles the friendships that Turks have. We were ALWAYS visiting each other in hotel rooms, dropping by when we wanted; gossiping and filling each other in on everything; making plans that were always flexible or ended up completely changing….we felt like the sisterhood of the travelling pants! That’s how close we got!

The city of Bodrum, with its white houses and buildings.....

Bodrum Castle with Akdeniz (the Mediterranean Sea) in the background!!!

With my friend Andre on one of the castle walls (he was the one who gave us the jujitsu lesson on the first night!!)

More of Bodrum Castle

Our Bodrum Hotel!

7. Bodrum to Kusadasi to Izmir: the thing I remember most about this day is Ephesus! Ephesus! Ephesus! And Virgin Mary! Virgin Mary! Virgin Mary! I think that this was the day where history and ruins were as enjoyable if not more enjoyable then fun with friends. I was so incredibly humbled by Ephesus….it was by far my favorite of all the historical places on the tour. I remember being quite silent. I just wanted to take it all in. I especially enjoyed the library….a really magnificent structure that could have brought me to my knees. After Ephesus we headed to the Church of St. Mary. It was a quiet and sacred space. The only thing I did not appreciate was the merchants taking advantage of the religious significance of the site to charge ridiculously high prices for souvenirs, rosary beads, and holy water from the stream. We stayed the night at a hotel in Izmir. My girlfriends and I had plans to go out and explore the city a little bit as we had free time as usual between dinner and curfew. However, during one of the commercial breaks of our favorite Turkish shows, Hanimin Ciftligi, we all fell asleep.

The Temple of Apollo!

Posing with another column at the Temple of Apollo

At the site of Ephesus

My favorite of all ruins that we saw...how humble and silenced this monument made me feel. I just stared at it for about 10 minutes before taking my time to go up and take my picture with it.....the.....

Magnificent Library of Ephesus

Church of Virgin Mary

Prayer Wall

8. Izmir to Canakkale: this was perhaps our busiest day of touring. We departed early from the hotel for a tour of the ancient city of Pergamon. Part of the city is right along a cliff. I remember the adrenaline rush of walking along this one path and looking over the edge knowing that if I tripped and fell, I’d be gone. We also visited an ancient hospital. From Pergamon we drove to Canakkale where we visited the ancient site of Troy. After learning so much about Homer’s great epic, The Illiad, in Latin class, I was really excited to see the site. It turned out to be not the mind blowing and exciting site I thought it would be. We walked around inside walls of the ancient and legendary city, but the site was so much in ruins that I had trouble imagining what it looked like or what it was like. But, I was really pleased to be walking where this epic battle/siege may have taken place between the Greeks and Trojans. THAT was really cool. Exploring and climbing up the model replacement of the Trojan horse, now that was cool too.

Amphitheater at Pergamon

Exchange students posed on the pillars at Pergamon!

With the fameous pillar at the site of an old Byzantine mental hospital...

At the site of the ancient hospital with what was considered as a sacred tree

The Trojan Horse! (A model of it anyway...)

With my friend Mathilda inside the Trojan horse

9. Canakkale to Istanbul: the last day of our tour. We were tired and ready to sleep on the bus. It was a low key drive to Gallipoli where we visited the graves and trenches from WW1 during the Canakkale war between the Turks and Anzacs and Allied Powers. The trenches were interesting but what caught me most was the graves. Right by the sea, trees with branches that bent over the graves, it seemed the perfect quite and humble setting to honor those who gave their lives, and also a really good place for quite reflection and thought. As I walked in between the graves and stood at the edge of the sea, I thought about the crazy and fun trip that would be coming to the end that day. I had seen some amazing things and strengthened so many bonds of friendship.
I don’t have pictures of the sites we say this day but here are some ones that capture some of our time on the tour bus! and 2 ones that I just wanted to include =)