DC Girl on the Go

Pamukkale, meaning “cotton castle” in Turkish, is one of the most unique Unesco World Heritage Sites I’ve seen. From a distance, it looked like ski slope. The city is full of hot springs and travertines, or terraces of carbonate materials left by flowing water that give the landscape its snowy appearance.

At the top of the hill we started on our tour among ruins then it opened up to the white part of the mountain with blue thermal pools naturally terracing the hillside. To walk on the travertine sediment everyone was required to take off their shoes. The terrain was rocky at first then it turned smooth with grooves from the ebb and flow of the water. It wasn’t slippery either, there was a fair amount of traction.

The circular terraced pools were about 20 feet in length, the water came up about mid-calf height, and the bottom was sandy. Alongside the terrace slope there was a 3 foot wide stream of running thermal water down the mountainside. Visitors have the option to continue to the bottom but we decided to stop midway and head to a cafe at the Antique Pool for lunch. 

When my sis and I ordered our food, the guys behind the counter asked if we were sisters. Everyone who asked us this question while we were abroad was delighted and tickled when they found out we were sisters. That was new for me. The sister thing wasn’t quite as enthusiastically received when we traveled to France just a few months prior haha. We ate out on the patio and by and by we were surrounded by 7 cats! They were all over Turkey, but it was hilarious because they were at our feet staring at us, meowing, and even climbing on the table to get our food.

After lunch we climbed a steep gravel road to the enormous amphitheater overlooking the ruins of ancient Hierapolis. We had an incredible view of a snow-capped mountain to our left (yes, it snowed while we were there), the far off mountains straight ahead, and the extensive collection of ruins to the right. After walking down, we came upon large ruins of arches, columns, foundations, walls… the fact that they were unearthed and pretty in tact was astounding. You could really visualize what the place would have looked like all those years ago! Toward the end of the 1.5 + mile walk through Hierapolis, was a humongous cemetery with marble statues, mausoleums, open tombs, and marble coffins with Greek writings still visible etched in the stone.

Pammukale had a great mix of natural and man-made wonders well worth the visit!

Our first stop was the House of the Virgin Mary up the mountain from Ephesus. Legend has it that after Jesus’ death, Mary fled to Ephesus to live out the rest of her days in refuge. Her house was in a beautiful woods high in the mountain with an enormous tree canopy covering the oasis. I felt like Frodo laying eyes on Rivendell for the first time- it had an eerie feeling of calm and tranquility.  The house was a two room stone building and people were required to be silent and have appropriate dress to go in. There wasn’t much to the house other than a small pew to pray, different gifts bestowed by the most recent popes on display, and a small statue of Mary without hands (they were gold so they were stolen). We exited the house and continued to a row of fountains in a brick façade containing cold “holy water.” Past that was a large brick wall with hundreds of knotted white cloths/materials with writing. According to Pagan legend, if you hang a white knotted material and you make a wish and it comes true, you have to return.

Down the hill was one of the 4 most important cities in ancient Rome, Ephesus (it was the New York City of the ancient world). There are a few stories of how Ephesus came into existence. The first was that a guy had a dream he was chasing a boar and where he killed it, he had to found a city. The second story is that the Amazons started the town and the prettiest/most skilled one (Ephesia) had the town named after her.

The amount of ruins still intact was astounding- the Roman Forum can’t even compare. We started at the top of the hill and saw the agora (forum) and an indoor theater where government and citizenship activities took place. The path led us down the hill where we had the most amazing view of a street lined with columns and a view of the library peeking over top.  Our guide pointed out that there were holes in the walkway because it was the 2^nd city in the world to have illuminated streets. Ephesus was so boojee!

We also saw their toilets, which as funny as it is to admit, was really cool to see. A large stone slab ran the entire length of a room with running water underneath. The toilets were positioned side by side, and in the winter, servants would warm the toilets before their masters sat. Our guide also said that a lot of deals went down in there because everyone sat side by side and the running water covered up secret conversations.

On the walk down the marble street we saw assorted Greek tablets, a street sign (large slab of marble with depictions ie. snake for hospital, Hermes and sheep for the trade route), and the first condos in the world for the rich people. They even had central heating with hot water flowing through pipes in the winter months. Down a bit was the Heracles Gate, the tall two story façade of the library (3^rd largest in the ancient world), a huge amphitheater that seats 25,000, and a large market a few football fields in length. Here’s a fun little fact- the amphitheater got partially ruined a few years ago from a Sting concert due to the too strong decibel level.

We then went a few miles down the road and saw the ruins of St. John’s Basilica (built by Justinian). The light of the afternoon sun was perfect against the ruins and a lot of the stone work was still intact. In the nave nearby, a large marker denoted where St. John is said to be buried. Down the side of the hill was mosque where we could see in the courtyard and just beyond that were the ruins of an old Turkish bath. Also below was a single pillar that used to be the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world! The view from the Basilica was one of the most memorable from the trip.

Belief in the evil eye is prevalent in the Middle East and Mediterranean cultures. Essentially, the evil eye is a look that is believed to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed. The term also refers to the power attributed to people inflicting injury or bad luck by an envious or ill-wishing look.

In the Aegean region, where light-colored eyes are relatively rare, people with green or blue eyes are thought to bestow the curse. This idea likely came from Turks weary of aggressive Northern Europeans flexing their influence in the Middle East.

Turkey (and Greece) is rampant with evil eye talismans or amulets. They’re everywhere and in fact, our bus driver had a large one above his window. The amulets range in size and price. Most are small glass blue ovals with an inner circle of white, light blue, and navy. Evil eyes make great souvenirs and they won’t weigh down your bag at customs!

Tea, or çay (pronounced Chai), is a staple in Turkish culture and offering tea to guests is part of Turkish hospitality. Everywhere you go, from restaurants to gas stations someone is drinking tea. Even at typical nine-to-fives, a tea cart is rolled around to each of the offices throughout the day. Turks have the highest per capita tea consumption in the world followed by the United Kingdom.

Unlike the British, tea is not served in a dainty cup and saucer, rather it is served in a curved 4 inch tall glass without handles. It makes drinking really hot tea rather difficult. My favorite tea was elma çay, or apple tea- it tasted like hot apple cider without the bite. Later, our guide told us that apple tea is a touristy thing and that most Turks don’t actually drink it on the regular. (I think it’s crazy that they pass up that deliciousness!)

A cup of çay usually was 1TL and it was served with breakfast, lunch, dinner, or whenever you felt like having a glass. All the rest stops and stands sold boxes of the tea from 4 TL to 20 TL (much more cost effective than the bazaars back in İstanbul) and most shops also sold cheap tea sets. If you can, wait to buy a tea set from a nicer shop in a city. I waited until Konya to buy mine and the quality was much better than the random stands we visited on our Tour de Turkey.

After our tour of Troy, we set up camp for the night in Çanakkale. Here, we had a free night to roam the town before setting off for Kuşadası. The hotel was situated right on the harbor where everyone was out strolling and sitting in outdoor cafes (in March). Old men were fishing by the ferry landing, groups of people crowded the walkway along the water, and young people sat outside and had cigarettes as they drank tea. Also, everyone had a black coat. My sister was wearing a red coat on our journey and she stuck out like a sore thumb!

After a buffet dinner in town, we went back to the hotel and at the suggestion of the PR guy we went up to the roof for drinks and live music. (When we checked into the hotel, PR dude approached me and my 2 travel buddies and told us about the shindig they were having that night. We were by far the youngest in our tour group and looked fun.)

The place was packed so we sat in a back corner and ordered funky blue cocktails for 15 TL and Efes beer. The band had a vocalist, drummer, and a violinist. They were surprisingly good and seemed to play Turkish covers that everyone knew.  There also were two birthday parties that night (cake included!) so the band played “Happy Birthday” in Turkish!

It was fun sitting back and watching all the different interactions. The guys meeting their party went around the circle and kissed the girls on each cheek and they doled out a handshake to the people they just met. When a guy wanted to dance, he’d tap the girl and offer his hand and then the entire group would clap for them –awwww. There also was a guy who break danced so his friends moved the tables away and he went to town. On the main floor in front of the band, guys had no problem bro-ing out and dancing with each other in the Greek “Opa!” fashion.

Only a few hours from İstanbul across the Dardanelles Straight, sleepy Troy (Troia) rests on the Aegean coast among hills and olive groves. The surrounding area is void of inhabitants with the exception of a few shops and cafes that cater to the tourists. To be frank, Troy wasn’t the best display of ancient ruins I’ve seen but stepping out among the dismantled stones, it felt like there was a mystery still to be solved. You study it in history, read about it in literature… it’s so unreal to actually be there.

The locals consider Troy to be very touristy, and it is. The only Turks around were school children and the guides, everyone else came from other corners of the globe. The site had stone ruins overlooking the Aegean but not much else other than chunks of the city’s wall and a few broken columns near the reconstructed odeon. As a tribute to Homer, a wooden horse was erected in the 1970’s near the entrance. Tourists are able to climb up into the structure and take pictures.

We took an hour and a half guided tour through the ruins. Our walk took us through the old city walls where you could see the cross section of stones from different centuries. The city has 9 strata, being rebuilt constantly over the course of many millennia- Homer’s Troy is known as the 6^th Troy (essentially the 6^th layer of stone in the ruins). Not much remains of Homeric Troy but when you’re at the top of the ruins overlooking the Aegean you can picture the grandeur of the city that captured literary minds around the world. Make sure you get a guide who is an animated story teller ;)