OUR FAMILY HOLIDAYS

9183 Turkey - 1995

By the mid 1990s, the one part of Europe we still hadn't explored was Turkey. On the map it doesn't look too big, but our tour turned out to be something like 1,000 miles long; starting in Istanbul.

Our hotel in Istanbul was not at the highest quality, but fortunately the ones that followed were much better.

Our first visit in Istanbul, at the start of the holiday, took us to the Blue Mosque.  It was impressive, in the sterile way that such mosques are; though it was rather spoilt by the fact that we arrived in a cloudburst and had to battle through puddles in our stocking feet.

Much more impressive was St Sophia, the mosque which had been a Christian church in the days of Constantinople -- when it was still a the head of the Christian church.  It was an amazing building, built around 500 AD. The fact that it was 1500 years old was particularly amazing in view of its size. This was especially noticeable at the first floor level where there seemed to be acres of space overlooking the ground floor below. It had been stripped of its Christian artefacts when it was converted to a mosque, and just a few of these remained; soaring above us - on the inside of the Dome. It made you just almost speechless with amazement when you saw the size of it and realised how old it was.

From Istanbul we drove down, alongside the Sea of Marmara, to Gallipoli.  At Gallipoli we were shown round the killing fields of the First World War.  On the ground, where it happened, we got a real feel for how terrible it was for the ANZACs to be pinned down on the beaches.  The most memorable aspect, from my point of view, was one field - just the size of a tennis court - in which something like 5,000 people died as the battles waged backwards and forwards across it. 

Having crossed the Dardanelles by ferry, we stayed the night in a very nice hotel in Canakali. It was a nice little town and it was pleasant to walk around it in the cool of the evening.

The next day we drove down the coast to Troy.  Having seen films about the siege of Troy, it was more than interesting to see the actual site, which was much smaller than film-makers allow for.  Even so -- perched on top of a hill -- it was clearly a stronghold to be reckoned with.  The excavations, since Schliemann's time, have been more mundane than his gold bonanza. But they have unearthed some very interesting archaeological features, especially around the gates and walls which the Greeks would presumably have stormed. 

From there we moved down the coast and stopped at another very historic site.  This was the city of Pergamon.  The ruins of the temple were up on a hill overlooking the town. 

 Pergamon

What was left, after the Germans had taken the altar back to Berlin, was still impressive.  Most impressive of all, though, was the amphitheatre carved out of the steep side of the hill which plunged downwards toward the town. 

We ended our day's travel at a hotel in Kushadasi, a seaside town then favoured by package tour Brits.  It was a reasonable hotel, though Pat got food poisoning   It was on the beach and I actually went for a swim.  As it was November it was somewhat cold in the water, but the air temperature was still in the eighties.

The next day we went to the site of Ephesus, which was nearby. This is the famous old Greek town, with - in particular - its memorable library.

It was a beautiful town, but once more smaller than one might imagine. 

What was, in a way, most impressive was the site of the temple of Diana.  This was one of the seven wonders of the old world, but all that remains is a large hole in the ground, with one pillar reassembled from what remained after the building collapsed.  Most of the rest of the building is built into the walls of the nearby town. On the other hand, as I stood there in the temple -- whilst most of the people on the tour with us remained sitting in the coach -- I was able to get a sense of how wonderful this massive temple once must have been.

The following day we started our track into the interior of Turkey, starting almost as soon as got on the road with a carpet-making factory -- where we bought a carpet.  It was only a prayer mat size, but it was of the finest quality and made out of silk - and cost nearly £1,000.  I don't why we, and others, are seduced into buying such things on holiday.

As we travelled inland, from the coast where it was 80 degrees, we were shocked to find -- as we climbed into the mountains -- that the temperature was falling to around zero degrees.  What was worse, all of us were wearing our T-shirts and shorts which were quite suitable for the 80 degrees on the coast.  By the time we reached the famous white waterfalls at Pammakale, made from the chalk which is precipitated as the hot water from the springs runs over the falls, it was right down to freezing - with snow on the ground. 

Luckily we managed to reach Konya undamaged. In this city we inspected the church where the whirling dervishes used to carry out their religious acts, whirling until they were in a hypnotic trance. 

From there we climbed up into Cappadocia. This was the country which was dominated by the peculiar shapes cut out by the wind from the soft tufa, volcanic ash.  It was also the country which had suffered from the invasion of various armies in its time, and – as a result - the Christians had cut whole cities underground.  We went into one of these, clambering through the very claustrophobic passages and chambers they had carved out.  Tufa is very easy to carve, but then hardens in the air, so it's ideal for this sort of dwelling.  There were thousands of other cave houses, and even churches with beautiful frescos, cut into the cliffs on the surface.

We stayed at an excellent hotel which had its own Turkish bath in the basement.  It was an experience to have such a Turkish bath, in particular to experience the massage by a very large Turkish gentleman.  Of course, having been used to saunas, I was quite happy being naked, though a curtain was discreetly drawn across the alcove where this happened.  Some of the rest of our party, though, came down in their swimming costumes and were quite horrified by the thought of being naked in such circumstances.

We then drove many miles across the plains until we eventually reached Ankara.  En route we visited one simple building which was ravishingly beautiful. It was a caravanserai, an overnight stop for the camel trains travelling the silk road.

 Inside the caravanserai

Ankara itself is not an especially interesting place, even though it is the capital of Turkey.  The only thing of real interest was the museum where the treasures of Croesus were displayed -- albeit the bronze ones.  The next day, travelling across country, we visited the actual burial mound where Croesus himself had been buried.  The timber burial chamber is still remarkably well preserved, even after so many hundreds of years.

Eventually, back in Istanbul, having crossed the Bosphorus by the new bridge, we stayed at the same rather poor quality hotel. There were two highlights to our remaining stay in Istanbul.  The first of these was, as you might expect, the Topkapi Palace and in particular the harem.  It is a superb building and it was fascinating to see how the sultan lived.  The other was that the bazaar, supposedly the largest covered bazaar in the whole of Europe. 

The only other matter of any note came when we went out for dinner on our last night. I listened, with dismay, as Pat described to the strangers we shared a table with, her first love; which certainly wasn’t me! I finally accepted that it had also been her true love!

[back]     [home]

hits