Tales of Touring Turkey by Fred Moore:

EPHESUS & PAMUKKALE

© 2010 by Author

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Today we’re off on an organized tour; we’re flying from Adana to Izmir for a weekend at Ephesus and Pamukkale. Our group is large, over 50 people and the trip is booked as a photography club tour; for us, it’s a tour of ‘re-discovery’. The club’s ultimate goal though is to capture that one prize winning photo from the two locations. Carol and I last visited these sites in 1992; we’ve brought along our old books as our personal guide. Our flight is about an hour and a half; we arrive 10:30 in Izmir, and our guide directs us toward two waiting buses, one large, the other small. Everyone is accounted for and we set off for Kusadasi; our overnight will be at the Kayhanbey Otel. Our bus ride is long and uneventful, mostly in the dark. We arrive at our hotel at 12:15; Carol waits in the lobby for our room key and I sit out on the terrace in front of the hotel. The hotel fronts a harbor and down a few steps and across the street you can stand at the water’s edge. I remember very little of my wait, but the keys sort pretty quickly. I’m half asleep when Carol motions she has our key and we’re off to our room. I’m completely exhausted and simply collapse on one of the beds. I can only assume Carol does the same because I’m already asleep; I simply don’t do midnight!

I awaken at 6:35 with plenty of light registered on my eyelids and awaken Carol so we can get down stairs for breakfast. We discover on stepping out of our room, the door doesn’t lock although it does latch, fortunately. We walk to the elevator just around the corner from our room to descend. The stainless steel doors of the elevator are etched in Hittite Hieroglyphics, ok, maybe they’re Egyptian; they’re interesting, none the less. Breakfast is the standard Turkish buffet although somewhat sparse in my view. There’s a large tour group already seated consuming their breakfast when we walk in. After breakfast we have some time so we walk across the street and to the harbor.

Carol takes a couple photos of the area and the cruise ship not far from where we stand. I return to our room to collect our bags; we still have about an hour before departure. I deposit our bags with the bus driver; he loads them in the luggage compartment underneath the passenger compartment and we walk down the street away from the hotel and just around the corner.

Here’s a street full of shops; we stroll past many of them that are already open this morning. I’m surprised at the number open at this hour but this is a tourist city and these guys want every penny they can get. The merchants are bringing some of their products out onto the sidewalk and many greet us as we walk by. We reciprocate each greeting in Turkish and a number of the merchants are surprised and pleased we speak their language. Several of them beam as we reply to them and it makes our exchanges warm and friendly. We’re offered tea at a number of the shops as we continue our stroll and graciously refuse each offer, telling them we have little time. I’m surprised to find that all the shops are not tourist souvenirs; many are department style stores selling shoes, hand bags, clothes, leather and yes, carpets!

We have to stop (yes, by now you know us) at a carpet shop that draws our attention. The young man we speak with realizes quite quickly that we are knowledgeable in the origin of carpets and immediately asks us to visit his other shop across the street. We find ourselves in an antique carpet showroom with grand décor and wonderful old ‘friends’ hung and piled everywhere in the room. The carpets we’re introduced to this morning are examples of many Turkish Tribal rugs; Maden, Kirsehir, Komurcu Kula, Bergama, Dosemealti and others.

We lose ourselves momentarily in these wonderful old pieces and then return across the street where we meet the young man’s father. Our introduction to his father is animated as the young man highlights our appreciation for beautiful old pieces. With no hint of hesitation, the lad’s father understands our love of these rugs and motions us up the stairs behind him. There are two floors above and we walk through both and see several more very fine carpets. Finally, we have to ask him to stop pulling rugs from his stacks; we explain our tour and tell him we must get back to our bus for the day’s activities. We thank him for his time and for showing us some of his extraordinary carpets and kilims; he expresses his sadness at our having to run and hands me his card: Authentic Carpets & Kilims Gallery. As we bid him a good day, I hand him one of ours and point out our carpet lecture article.

Our bus pulls away from the water front at 8:40 and we’re off toward the village of Selcuk and the ruins of Ephesus; on arrival our bus first climbs mount Koressos to St. Mary’s House. There’s some controversy over this site, whether this is the true place of St. Mary’s passing; there are claims her death and burial are in Jerusalem. Over the last 100 years, though, several Popes have come to fully embrace this site as the true and living proof for St. Mary’s residence and her last home on earth. We’ve not been here in 18 years; the first thing we notice is the souvenir shop for tourists! This is supposed to be a most holy and sacred site; there aren’t many tourist shops but any seem too many in my view.I must admit that it’s tastefully distant from the Holy Place and I realize there’s money to be made, so this shop exists. We remember from our last visit that there were some ‘hawkers’ around the entry to the site but nothing on the grand scale of what exists today. I find it fascinating also that a post office has been erected on the site; you can now purchase and send a post card from here.

Once we get by the throng of tourists flocking the souvenir shop, we walk up a short incline toward the chapel/house. On our right we pass a dozen signs, each in another language (this site is visited by people of every nation) and then come to a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of the incline on our left. I stop to have my picture taken next to it and one of our group takes the photo at right of Carol and me. This bronze has stood here since 1967. There’s a very large copy, maybe 5 meters tall including the base, at the foot of the hill where the road begins to climb up here.

We walk a little further toward the chapel and pass the outdoor seating for parishioners and then queue up (left photo) to enter the chapel/house. This is a small chapel; (right photo)we enter a tiny vestibule with a few artifacts on display and then the main sanctuary with the altar at the wall in the front. We don’t take five paces and we stand at the altar; we turn right and enter what is said to have been Mary Magdalene’s bedroom. Three more paces and we leave the building through a side door; as you can see, it’s quite small. However the magnitude of history surrounding the place makes it far larger than life! In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI visited and celebrated mass on this site. On a tier just below the chapel, we encounter springs of Holy Water and a hanging fence filled to overflowing with strips of fabric asking for prayers and blessings from St. Mary. On our way out of the site we too stop for a look in the tourist shop; we purchase a couple of things to commemorate our visit.

Once we’ve come off the mountain from St. Mary’s, our bus stops at the south gate of the Ephesus site. There’s a string of tourist traps on both sides of the road here and we’re accosted as we dismount the bus by a number of hawkers before we can get across the road to the ticket office. I understand these folks are trying to make a living but I don’t want any fresh squeezed juice, or anything else they’re pressing us to buy. We queue up at the ticket office and wait our turn at the window; we pay the 20 Lira ($13.50) each to enter the site. Our self tour begins with us walking toward the Magnesian Gate; there’s some imagination required here, as the gate hardly exists today. Our walk brings us to the south end of Curetes Street; this is a marble paved street and leads us into the heart of the site. Ephesus is one of the most significant of the seven churches of Revelation; simply walking into this site is awe inspiring and as we think of the ties to the Bible, it’s even more so. Our guide is making his own way, as we are; he reminds us that Ephesus is only 18 - 20% excavated; think about that, 80% still lies beneath the hills here in front of us! The structures exposed and partially re-erected are incredible; we can only dream of what still lies below the ground. I stand here thinking about all those ruins still hidden and wonder what kinds of enlightenment can be gleaned from them? Will there be even more significant finds still under the hills around me? I imagine being an archaeologist and saying to myself; let’s get this place dug up! But, I suppose IF I were an archaeologist, I wouldn’t be having such thoughts of reckless excavations; even thinking there are more answers to our numerous questions just inches below the surface is so exciting!

One ruin after another is butted up against the next; the first ruin we encounter is the Baths of Varius, thought to have been used primarily by those who came down from the gymnasium 200 meters to the east. Next and across the street we see the ruin of the State Market; this is the quieter of the two markets at Ephesus, said to be the more aristocratic because of its location. The agora across from the Great Theater at the other end of the site is the second and more plebian public market place. Our next structure is the Basilica of the Market constructed under the reign of Emperor Augustus, then there’s the Odeon, (left photo) a small amphitheater with two tiers of seating for 1,400 people. I look up to observe the group climbing the seating area and catch a glimpse of red in the sky out the corner of my eye; I turn to get a better look and see several parachutes! Now, there’s a scene of immense dichotomy; I am standing on a marble street in ancient Ephesus and I’m viewing people jumping from an airplane overhead; unbelievable. As we continue down Curetes Street (named by an archaeologist after a Priests' College) we find the Temple of Domitian and Domitian Square (below).

We continue to gradually descend into the heart of Ephesus passing the Pollio Fountain, Memmius Monument, (and it is here we get the first glimpse of the MOST famous structure of the site, the Library), the Heracles Gate, the Fountain of Trajan, then on our left the terrace houses. Here we must pay an additional fee of 15 Lira to enter the houses; don’t pass up this opportunity unless you simply haven’t the time, you will not regret the climb through these magnificent aristocratic homes. We enter and begin our climb on stainless steel diamond plate stairs alighting onto clear Plexiglas catwalks.

The 20th century architecture that has created this extraordinary viewing experience is equal to the task. It offers us an unobstructed view under our feet as we walk through the excavation and climb from one level to the next. The floor mosaics and wall paintings are master pieces of the ancient past; these homes even boast running water and bathrooms. These homes were constructed on terraces up the hillside directly across the street from the public toilets and the brothel! I have to wonder here, which was constructed first? We climb six or seven tiers above the street where we entered and exit near the top of the hill.

Once back at the foot of the hill we see the Baths of Scholastica and the public toilets with seating for several dozen persons. Talk about PUBLIC! These seats are truly cheek to cheek! Our literature tells us the more affluent used to pay to have someone sit to warm the marble before they took their seat. Under the seating fresh water ran constantly, flushing away the waste and hence the pungent odors. Just above the baths on Curetes Street we see the Temple of Hadrian dedicated to the Emperor who reigned from 117 to 138.

Turning back now, we come face to face with the magnificent façade of the Celsus Library (near left), standing at the corner of Curetes Street and Marble Road; this library was originally a Heroum or tomb to a hero, the governor of this province of Asia. Once the library was created, it held 12,000 papyrus scrolls making it the third largest in the region. Pergamum with 200,000 works was far larger but was built as a library from the beginning. Alexandria was largest, boasting 700,000 papyrus scrolls.

We’ve walked these streets a number of times over the past 28 years; the site has never lost its majestic feel. As we turn to continue our walk we’re heading down the Marble road toward the Great Theatre which seats 24,000! I’m still dumbfounded thinking someone allowed Michael Jackson to hold a concert in this historic setting. The horrendous noise his concert generated literally moved the marble seating, closing the site for several years while engineers found a way to stabilize it again. Leading out and toward the harbor from here is Arcadian Street (Harbor Street); this was another colonnaded marble walk. Over the centuries the harbor has silted in and the water is now a kilometer away.

I can’t help but imagine as I walk down these streets; I hearken back 2,000+ years to the hustle and bustle that was this place in its heyday. Once more I refer back to the book I bought with the acetate overlays and try to visualize each of these ruins as they were back then; the streets were rich colonnades, the fountains were awash with rushing water (stand silent next to anyone of them, you can almost hear the cascades of water.), the temples were filled with the prayers of the population, there must have been beggars clamoring for alms, thieves and prostitutes milling about, and tens of thousands of people transacting their daily business (the city’s population was said to have been 200,000).

Forgive me for digressing but I can’t get away from the fact that I’m walking such streets as these; I mean this city is one of the seven churches of Revelation. I’m walking where the Apostle Paul walked and numerous other luminaries from his time; what a difficult concept to register in one’s 21st century mind! If you could see only one site, this is it!

Our time here is at a close; we’ve come the full distance to the north parking area and more tourist shops. We collect the stragglers and head off for lunch. We’re bused to a lokanta for a buffet; the food is served by the staff so the portions are meager and it’s not very good. It’s a real shame to be in a country with fabulous food and eat at a place like this! Once lunch is over, we’re bused off to a ‘shopping experience’. As is the standard on organized tours, we’re taken to a major tourist outlet mall called the Grand Gallery. Here, we’re ushered into a carpet center with vast number of individual rooms for carpet shows. Carol and I avoid the prescribed carpet lecture and wander the halls looking at carpets on display; a couple of older gentlemen notice we’re familiar with carpets and take us to see some of their more beautiful old carpets. One of the gentleman questions, or better still, tests my knowledge of carpets; I name each piece he unfurls for us. When I’m able to name an old Kurdish piece, he is extremely pleased, he takes my hand and shakes it vigorously and smiles broadly. Holding up his hand, he says, “wait right there” and he goes off in search of something else. On his return a little bit later he throws out an astonishing old Fethiye for us to see. What a magnificent piece in rich reds, oranges and yellows with a floral pattern, superb in every way. We also view the silks in their collection in another small room; one, a Hereke, a little larger than a mouse pad with 28x28 knots --- $30,000 he quips.

Our group is on the move out in the hall now, so we thank the gentleman for his kindness and follow them. To exit this carpet ‘mall’ we have to walk through a large hall of jewelry sales people, smaller room filled with raw stones for mounting and then through several more rooms full of touristic souvenirs; most of which are Chinese trinkets. After several of the group buy refreshments (ice cream bars, sodas and beers) we load up the buses and get going --- we’re off now to visit a small village in the hills called Sirince, noted for its wine production, so says our guide. The drive up the mountain is a might hair rising in places; obviously it wasn’t designed to accommodate 40 pack buses! Once in the village, we find several more tourists and their buses; there’s a policeman trying desperately to dictate our direction, the driver does his best to comply. Once the bus is parked, we offload and set out on foot through the village; our guide leads us up a very narrow and fairly steep cobblestone lane. Our literature indicates the village was founded in 600 by Greeks who left Ephesus.

The houses along this lane are old and whitewashed. We come to a domed oven standing alone along the lane but it’s obviously used frequently; there’s soot along the top of the opening blackening the whitewash. The lane is quite uneven and a bit of a “V” shape as they obviously want the water to run down the center of it. The higher we climb the more I’m convinced I’ve seen quite enough. There are apparently a couple of Greek Churches up the hill but we’ve climbed as far as we care to. We begin to turn around to return the way we’ve come, but our tour guide suggests we head down the lane to our left, he says it’s shorter. I’m sorry I listened; this lane is far steeper than the one we’ve just come up; Carol and I make our way very slowly to avoid a fall. A little shaky, we both make the level ground without incident; as we walk back toward the bus it appears this quaint little village has transformed itself into a mountainside bazaar. The lanes are abuzz with women manning tables and stands filled with handcrafts; one lady is weaving floral halos for the tourists’ heads.

Everyone has made the trip back to the bus and we set off for Pamukkale and our evening hotel. We’ll have a rest stop on the road, our guide assures us, before we get to our next hotel. While we’re riding down the highway we’re passing multitudes of fig tree groves. Our tour guide offers some interesting information on fig trees; seems they’re male and female and you cannot eat the male fruit. He also added that the fig trees supplied Adam and Eve with their ‘underwear’; now, that’s a very curious notation coming from a Turkish tour guide! He also tells us something about olive trees we had never heard before; the trees on the hillsides are primarily oil producing while the level-land trees produce the edible olives.

Our ride continues with little other interruption until we arrive at this tiny village where our guide once more interjects local lore. It seems this village practices the now ‘out of fashion’ tradition of the families placing bottles on the roof of their homes if there’s an eligible bride inside. He points out three or four houses that have bottles on the roof. We’ve never heard of this custom before! Well, we’ve ridden nearly three hours now, but we’ve finally arrived. We pull up to the Grand Sevgi Hotel in the dark, it’s a few minutes past nine and we’re nearly across the street from the world famous “cotton cliffs”. Pamukkale literally translates, cotton castle. Dinner is available, but Carol and I pass and simply head for our room. We’re down a couple floors and have a room with a view of the hotel gardens and pool. We’re beat from the climbing and riding so simply go directly to bed.

It’s early morning, a little past five (the call to pray has awakened me) and I simply look at my watch and roll over for another nap. I’m awakened again by the sun, it’s well up and brightly shining in the room where no curtain covers the windows. This is a fairly nice hotel, but it could use some attention to detail; the shower head must be held by hand because the wall mount is useless, the curtains don’t fully cover the windows and the bath towels are far too small. After we freshen up we go upstairs for breakfast; once more I’m somewhat put off by the sparseness of the offering. The white cheese (something I really enjoy) is far too strong and unlike any I’ve had anywhere in Turkey. We’re the only tour group here, as far as I can tell, so maybe that’s the reason for so little. I have two plates of fresh tomatoes though, so I don’t have any real complaint. As I mentioned, our hotel is across the street from the ruins of Pamukkale/Hierapolis/Laodicea. Carol and I have not visited here for 18 years; on our last visit we stayed in a hotel atop the bluff just behind the white hillside. Our hotel rested at the rim of the hot spring fed pool, now referred to as “Cleopatra’s Pool”. We have a leisurely meal and then walk around the lobby of our hotel admiring the collection of carpets thrown over furniture, mounted on the walls and gracing the floor.

There are two very striking pieces on opposite walls in the lobby; first is the Soumak Kilim with three clock faces (Two set at 2:45 and one at 6:00; each has a second hand showing 5 to 7 seconds past the hour) and then in the TV lounge, the map of Turkey carpet.This carpet map is very well knotted but I’m not sure where it might have been created; my bet is, it’s Turkish and probably Kula or maybe Usak, two carpet types of this region.In the bar of the main lobby we find a lovely Senneh Kilim of very fine quality with pleasing colors. There are numerous yastik pieces draped over the settees in the main lobby (right, below); most are 75 to 100 years old and they’re from Guney, Kirsehir, Maden and even a wonderful Konya Ladik.

We’re being asked to get to the buses now, so I collect our bags and move out there. Here are several young girls hawking colorful bird-shaped whistles (they sound like birds as well) and men hawking postcards and books about Pamukkale. Several buy the whistles and postcards; I buy a book for 8 Lira. I’ve brought our old book along and this one is very similar but is several editions later than ours (today, 8 Lira is $5.35; but the note in our old book says 20,000 Lira, $3.60 back then, not a major increase in price over 18 years). Many of the old photos still adorn the pages of this new book but there are plenty of new ones as well.

Once everyone has gotten in a seat, we get going. The road we take is long and circuitous as opposed to the direct route of years ago; I still see the old road but we’re not allowed over there apparently. Our bus pulls into the visitor center parking area and we evacuate the bus for the ticket booth. This is very different from the past; we’re actually a five minute walk from the cliff side and we’ll being entering through the south wall of the original city, Hierapolis. This is also the ancient Laodicea, another of the Seven Churches of Revelation. After we purchase our tickets, we enter the site walking toward the white cliffs; our group with the guide ascends the hillside walking toward the massive amphitheater. Since we’ve been here before we go off on our own with a promise to catch the group at 12:30 back at the bus. Carol and I stroll toward the cliffs and stop several times to admire the beautiful and abundant spring wild flowers. The landscape is a blaze of yellow, red and white with blossoms waving in the morning breeze; it’s awesome to be standing where ancient Christians went about their daily lives.

At the edge of the cliff now, we see that the site caretakers have built a beautiful park with shaded benches and terraced walkways; what an amazing transformation from when we last visited. These hilltops were covered in touristic hotels, masses of humanity and bus traffic; this park-like environment is extraordinary and exquisite. The calcium carbonate formation doesn’t seem as striking today, there are fewer pools of aqua blue waters and almost no one milling about. During our last visit, these hillsides were ‘in motion’ with bathers of every nationality strolling and sitting in the pools below us. Today there are three barefooted people wading in a pool well below where we stand. We have been told a concerted effort has been made to attempt to ecologically preserve the site. All the hotels were razed in 1995 because their water usage was draining the natural springs, robbing the hillside of its constantly-renewing calcium deposits that give it is distinctive ‘white cliffs’ look.

As I look down over the deposits and to our left I see the old road and a guard house; there are some young people milling about down there but they’re not entering the site. I step over the edge onto a plank walkway and the sound of rushing water beneath my feet almost drowns out the sounds of the morning. I assist Carol over the edge and we stroll down the boardwalk. We linger here for a while and simply absorb the passing minutes, totally oblivious to the world around us. As we wander along we come upon a stream of water rushing under the walk and I bend over to feel it; it’s shower warm and crystal clear (our book says 34 degrees Centigrade, which is about 90 degrees Farenheit). We continue our journey around the rim of the cliff walking toward the museum; we want to see how much has changed inside, knowing the changes out here have been wonderful. We have to pay an additional fee to enter the museum; just 3 Lira, so we go right in.

The first hall we enter is filled with sarcophagi displays from the necropolis just minutes away. I’m immediately drawn to a small one on our left; but then gaze around the entire hall. Once more we stroll leisurely through these ancient ruins stopping to admire each individual display and as usual ponder the artistic hands that created these magnificent ‘coffins’ of the past. As I stand before one gigantic box with lid, I ask myself how in the world this massive work was moved from creator to resting place. Each side depicts an age in the life of the dearly departed. The lid has a couple in repose as if reclining on a sofa; this mammoth box must weigh several tons!

The artistry surrounding us is marvelous; even though we’ve seen these displays time and again across the breath of Turkey, we never lose our sense of awe for their majesty. We leave this hall and move to the next, here we find pottery and coins, again we wander slowly and linger in front of display cases filled with artifacts excavated from the surrounding landscape. The final hall is filled with friezes and sculptures, again drawn from the ruins that surround us. Here we find a bust of Eumenes II, who ruled this region (as King of Pergamum) for 36 years; then there’s a statue of Hades, the God of the Underworld, seated on a throne with a lion resting at his right hand.

Eumenes II

Hades, God of the Underworld

Fred with Museum Friezes

The friezes lining the walls illustrate for us many stories in Greek Mythology; I stand in the back of the hall in what appears to be a room display with friezes on three sides of me, each at eye level and once more I stand transfixed by the remarkable intricacy of the sculpting done to create these splendid works of art.

We leave this hall and begin to admire the structure of the museum itself; it has been transformed from a Roman Bath complex and on the corner of the building we see arches and a cavernous room below ground where possibly a sauna once operated. This complex is in one corner of the site, we’ve hardly walked one tenth of the complete cityscape.

Our time does not permit a full tour of the multitude of ruins between us and the foothills above the calcium carbonate deposits. We walk around the museum grounds now and admire more statuary and sarcophagi ruins.

I stop to pose behind a statue of a headless Roman soldier stepping into his persona for just 60 seconds (at left) --- we both laugh at the photo that results. I can’t even fathom the life of such an immense figure; these guys had to be physically strong and in first class shape to battle in their age, I simply have a shape!
Once we leave the museum grounds we walk around to the museum store; it’s a new building and like museum stores everywhere is filled with books, tapes, CDs, DVDs and all matter of tasteful tourist souvenirs. We buy another book, this one with acetate overlay sheets illuminating the past by covering the present. We also buy a DVD on the region. Back on the walk again we head for the ancient hot spring pool; Cleopatra’s Pool. We enter the building fronting the pool and note that there’s another souvenir shop to our right and a ticket booth to the left; you must pay to use the pool and the souvenir shop sells towels that are quite nice if you would prefer to take one with you. (We bought two large red ones on the way out of the building.) Inside now there are masses of tables and chairs as if we’d entered a cafeteria and I guess we have. What’s most interesting for us is this facility sits where our old hotel used to be. I believe it was called the Touristic Hotel back then and our room was on the edge of this hot spring pool; we could have taken two steps out our door and stepped into this pool! We make ourselves comfortable at one of the tables closest to the water and I go to the counter and order us a light lunch with tea. There are several tourists enjoying the water and we walk around the outside of the pool. There’s now a mini park surrounding the pool.

There are a number of columns and other ruins in the shallows but we feel as though there used to be more; the memory is probably incorrect however. I walk to the far end of the pool; I remember where the spring oozes from the earth and wonder if it still bubbles as vigorously as it did, yes!. Swimmers are no longer allowed over here though; it has been blocked off under the surface, interesting how things change over time. A large group of our tour mates begin showing up and many are headed for the pool, our guide tell us we have an hour before we must be back to the bus. We enjoy the relaxation a half hour longer and then decide to stroll back toward the entry gate and our bus. I have to stop at a flower bed filled with lavender Iris; what a beautiful flower--but then I’m somewhat prejudiced coming from Tennessee where Iris is the State Flower. We wander on and enjoy the beautiful day. Once out at the visitor center we do the tourist thing and walk through the souvenir shops but find nothing we need very badly. Carol goes off to take photos of all the wonderful red poppies in the area around the center. I can’t believe we’ve been so fortunate to have come here when the landscape is splashed with so much beautiful color.

Back on the bus now, we leave the excitement
of the ancient past and head for the mundane of our present,
the airport in Izmir to return home to Adana.

We always enjoy hearing from our MerhabaTurkey friends,