Archive for June 5th, 2009

Nevashir – the central city of the Cappadokia region was where I decided to have my Turkish Bath. 35 lira (18 dollars) offered me a 2 hour long experience of turkish culture and elegance. I entered the ottoman bath after a long day of hiking and sight seeing in cappadokia. I was greeted by a friendly attendant who directed me to a changing room and furnished me with a simple linen towel to wrap myself.

The first section of the bath was a wood heated sauna fifteen minutes at a humid 110 degrees. I dozed in the heat and felt the weariness of travel and night buses wash away as the fluids drained from every pore on my body. Then the attendant lead me to the hot room where with a loofah I was bathed and shampooed with a scalp massage and a thorough cleaning. From there I was lead to a cool room as a transition. I was allowed to rest in the cool respite for a few minutes and then the masseuse entered and began my massage. starting with a towel coated in fluffy bubbles and soap he filled the towel with air and then by pressing with his hands and pushing the air forward covered my body with warm slippery suds. After the massage I was lead back into the Hot room to take a nap on the Dais in the center, staring up at the ceiling with its ottoman architecture and structure.

after half an hours nap on the marble dais I was lead to the cool room again to bath in a pool of tepid water. after the heat of the other rooms it was a shock to bring me back to consciousness. after a quick dip I was lead out into the entry way where I was treated to glass after glass of apple tea while I was wrapped in a series of different towels. comfortable and warm, sipping tea I rested for another half an hour before dressing and catching my shuttle back to my hotel to crash before my tour and bus back to Istanbul.

If you ever have a chance to experience a Turkish bath… do it. its rejuvenating, and so wonderful.

Hello folks! I wanted to sticky this post at the top of my page. There are two major Photo resources for my trip. The first is more informal and includes every photo I’ve taken all trip, blurry or otherwise. Those are my Facebook Albums – Search David Nathaniel Berger on Facebook and find the guy wearing the Kilt. Or just Click the badge below this post. Then scroll down to David’s photo’s and click on albums. There you’ll find 150 albums stuffed to the brink with my fotos.

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I boarded my bus to Cappadokia much to the displeasure of my guide – frustrated that I wouldn’t stay the night in Selcuk and take his tour to Panakkale (hot springs with extensive calcium pools) and then stay the night there and take another bus to Cappadokia. I’d decided that I would do the nightbus directly to Cappadokia, as it is a 100% unique experience. The foto’s of the Panakkule reminded me of the natural springs in Colorado springs. big calcium and salt formations filled with hot spring mineral water. not so unique. Cappadokia is actually a region not a specific city. I covered about 500km of it by booking two tours and staying the night in Goreme (where the cone houses are) I managed to see around 60% of it. Or at least see the Major parts.

There are three really major sections of Cappadokia to see. The first are the cone shaped houses formed by erosion of ash from the three major volcano’s that last erupted in 3000 BC. The cones, with a basalt cap form the mushroom type of rock formations which have a softer stone underneath. The softer stone yields itself to carving and has been carved into Monasteries, homes, castles, and even a colossal underground city.

The second major thing to see are the Christian churches carved into the valleys following the river. These churches are set into the stone high above in the cliff sides. they are like the cliff dwellings in Arizona but without external building materials, everything is literally carved into the stone.

The final thing to see is the fabled underground city. Consisting of 10 floors, only 10% of is open to the public. With cramped narrow passageways, it is complete with kitchens, stables (underground) secret rooms, giant stone wheels set into the rock as doors and gates… its like a dwarfish castle in real life. hunched over to fit into the tunnels, the deeper we got the smaller they got, a great defensive strategy and a good time for me to work on my lunges and walking squats. At major defensive points the smallest areas of the tunnel opened into large rooms, with the stone door on the small tunnel and then open space for the defenders. At most defenders could live inside the city for 1 month if attacked.

Earlier that day we’d seen the cone houses and monasteries cut into the rock. we’d had a tour of an Onyx refinery which both carved the rock and sold jewelry etc. Onyx is the major stone export of the Cappadokia region. I won an onyx egg (light tan, much like alabaster but with deeper hues). In addition we had free time to run around and explore through the ancient dwellings carved into the rock. unfortunately due to erosion most of the areas are closed due to safety issues, but even so, the area is so huge that there is plenty to see.

We hiked through one of the valleys and got a chance to see the remains of some of the lower churches carved into the valley walls. at the end of our beautiful hike alongside the river, surrounded on each side by cities carved into the cliffs we arrived for lunch. Lunch was excellent, Beef Kabap enjoyed on the riverside with Efes beer and cool shade.

Then we boarded our van and headed for the Underground city.

we entered at the kitchens, and then headed down past the stables and the winery into the dark depths. cold air, orange emergency lighting and the cool breeze from the ventilation shaft accompanied our decent. From the bottom floor (we followed the ventilation shaft down into the city and then around to the church, confession area and temporary cemetery (around my estimation is about 70-100 feet underground) but it was so hard to tell.

We started the long climb out. with the occasional tunnel leading dangerously along the ventilation shaft reminding me of Moria. we found our way out of the City and headed on to our next destination – a panoramic view of that section of Cappadokia.

Boarding my night bus, munching away on my stuffed mussels I found my seat next to the window and settled in. Wedging my backpack against the cool glass, adjusting the vents to make sure I’d get some fresh air during the trip and sliding my feet up to my shins under the seat in front of me. Then I grabbed my long sleeved shirt and waded it up to make up the difference between my lower back and the seat.

The bus departed and we started winding our way out of Istanbul. Two hours later we boarded a ferry and started across to the Asian side of Istanbul. and hour after that we left the city. we made one final stop and picked up a full fledged family. starting at what must have been 5 months old and going to eight five children and their beleaguered parents boarded the bus. Thinking nothing of the occurrence I wedged myself closer to the window and fell back asleep. less than 10 minutes later the choir began. it started as a gurgle, then proceeded to two full hours of screaming. pacifier or no, this kid had lungs the size of the Hindenburg, and just like that fabled airship, this voyage had just crashed and burned in terms of enjoyability. After the first 10 minutes, realizing I was in for a long night I grabbed my Ipod and maxed the volume.

an hour later my Ipod died. batteries exhausted, as I had forgotten to charge it for over a week and a half. an hour later the first child finally quieted down, and then as if on Que the second half of the opus began. between the screams of the two older children fighting and the wails of the second youngest, I had the pleasure of being kept awake by screeching, screaming, yelling, and arguing Turkish children. 8 hours later I’d nearly lost my mind – I climbed off the bus and ran as fast as I could from the station. 8 AM and already tortured.

I found my way to my tour guide’s office, had three huge glasses of tea and waited for the bus that would take me to Ephesus. Already exhausted and ready for some reprieve, the calm and tranquility promised by the walk and guide through Efes was at the top of my list.

I had my Turkish breakfast, a hard boiled egg, cucumber, salad, olives, and carrots all mixed together. With the egg as a stand alone centerpiece.

The bus arrived and I boarded with six girls from Malaysia two girls from the east coast and another American. The tour rumbled the 4 klicks out to Ephesus and then we disembarked and headed through the entry to the park: Our first view was of the royal part of the city, then we walked down past the baths toward the temples, and the great central fountain.

From there we headed down into the commercial area of the city and found the reconstructed library of Celsius –

The theater:

Pillars leading toward the Port:

Brothel:

Dock street:

Ephesus was a quick run through taking a little over two hours to see the entire city. from there we headed out for buffet lunch and then we visited the Artemis temple. after seeing the ruined columns of Artemis temple (burned down on the day of Alexander the Great’s birth) we headed up into the hills to visit the home in which Mary, Mother of God was said to have spent her final days in St. Johns care.

Traveling by Nightbus is a special experience. Special… yes that most definitly the correct word haha. The nice part about it in Turkey is that you have a hostess, like an airline a host/hostess walks the aisles bringing Chai tea, Cola, Water, or Coffee on request. In addition they provide access to Twinkies. Making them an essential part of enjoying 12 hours cramped in a small plastic and metal tube with crying children, masked women, and smoking men.

Have I mentioned that to be Turkish there is a prerequisite that you smoke? all joking aside if you’re easily offended by cigarette smoke, make sure you’re prepared for a rough time traveling in Greece and Turkey. There are very few places (mosques, historical building etcs) where it is prohibited, that list excludes buses.

The Night buses stop twice on their journeys… that is once they’ve left their cities. Out of the four nightbus trips two have been 12 hours, one 13, and another merely 7. A twelve hour trip made three 30 minute stops about once every four hours. Not too shabby!

The buses themselves are comfortable to an extent, but unless you’re able to sleep sitting up your in for a rough ride if your on the isle. as a larger person I don’t fit properly in the seats, when I sit up straight (IE comfortable) the head rest hits squarely on my shoulder blades. thus said the trips for me are hunched over stuffed against the window as a pillow. slouching for 12 hours can do some serious work on your back and as such stretching and sprawling has become an art form.

A 12 hour ride – Istanbul to Efes for example is around 50 lira or 25 dollars. That said its cheaper than a hotel. so making the trips at night saves in two ways, one you’re not trapped in a bus on a valuable day, and two you save the cost of your hotel for the night. now if they could install showers it would be perfect.

Well, Day three in Istanbul opened up cloudy and threatening. Rain and wind were on the schedule for the day. I wandered about the city walking and taking the metro system around parts of the central city I hadn’t had a chance to see. I wandered down through the Park around Topkapi Palace, discovered walls covered in beautiful street art, some of the best examples of positive graffiti I’ve seen yet. These fotos are from the outskirts of Topkapi palace:

I bought some popcorn and enjoyed sitting on the Bosporus feeling the cool sea breeze while sunlight filtered down through the trees into the carefully manicured flower gardens. One of the Gardens was being assembled and the boxes of flowers waiting distribution was a great picture oppotunity:

The view of sprawling Istanbul infront of me, gardens and grass on all sides, the breeze and Turkish people wandering about… wonderful. some of the muslim women wandered through the park, stealing flowers from the gardens and then trying to sell them to lovers who were sprinkled throughout the park. the police far from stopping them would blow a whistle in warning and make a threatening movement but wouldn’t spend the effort to actually prevent the harvest.

I took this foto of a group of the women resting and wrapping their flowers in tin foil:

Then I headed back to Sultanahmet and found an internet cafe did a foto upload and talked to a friend of mine who lives in Istanbul. she was sick and couldn’t meet up.

Foto upload complete I headed out into Istanbul once again. then walking along the side of the street I made an impromptu decision to head into a restaurant and have a nice lunch. I got an Adana Kabap with a salad and enjoyed the passing populace. I sat drinking the free chai tea and interspersing sweet apple tea into the mix.

From there I followed my instincts and made a decision on the spot to head to Efes. I hiked back up to the University and across to my hotel, passing one of the cutest street merchant gimmicks I’ve seen yet:

I grabbed my bags, checked out of the hotel and made my way back to the bus booking station. I booked a bus and then after paying discovered that my travel agent had forgotten to book my ticket for the transit bus that would take me direct to Istanbul’s Otogar. I had him write out the directions using local transport and set off immediately to make the hour and a half journey to the Otogar. I found my way by tramway and metro to the Otogar. Stocked up on Stuffed mussels and then boarded the 12 hour ride to Selcuk – south of Izmir and prepared to see Ephasus.