Petra and Camels

I woke yesterday with my headache intact and a bit of a scratchy throat. I determined that my headache was likely due to sinuses rather than migraine, given that several people on our tour, including my roommate, have colds. I took a painkiller/decongestant and felt much better for the day, although I was still a bit weak and off my game.

We had an early start to Petra but by the time we arrived shortly after 7:30 there were already a dozen or so tour buses in the parking lot. We started down the path with our guide pointing out every little tomb and carving along the way. It was interesting but I was so anxious to get to the "Treasury" that I was hardly paying attention. We finally reached the canyon proper which was really magnificent. It is quite narrow in most spots and the original water troughs run along both sides. Finally the moment arrived and we walked out of the canyon to face the "Treasury", which is actually a large tomb that everyone thought must have been a treasury at one time. Despite having seen tons of photographs of it, it didn't fail to awe. It's really beautiful and absolutely huge.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Petra. The tour took us through most of the morning then we hiked up to the monastery which offered great views of the surrounding area as well as a sighting of Aaron's tomb on a nearby mountain top. We had lunch on the site and then had a couple of hours free to explore on our own. While the ruins are perhaps not as perfect or exciting as the ones at Ephesus or Palmyra, they were especially beautiful to me, I think because of the setting. The rocky hills are very rugged and colourful, much like Mustang is. The fact that the ruins are all carved into the rock rather than built from it also makes them very impressive.

We were pretty exhausted by the end of the day and at about 3:00 we climbed aboard the bus for a short journey to Wadi Rum. We stayed out on the edge of the desert in the tourist version of a Bedouin camp. Even though we were sleeping in tents, it was very comfortable with real beds,cement floors and fully functional bathrooms. We had a lovely dinner which we watched them take out of a pit in the sand. Later we sat around a campfire chatting a drinking a few cocktails. Some locals serenaded us with traditional music and we all danced together. I didn't stay up late as I was beat from the day and whatever bug it is that I'm trying to fight off. The good news is that there was no mosque for miles around which meant I slept past 4:00 AM for the first time in weeks.

We got up early this morning for a post-sunrise camel ride. Riding a camel is only slightly more comfortable than riding and elephant, but I did okay even though my hips were sore from a night on a very hard bed. The scenery was absolutely stunning - miles of desert surrounded by huge cliffs of beautifully coloured rock. This is Lawrence of Arabia territory, if that helps give you a mental picture. Even though we could see a highway in the distance, it was too early for traffic so it was absolutely silent and so peaceful. I could have used another day or two out there to enjoy a respite from the city.

We are now in Aqaba on the coast of the Red Sea. There's not much to do here, and I've wandered around as much as I want to so will take a couple of hours before dinner to lie down with a book. I don't know what is wrong with me as it is unlike anything I've experienced before. I feel like I'm on the cusp of a cold but given it's been three days, I'm wondering when it's going to hit full-on. I'd really like to drain my sinuses and get this pressure out of my head, even if it means sniffling, sneezing and having a red nose for a few days.

Tomorrow we ferry across the Red Sea to Egypt and spend the following day at the beach. Very much looking forward to it.

Scrolls and Buoyancy

Sorry folks but this will be very brief.

Yesterday we did a walking tour of Amman. We saw the citadel and a museum which is on the site. There were two-headed statues from something crazy like 6000 BCE and also some of the copper Dead Sea Scrolls. Pretty amazing.

After a quick lunch and some e-mails we drove up to Mount Nebo where Moses looked out over the promised land and then expired. While it was a clear day (e.g. no clouds) it was very hazy so the views weren't great. We were a stone's throw from the Dead Sea, Jericho and Jerusalem. At a nearby church we saw the oldest known map of the Middle East in the form of a mosaic on the floor. This was followed by a great Jordanian meal at a lovely restaurant. (I have to admit to getting a little tired of kebabs, felafels and hummus, but am still hanging in.)

Today we drove to the Dead Sea and had a dip. We were guests at a very high end resort and used their beach and pools. Swimming in the Dead Sea is surreal - you just bob up and down, mostly out of the water. Feels like I would imagine zero gravity to be. After our swim and mud bath, which left our skin feeling like silk, we lounged by the pool in the sunshine and played on the water slides. It was nice to be in a warm environment again. At this resort we were about two kilometers from Jesus's baptism site but didn't go as it's so close to the Palestine border that it's heavily guarded and would have taken too much time. Again we had haze, otherwise we would have been able to see Jerusalem from the beach.

We are now in Wadi Musa and will see Petra tomorrow. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a headache the likes of which I couldn't have previously imagined. I think that perhaps after a decade of symptoms of migraine, I am actually experiencing my first migraine headache. It went away briefly while poolside but is back with a vengeance. I will do Petra tomorrow even if I have to crawl through on my hands and knees, but am hoping it will be better by then.

I'm off to a very early night in the hopes of healing by morning. I won't have internet for the next day or two as we head to Wadi Rum tomorrow for a nightof camping in the desert and a camel ride with the Bedouins. Will write again when I get back to civilization.

First Impressions of Jordan

Not much to report today...we just took the bus from Damascus to Amman, stopping at the border for the legal stuff along the way. We got through the border okay, but there were some issues that had to be dealt with. They gave me a bit of a hard time about my temporary passport but once I found an official who spoke English and was able to explain the situation, they let me in. They were very friendly throughout and I am finding the Jordanians to be as hospitable as the Syrians.

I haven't seen much of Amman other than the downtown core. It is perhaps the ugliest city on earth and there's really nothing to see or do here. We have a walking tour in the morning but I can't imagine what we might be seeing other than a citadel. Two more sleeps until Petra!

Damascus

I had another great day today. We had a superb tour guide who gave us a 45 minute talk on the history of the area before leading us to the museum. Once there, we only visited a few rooms, but the education continued throughout. This guy was amazing and made me realize how much I don't know - he really piqued my interest to learn more.

The highlight of the museum visit was a room that was essentially a reconstructed synagogue from the third century CE. It came from a town on the Euphrates who's name I can't remember (sorry will have to research this later), and which had both a Christian church and a synagogue sitting on each side of the city gate. When these were excavated, the American team took the Christian church back to the US and it is currently housed at Yale university. The European team (can't remember which country - information overload today) brought the synagogue to Damascus where it was reassembled. What makes it unique is not only its age, but the fact that it is covered in murals of old testament stories. The Jews typically don't depict their stories in pictures and this is the only one of its kind. It brought the goose bumps up on my arms. (Mom and Dad - you may want to consider a field trip to Yale in Connecticut to see the Christian church if you haven't already done that. We're talking the 3rd century here, so it predates Constantine - pretty impressive for a Christian church.)

We then went to the Umayyad Mosque which is a beautiful big building in the centre of the old city. Saladin's tomb is there, which was pretty special. We got there just in time for the call to prayer, which was truly beautiful. I've heard dozens of them since I've been in this part of the world, and frankly they don't do a lot for me (especially the 4 AM ones). At this mosque, however, they use several voices, so it's more like a chorus than just a single voice. It was really something and it was the first time that a Muslim ritual really moved me. Of course I was standing beside Saladin's tomb at the time, which may also have had some influence.

Our final stop on the tour was a more modern building called the Azam palace, named for the man who lived there. It is really just a mansion that a rich person would occupy, but it also allowed us to see what daily life looked like a few generations ago. It was a lovely place.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around the old city checking out other mosques and interesting sights, and dodging the crowds in the souqs. I can't say enough good things about Syria and am sad to be leaving it. I hope I can come back some day. It's off to Jordan tomorrow...Petra is only a couple of days away!!!

Palmyra

We took the bus from Hama to Palmyra on a partially sunny day and arrived around noon. After a lunch in the sunshine we had a free afternoon and chose to explore the museum and ruins (circa 1st-3rd century CE). The museum has a lot of artifacts from the city as well as a small collection of mummies which was the highlight for most of us. We then ambled up "main street" and scrambled around the various temples and columns. The ruins are incredibly impressive - the main street is lined with mammoth columns and there is just so much to see. Much of it is restored but you can tell what was left standing and what has been reconstructed by the colour of the stones (the lighter ones were buried in the sand so they didn't discolour in the elements). They estimate that it will be another 10 years before they have everything put back together the way it originally was. Later on we had a great meal together and had a fairly early evening.

We began the next day with a guided tour of the ruins. We started in the valley of tombs which lies adjacent to the ancient city. There are three types of tombs: towers, underground and house style. The towers are just as they sound: four-storey towers lined with shelves for bodies (like an ancient morgue). Each shelf was sealed up and the richer clients had busts of themselves mounted at the end of their shelf tomb. The underground ones are similarly designed with shelves for the bodies but are on one level under the desert.

On the way to the valley of the tombs we stopped by an underground tomb that they are in the process of excavating. There are two sarcophagi at the museum that were removed from this tomb just two weeks ago. It's pretty neat to be so close to these new finds.

We started our tour of the city with the huge Temple of Bel at the end of Main Street. It is really impressive and has some wonderful carvings. The guide was very thorough in describing the various aspects of the temple including the altar, the entrance for animals and the gutters which collected the blood from the offerings. Some of the walls were reconstructed but the main entrance, some columns and walls were still standing as they had been built.

We continued down the street and were able to imagine the camel caravans from the silk road arriving to much fanfare in the city. The street was lined with shops and the cross-roads marked with taller pillars. The centre square has a fabulous set of columns which were once adorned with statues. The theatre is a really beautiful building which is very well restored. You can easily imagine the fights which were carried out there.

We spent another half hour or so wandering around and then went back to town for lunch. A few of us ate in a Bedouin tent-style restaurant and were treated to chocolate crepes for dessert on the house. It was very yummy.

In the late afternoon we climbed to a castle which sits on the hill above the ancient city. The castle was built by Saladin to defend against the crusaders, however they never arrived here and it was never used for this purpose. We climbed around the castle and sat out on the ramparts to watch the sunset over the ancient city. The sky had cleared and it was a beautiful sunset, however they have a communications tower on an adjacent hilltop which cut the sunset in half and totally ruined any photo opportunities. I can't imagine what they were thinking putting the tower there - they could have chosen any other hill in the barren surroundings but they chose the most intrusive spot they could find. It was, nonetheless, a beautiful evening and we enjoyed the views. We walked back down the hill and into the ruins on our way back to town. Some of them are really nicely lit up so we were able to take some night photos. Another lovely dinner then to bed early.

This morning we hopped a bus to Damascus. It was an uneventful drive - no epiphanies or conversions on the bus. We did however take photos of the roadsigns to prove we were on the road to Damascus. We came to several intersections with arrows to both Damascus and Baghdad which was interesting. Fortunately our driver took the right turn and we ended up in Damascus.

Since it's Friday, most things are closed today and Damascus is very quiet. Three of us opted to visit the Islamic Cultural centre which made for an an interesting afternoon. We chatted with some young women from various countries who had converted to Islam and decided to make their life in Syria. They were very candid and allowed us to ask pretty much anything of them that we wanted. It was very educational and it put a different spin on a few elements of the religion and culture for me.

I wandered around town for a while and saw St. Paul's church on the spot where he was lowered out of the building in a basket to escape the Jews. I will take a tour of the major sites of Damascus tomorrow morning and will spend the remainder of the day exploring the souqs and other sites in the old city. The following day we cross over into Jordan so will be sadly saying goodbye to Syria.

Crac des Chevaliers

We had miserable weather today...very much like a cold, rainy November day at home. Nonetheless we "attacked" the Crac des Chevaliers, a fabulous castle near Hama. The first fortress at this location was built in 1031 but the castle we visited was built and expanded by the Crusaders in the middle of the 12th century.

It is really lovely and very much intact, so it was lots of fun to ramble around. Unfortunately, our guide seemed to be trying to set a land speed record for tours, so we really raced through it. We had a bit of free time at the end, but nobody wanted to take advantage of it as they were all cold and wet, so I felt somewhat pressured to make my visit quick. Still, it was a really great day and I enjoyed myself. Everything in this castle is huge, from the rooms to the kitchens to the latrines. It has high vaulted ceilings and is laid out in a very convoluted pattern of rooms and passageways. It is exactly what you'd expect from a Crusader castle - just like in the movies.

We followed our visit with yet another fabulous lunch, this time a set meal with dozens of appetizers followed by roast chicken. Our waiter was an absolute queen, and he kept us all enormously amused throughout our meal. He was something right out of "La Cage aux Folles".

We then rode back to the town of Hama for the night, and unfortunately arrived here after dark. This town is famous for its huge waterwheels or norias, and fortunately a few are lit up so we were able to see them.

We now have free time until dinner, although I'm not sure I'll be able to eat again as I'm still full from lunch. Apparently our guide will pay for our meal if we tell our most embarrassing story over dinner. I've been wandering around town trying to come up with mine - perhaps I'll go with the one about catching my skirt in my backpack in Cambodia and walking around the ferry dock with my backside exposed.

By the way...I forget to mention olives when I wrote about our breakfasts. Olives are included in all breakfasts, as well as pretty much every other meal. They absolutely live on them over here and they are unavoidable. I don't like them at the best of times and can't imagine them being a great breakfast food.

We're off early tomorrow for Palmyra but won't actually visit the ruins until the following day. All is going well and I'm still loving Syria.

St. Simeon and Souqs

Breakfast in Syria differs slightly from breakfast in Turkey which consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, french bread and salty cheese. In Syria we get pita and some jam as well as the ubiquitous cold hard-boiled eggs which are also often served in Turkey. Both are okay but not exactly stick-to-the-ribs fare and I find I'm always starving by lunch time.

We went out on a small tour this morning with the most wonderful guide ever. He is an elderly gentleman with impeccable English and a flair for story-telling. He was absolutely lovely and regaled us with humourous tales all morning. There seems to be quite a rivalry between Aleppo and Damascus. Both claim to be the oldest continually-inhabited city in the world (I think Damascus actually wins this one) and Allepo boasts the longest souq in Syria. He added with a twinkle in his eye that Damascus's souq may be wider and taller but not as long. There also seems to be quite a rivalry between Syria and Turkey, and we have heard that Turkish delight, Turkish baths, baklava and any number of other "Turkish" things actually originated here.

We started our tour with a trip to St. Simeon's basilica, a 45-minute drive outside town. St. Simeon (born circa late 4th century) spent 40 years of his life sitting on top of a column. The column grew in height over the years reaching a total of 15 metres. After his death they built a basilica on the site which they subsequently expanded to become a citadel. It is an absolutely beautiful ruin and must have been an amazing building. There are four sections laid out in a cross shape, the three at the top meeting around an octagonal room where the remains of the column sit.

We came back to town and toured the citadel (1214) and the great mosque (715 and rebuilt in 1260), both of which were beautiful and magnificent buildings. The citadel has never been breached even during the crusades. The mosque houses the shroud of St. Zacharias, father of John the Baptist. Pregnant women go there to pray that their babies will be male, and our guide insisted on giving us a biology lesson to prove that at this point it was already too late to have St. Zacharias intervene on the sex of the baby, since this was determined at conception.

We had a free afternoon which I spent exploring the beautiful Christian quarter of the city as well as the souqs. I did a bit of shopping and generally enjoyed the company of the salespeople. I have to reiterate that Syrians are the most friendly and hospitable people I have met on this trip. Talk about having stereotypes turned on their ear.

Walking to Syria

I can't tell you much about yesterday because I have no idea where we were. We drove for a few hours from the town in Cappadocia where were had spent the last few days and ended up in an industrial city on the Mediterranean coast. It wasn't on our itinerary and I never caught the name of the city - I rather enjoyed not knowing where I was. The city was choked under a blanket of smog and despite its beautiful surroundings, it was really quite ugly. They tried to beautify the shoreline with a lovely walkway, parks and tea houses but they were lost in the pollution. It was a perfectly cloudless day but the sky and the sea were both gun-metal grey due to the smog. We didn't do much here and despite its claims of fabulous cuisine, the city didn't even offer us a decent meal.

This morning we visited a great museum in a nearby town called Harbiye. It had a lot of beautiful mosaics dating from the 1st to 6th century as well as some statues from a few hundred BCE. The mosaics were absolutely huge and very intricate. There were also some Hittite pottery pieces and other artifacts that went back to the 14-16th century BCE. It just boggles the mind.

We arrived at the Turkish border just before noon and bid farewell to our Turkish guide and driver. We passed through Turkish passport control and then walked the 2.5 kilometers to the Syrian border through "no man's land". There was an option to take the bus but most of us chose to walk as it was just such a cool thing to do - it felt very Middle Eastern to be walking between countries in a very barren landscape. We were met on the Syrian side by a very friendly soldier who scooted down the hill, rifle at the ready to meet us. A couple of hundred feet later we came upon a tent housing three military looking gentlemen who introduced themselves and offered us some tea in the shade of their awning. A few feet further on we finally arrived at the customs building and all passed through with little difficulty (except for the one American in our midst who was questioned quite thoroughly before getting her passport stamped).

A few hundred more meters down the road we met up with our Syrian guide who we all immediately took a great liking to. We had about an hour's drive to Aleppo, got checked into our hotel and were taken to a bank and then a cheap lunch. We had the best felafel wrap that I ever could dream of tasting and a coke for under a dollar. It's so nice to be back in a country that is affordable after the wallet-drain of Turkey. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring this very cool city, and especially its souq which seems to go on forever. At first glance, Syria is a paradise. It is inexpensive, the food is great, there is so much to see here, and best of all the people are absolutely wonderful. I am very much looking forward to the next week.

Gypsies and UFOs

Last night four of our group went to a supper club for dinner and dancing. We had a lovely meal of traditional Turkish food while we watched performances by a troupe of gypsy dancers and a belly dancer. All in all it was a lot of fun. Andy and I took advantage of the all-you-can-drink arrangement and then found another bar back in our town after we got home. Needless to say, my head was a little thick this morning. We had a free day today, and despite my fuzziness I didn't want to waste it. I accompanied the other three Canadians over to the town of Goreme where we visited another open-air museum (circa 6th century CE). This one contained many Christian churches, all of which were carved out of the hillsides. The frescoes in some of these churches were very well preserved and beautiful.

We then went down the road to the UFO museum. I wasn't holding out much hope for it, but it was actually very interesting. It's one of only five UFO museums in the world. It had tons of information on everything from Roswell to crop circles to ancient civilisations to biblical references. I have to admit it was all pretty convincing.

We leave Cappadocia tomorrow morning and only have one more night in Turkey before we cross over to Syria. I'm really looking forward to it, but will definitely miss Turkey - it's been a wonderful experience and a really fabulous country. It's certainly some place that I hope to come back to.

Cappadocia

The overnight bus trip wasn't as bad as expected and we arrived here at about 3:00 AM. After a decent sleep we headed out for a very late breakfast at a patisserie in town. The food is really good here and much less expensive than in other parts of Turkey, which is a real relief. A few of the group headed off for a Turkish bath and the rest of us just wandered around town. In the afternoon we went to visit Kaymakle which is home to an underground city. It is an amazing maze of tunnels and rooms dug into the soft "tufe" or lava rock that forms much of the landscape around here. The city is actually about eight storeys deep but we were only able to visit five of them. It was plenty deep for me. This city wasn't lived in all the time but was used when there was some threat to the population. They even took their animals into the caves with them and there are stables as well as bedrooms, churches, kitchens and most importantly, wineries. It was originally built by the Hittites but was also used by the Christians hiding from the Arabs between the sixth and tenth century CE.

After a lovely dinner and the best apple tea I've had yet, we went to see the Whirling Dervishes. This is a sect of Sufi Muslims who date back to the 13th century Ottoman empire. They have a really neat religion which is actually very similar to Buddhism and other eastern religions. The whirling ritual was performed for us in a cave theatre which was quite dark and full of atmosphere. They are accompanied by four musicians playing bamboo flute, guitar, bongos and vocals. The music was really lovely (and I typically don't like the music from this region). The dance itself was very different than I expected, and was very slow-paced and constant. The five dancers basically just whirled around in circles which very slowly moving around the round stage. Some had their eyes closed and some seemed almost in a trance. They twirl for about 45 minutes and don't get dizzy - it was mind-boggling. The ritual was really something very special to witness, and had a mesmerizing effect on us all. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. We weren't allowed to take photographs during the ritual but they came out and twirled for a few minutes after it was over so we could take photos. Much to my dismay, I managed to totally botch this up and all my photos are blurred. My travelling companions have promised to share theirs with me.

Today was a full day of exploring the area. We started the morning with a beautiful one and a half hour hike through the countryside. The rock formations are really lovely and it was great to really get out into nature, but I must say that it paled in comparison to the majestic landscape I've seen in Tibet and Nepal in the last few months.

Following this, we visited a pottery factory and got a demonstration from the master potter. Their store was absolutely breathtaking - the workmanship, colours and patterns are so beautiful. They generally tend to stick to original Ottoman designs, and in this region Hittite designs, but they also do various other themes. I could have shopped till I dropped there.

Our next stop was the fairy chimneys, which are large pinnacles of tufe with granite caps. The tufe erodes at a faster rate than the granite, so the pillars are quite thin with big "hats" on top of them. They are really beautiful and interesting. We then visited an open-air museum near the town of Zelve, which is actually a collection of three valleys which make up a community carved into the hillsides. There are dwellings, churches, mosques, mills and other components of a village, however they are all in caves lining these three valleys. It was fun and interesting to scramble through the hillsides inspecting all the caves.

We grabbed another wonderful and inexpensive bite of lunch and then went to visit the castle in Goreme. This is another dwelling built into a hill but on a much grander scale that what we had previously seen. The whole hill appears to be hollowed out and riddled with caves. I believe that an entire city lived within this hill in times of threat. We climbed to the top of it (we really didn't see much of the inside) and had wonderful views of the surrounding area from the top.

Despite my best efforts to the contrary, I have broken down and done a bit of shopping here. There is just so much beautiful artwork, jewelery, pottery and other trinkets to buy, I just couldn't resist. I have kept the price tags low (still no carpets in my luggage) but of course everything I've bought is highly breakable and difficult to pack. I guess I'll have to jettison some clothes from my luggage to make room for it all.

Sunshine and St. Nick

Yesterday was just one of those great travelling days. We awoke to glorious sunshine and once again set off in a southerly direction. Most of our drive was right along the coast of the Mediterranean and offered stunning views of the coastline. We stopped briefly in the town of Demre to visit St. Nicholas's church and statue. The story goes that he was very generous and saved a poor man from having to prostitute his daughters. The good saint tossed a bag of gold coins into the man's house through the window, and he was able to use the money as a dowry for one of his daughters. When St. Nick went back to leave more money for the other two daughters' dowries, the windows were all closed so he climbed to the roof and threw the money down the chimney. I can't quite understand why someone would want to move from the sunny Mediterranean coast to the North Pole, but there you have it.

We continued on to Olympos which isn't really a town at all, at least not in the modern sense. The only accommodation is in "tree houses" or rather bungalows along a dirt road through the forest. A few kilometers from our bungalow was the entrance into the ruins of Olympos (circa 100 BCE to 600 CE). We spent a couple of hours wandering through the ruins, none of which has been restored and are very broken down. I think the tomb of Marcus Aurelius is here - there is a memorial tomb for him as well as what I believe was his real tomb but am not 100% certain. Pretty cool either way. The forest has all grown up around these ruins so it's somewhat of an Indiana Jones adventure to visit them.

At the far end of the ruins, we came out at a beautiful beach where we relaxed in the late afternoon sunshine and had a swim in the sea. It was a much more enjoyable swim in the Mediterranean than I had experienced a couple of days ago. Once the sun left we beach, we ambled back through the ruins to the gate and I left the others to explore some more ruins on the other side of the site. I'm glad I did as I saw a cool necropolis, theatre (totally broken down) and the Roman baths which were really lovely.

Once back at the tree house, we settled in around a bonfire and had a few drinks before dinner. We played some campfire games and generally had a pleasant evening. I'm really lucky to have a such a great entourage this time. They're all so young but wonderfully intelligent and well-educated - I'm learning so much from them. Kyle, the Canadian martial arts instructor, gave some self-defense lessons to our guide which kept us amused for a half-hour or so.

After dinner we climbed back in the bus and headed for a place called Chimaera which is famous for its burning rocks. These aren't actually burning rocks but gases which leak out of the rocks and are perpetually on fire. We climbed up the hillside and finally came to the area which is covered with these little fires. We sat by the fires and looked up at the sky which was wonderfully clear and absolutely loaded with stars. It was one of the most beautiful evenings of my trip.

We got to sleep in this morning and woke to rain. After a very late breakfast we set off for Anatolya which is a fairly large city about an hour south of Olympos. We spent the afternoon here and I chose to be alone, wandering around the city and exploring the shops and sites. Being a major centre, we were back into the hassles and touts which I found particularly irritating, probably because I was getting used to the quiet of the smaller towns. Many of the touts were addressing me in German so I assume there is a large German population here or at least a lot of German tourists.

We're leaving here at 7:00 this evening for an overnight bus ride to Cappadocia which none of us is looking forward to. Hopefully we'll be able to get some sleep. Cappadocia should be good as we have lots of activities lined up there.

Kas

We woke to a beautiful sunny day and set out down the Turquoise Coast of Turkey. After an hour or so of driving we stopped at a seaside town called Fethiye and spent about an hour there wandering around town. We hopped back on board the bus and after another hour or so arrived in the town of Kas. It is a beautiful seaside town with a very rugged shoreline and lots of fishing boats moored in the harbour. It was very windy so the sea was really rough and there wasn't much in the way of a beach so we weren't able to swim. However, we finally got to see the Mediterranean in all its glory under sunny skies. It's absolutely beautiful here and must be a wonderful spot in the summer. There is a square in the middle of town which is surrounded by cafes and restaurants - a pretty and active gathering spot by the edge of the sea.

A very short walk outside of town there is a Greek theatre which at a capacity of 4,000 is fairly small. It is distinct in that it is the only theatre in Asia Minor which faces the sea. There are a couple of other little gems around town, like a Lycean sarcophagus, but not too much of note. It was just really nice to spend the day wandering around the quiet town enjoying the sunshine and beautiful views. It's also nice to be away from the cities and the hassles that go with them. Here we can wander through the shops at our leisure and not be shadowed by shopkeepers constantly selling to us. It's a real relief.

Mud Baths and Rain

It was a bit gray when we woke up this morning but we decided to take our chances on the typical Turkish seaside excursion. We started with a boat ride up the Dalyan river to mud baths. It was quite cool so a few of the faint-hearted decided to sit on the sidelines, but the hearty Canadians and a very brave Brit took the plunge. We donned our bathing suits and waded into the mud pool. It wasn't long before a slinging match began and we were soon all covered in mud. It started to rain while we were mud bathing so we didn't get the opportunity to let the mud dry on our bodies as is the proper protocol. We took a shower of fire-hose proportions and then jumped in the hot sulfur pool where we stayed for quite a while enjoying the heat.

Once dressed, we dashed to the boat for the next leg of our journey. It was raining but the boat is covered so we were able to stay a bit dry. We cruised down to the other end of the river and docked at Turkey's nicest beach on the Mediterranean. This beach is notable for it's loggerhead turtle breeding grounds which are protected during their laying and hatching periods. There are no turtles around at this time of year. Given that I don't know when I'll get back to the Mediterranean, I decided that I needed to swim. The water was actually quite lovely but getting out wasn't exactly a treat. Everyone else was waiting for me dressed in fleeces and rain gear and most of them were wearing hats and gloves. I got dressed and we headed back to the boat where a lovely barbeque lunch was being prepared. By this time the weather had turned into a full-on storm with very strong winds and torrential rains. Despite the flimsy roof on the boat, the rain was coming at us sideways and we all got soaked while we ate. Not exactly my idea of picnic by the Mediterranean. As soon as we finished eating we motored back to the hotel.

I immediately jumped into a hot shower and then spent the rest of the afternoon in bed with a book and napping. It is now actually quite mild outside but when the wind blows and the rains come it's very chilling. Hopefully things will clear up for us in Cappadocia.

Pamukkale and Dalyan

After my last post we had a lovely evening in a small but touristy town outside Selcuk. It is built up a hill with cobbled streets and has a very Mediterranean-area feel to it - really quite romantic. We tasted some fruit flavoured wine and picked up a few bottles for the road. We then had a traditional dinner in a local restaurant where we let the owner choose a bunch of dishes for us to try. We got a great variety of food and I tried some things that I probably never would have ordered on my own, like stuffed squash flowers. It was a lovely meal.

Yesterday we travelled to Pamukkale and spent the afternoon exploring the limestone waterfalls and the ruins of the town of Hierapolis. The limestone formations are really beautiful and must have been a wonderful place to visit when there was still thermal water running down the hill and filling the pools along the way. I can only image what a beautiful spa it must have been before environmental changes dried it up. Hieropolis was built on top of the hill to take advantage of the hot pools (circa 2nd century CE). The ruins are quite lovely and the theatre is very impressive - even bigger than Ephesus with a capacity of 25,000. The most interesting part for me was the necropolis (cemetery) which has hundreds of tombs and sarcophagi in various styles. There is also a museum which houses the most beautiful of these - it was really quite amazing.

They have built a current-day hot pool on the site which is nicely done and allows you to swim around broken columns and other ruins in the pool itself. Very cool, but unfortunately we didn't have time for a swim by the time we had finished visiting the rest of the site. Given the number of tourists who were wandering around in there, it likely would have been a bit uncomfortable anyway - I think I would have felt like a fish in a fishbowl. Still, it was a very beautiful setup.

I have to admit that it's somewhat disappointing that the water has stopped flowing down the limestone hill. It's something I'd seen photographs of and would very much have liked to bask in the hot pools formed of limestone and filled naturally with warm water.

Today we drove to the town of Dalyan. We are working from a winter itinerary for this tour, which I wasn't even aware existed until this morning. (Can't really blame anyone other than myself for this - didn't do my research thoroughly enough.) As a result, we did not spend the afternoon on a gulet nor are we sleeping on one tonight. It was a beautiful day today but am glad we didn't spend it on a boat. Dalyan is a small resort town on a river that feeds into the Mediterranean and it feels just like every other small coastal town all over the world. There's a great vibe here even though the season is over and it's very quiet. I imagine it would be a great spot for a summer visit. There's not a whole lot to see and do here, so I opted to spend some time alone this afternoon. I had a lovely lunch in the sunshine and then caught a rowboat across the river. There are some amazing Lycean tombs carved into the hillside over there and I was able to hike up to them. I was of the understanding that there were also some ruins on the hill but I covered every inch of it and didn't really find much. I guess I was in the wrong place. Oh well, at least I had a lovely scramble over the hill and the views from up there were amazing. I probably won't suffer from one less Roman ruin on this tour.

Ephesus and More

We had a lovely evening last night - we all went out for dinner as a group with our guide and driver. It really is a great bunch this time. Stopped at a Nirgile bar on the way home for a couple of drinks and a smoke (vanilla this time).

We started our day today with a guided tour of Ephesus. My head was spinning a bit after the introductory lecture about the history, but once we got going I settled in. The guide offered a lot of knowledge about the area and its history.
The ruins are really fantastic and offer a good glimpse of what life must have been like during Roman times here. It was particularly impressive when we walked over the hill and got a view down the road to the library. Also of epic proportions was the theatre which seats about 24,000 and is absolutely massive. Although not its primary purpose, it was also used as an arena and we could view the tunnels where the lions were led out to feed on Christians. The only downside is that the site was absolutely packed. I can't imagine what it must be like during high season and at the peak of the day.

After Ephesus, we came back to town, grabbed some lunch and then a few of us hopped a taxi to view the home of the Virgin Mary who is supposed to have moved here with John after the crucifixion and lived out her life. They have made a shrine of her home which is a pilgrimage site for many Christians. It wasn't overly impressive and we were actually more impressed by the drive than the destination. We got great views of Selcuk, Ephesus and the Mediterranean from the hilltop.

We got the taxi driver to drop us at St. John's Church which is now just the remains of the 6th century basilica. The ruins are beautiful and hint at what an incredible building it must have been. St. John's tomb is in the church.

This was followed by a visit to the Ephesus museum which was full of beautiful artifacts, statuary and frescoes from the city. It also provided a lot of information about the site.

We're now having a quick rest and then heading out to a small traditional Turkish village for some wine-tasting and dinner. Must run as I have to change and clean up.

Selcuk

This will be very short - not much to report. I redid Troy this morning and was glad to wander through at my own pace. The rest of the day was spent on a bus and we are now in the town of Selcuk. Tomorrow will be very full with a tour of Ephesus in the morning and lots of other stuff to see in the area for the rest of the day. I'll try to blog about it all tomorrow evening if I have time.

The weather continues to be cold, wet and blustery. I am really hoping it turns around soon.

Back in Canakkale

My last few days in Istanbul were nice but relatively uneventful. I visited the last couple of places that I wanted to see - a huge mosque complex, a return to the Topkapi palace and a Turkish bath. The latter was an interesting experience and unlike anything I've ever done. Bathing and other bathroom activities are things that I generally insist on experiencing alone behind closed doors, so it's a bit disconcerting for me that there is a now woman in Istanbul who knows my body better than I do. I think I could get used to it after repeated visits but it's a fairly pricey venture so can't imagine it becoming a regular part of my ablutions. I certainly was clean by the end of it.

On my last day I took a ferry across the Bosphorus to a nice neighbourhood that doesn't really cater to tourists. It was Sunday so there were lots of locals milling around doing their marketing and shopping, and it was nice to walk around and catch a glimpse of Turkish life with any hassles. I figured that I needed to actually cross the Bosphorus which I hadn't previously done - quite the novelty to cross from Europe to Asia over the course of a 20-minute ferry ride. I've actually done the inter-continental trip twice here in Canakkale, both times crossing the Dardanelles by ferry, but it seems more intriguing to do it where you can be in two different continents while staying in the same city.

Last night I said goodbye to my regular bartenders and drinking buddies - it was a bit sad to be leaving them as they've all been such good company and provided many hours of entertainment during my stay in Istanbul.

I met up with my tour-mates yesterday, all of whom are substantially younger than me. There are four Canadians, a couple of Aussies, a Brit and a Yank. So far, all seem great but I am most enjoying the company of two Canadian guys and their female companion, all from Edmonton. Kyle is a martial arts instructor with a great wit and Jared is a magician who, needless to say, will be forced into entertaining us throughout the tour. He got off to a great start with some spectacular card tricks last night. It's great to hear the familiar "eh" in their speech as I haven't heard it for so long and think that I have largely dropped it myself. People I have met recently have told me that I don't sound Canadian so I am wondering how much my speech has changed over the last year. Maybe my tour-mates will help me re-Canadianize.

I am back in Canakkale and the rest of the gang are currently out doing the Gallipoli tour. I found out last night that contrary to the posted itinerary for this tour, visits to both Gallipoli and Troy are included, so my previous visit here was unnecessary. It kind of ticks me off that I made the trip for nothing, but no harm was done and I have a free afternoon today as a result. The weather is really lousy so I'm rather glad to not be traipsing around battle fields and cemeteries in the cold and rain. Tomorrow I'll revisit Troy with the group but will pass on the guided tour and just wander around myself. There is lots of signage there that I didn't get a chance to read last time and I'm interested in learning more about the site and the excavations.

That's it for now...will try to post as often as time permits during the tour.

Conflict, Explosions and Angst over 5 Millennia

Monday was Turkey's Independence Day and I made plans to check out the festivities with Craig, an Australian traveller who is here with his ailing father. We sought advice from everyone on what was happening as well as where and when we could find the events. We didn't get two matching answers so were kind of on our own. We never did find anything of significance, other than a bunch of wreaths at the war memorial which indicated we had missed whatever services were held there. There were Turkish flags absolutely everywhere in the city, but apart from that, no other sign that this was a special day - certainly nothing like July 1 in Canada or January 26 in Australia.

I was a bit concerned about spending the day with Craig as he is, to be kind, a little rough around the edges. He grew up in the outback, left school at 14, worked in the mines all his life and is now retired at 34, having made a fortune on real estate in the mining towns. I couldn't imagine what we'd find to talk about, especially since we couldn't find anything to do with ourselves. We ended up sitting in an outdoor cafe having lunch and a couple of beers, during which he regaled me with stories from his errant childhood. I laughed myself into tears and absolutely had a blast with him. Later in the evening we wandered down to the waterfront and had just seated ourselves in his favourite outdoor restaurant and ordered our meal when the fireworks started up over the Bosphorus bridge. It was a fabulous show and much more exciting than a full moon over the Bosphorus. The restaurant we were at is underneath a bridge that supports hundreds of fishermen, so our view of the fireworks was through a curtain of fishing lines - a very unique experience for me.

On Tuesday I got up early and boarded a bus for Canakkale (pronounced Cha-na'-ka-lay). Upon arrival, we had lunch and then took a tour of several of the major sites on the Gallipoli peninsula. We had seen a great documentary about the battle at Gallipoli on the bus, which helped those of us non-Australians/New Zealanders to better understand it. The guide was superb and the sites very moving. The Turks have done a fabulous job preserving the peninsula, which is now a national park and protected from any development. It is amazing to see the places where this horrible battle took place over nine months and with such an incredible loss of life. There were 120,000 deaths on the battlefield, but the number of deaths due to wounds and illness brings the toll to 500,000. It's even more horrific in that it was all for naught. There are dozens of cemeteries and other monuments scattered over the area and the vibe is at once both very sad and beautifully peaceful.

The Anzacs made it to a spot called Lone Pine very early on in the battle and wanted to capture a hill called Chunuk Bair. You can practically throw a rock from one to the other, but for nine months they were unable to get there other than a two-day period when a New Zealand troop held it. The trenches are still in evidence all over the hill sides, in some cases the enemies were as close together as nine metres. In fact, they were so close that soldiers frequently tossed things to each other during the quiet times, exchanging food and newspapers for cigarettes. During times of battle, grenades were tossed back and forth as many as four times before blowing up.

The stories of tenderness, camaraderie and respect that came out of this war from both sides are truly remarkable as is the terrible devastation. The continued respect between Turkey and the Anzacs is very moving and the guide had us all in tears with his stories. He referred to it as the "last gentleman's war".

We spent the night in Canakkale and boarded a bus for Troy in the morning. Again we were blessed with an excellent guide who injected much humour and charm into her commentary. The excavated site is actually quite small and teams continue to work on the remaining area around the city. It's funny how they have little or no interest in anything Roman as there are already so many Roman ruins in Turkey they have become quite blase about them. They only get excited about the pre-Roman finds.

This was yet another mind-blowing day. They have found no less than nine cities built on top of each other at this site, and even evidence of small communities that go back further than Troy I. The Troy that Homer wrote about is assumed to be Troy VI or perhaps VII which are similar to each other. Troy I dates back to 2900 BC and Troy IX ends at 500 AD. There are places in the excavation where you can see all nine Troys stacked up on top of one another. I couldn't believe I was looking at 5000 year old walls - pretty amazing if you allow that to sink in. There's not a lot to see other than ruined walls, but that was enough for me - to actually walk through the "gates" into Troy VI was very cool. And yes, they have a huge wooden horse for the tourists to take pictures of, and no, Brad Pitt was not there. I did find the tour a bit quick and there were lots of plaques around the site that we didn't stop to read. When I go back to Canakkale with my other tour, I think I'll opt to go back out to Troy, skip the guided tour and just wander around the site. I don't feel the need for another trip to Gallipoli - it is a very sad place. I'm sure by the time I've finished this tour, several thousand year old ruins will seem like nothing to me, but right now I'm totally intrigued.

Interestingly, the 10-year war at Troy in the 13th century BC and the nine-month battle of Gallipoli in 1915 were both over ownership of the same waterway, the Dardanelles. This is one significant body of water.

We spent the rest of the day in Canakkale which doesn't have a whole lot to offer, except a lovely waterfront and the wooden horse that was used in the film "Troy". Still no Brad Pitt sightings. We headed back to Istanbul in the afternoon and arrived here late last night.

I got up early this morning and went get my Syrian visa. When I gave them all my documents, they refused to give me a visa because I was using a temporary passport. Needless to say, with three days until my tour, and all kinds of assurances that I would get this visa in a day, this sent me into a panic. I went out to call my fabulous contact at the Canadian consulate but had to learn how to use a phone in the interim. A policeman was good enough to direct me to a post office where a clerk sold me a phone card, directed me to the nearest payphone and sent along his elderly friend to help me make the call. It still amazes me that I can design a telephone network and virtually build a phone switch from the ground up, but when faced with making a phone call outside of North America I'm as helpless as a baby. I was finally able to connect with Zeyda who called the Syrian embassy and got me all sorted out. She saved my bacon once again. I am now concerned that this regal, white passport of mine that was making me feel so important will be the bane of my existence for the next four weeks or so. I am hoping I don't run into more problems with it when entering Jordan and Egypt - hopefully the presence of the Syrian visa it it will help.

I have done a lot of complaining about the Turkish men here, and there certainly are a lot of annoyances from the locals, but I really should comment on the hospitality of the Turks. I don't often let them get close enough to be hospitable, but they really helped me out today when I was in a tight spot. Similarly, the staff at my hostel and in the bar that I frequent are really wonderful. A guy even helped me across the street today and engaged me in pleasant conversation on the other side. (I really did need help crossing the street and was glad for his attention. The Turks are considered crazy drivers - and are a little reckless - but they can't touch what I've seen on the roads over the last year.) Of course I did end up in his family's carpet shop as a result of responding to him, but even that was a pleasant experience. They gave me a great education and let me escape carpet-free without any hassle. (I did see one that I loved but would have cost me $2800 to buy and ship home - a bit outside my budget at the moment.) Not many carpet salesmen would let you off so easily.

I have about three more days in Istanbul before my tour and only a few things that I really want to see, so hopefully I'll just chill out a bit and enjoy my space before I go back into group mode. I'll blog again before I leave but probably won't have much to report.