Neile's Turkish Holiday

July 10

as transcribed from my journal

	A view of Anamurum, the ghost city. If you look closely you might be able to pick out the city walls. The closer buildings are mostly necropoli (houses for the dead).
	Another view of Anamurum.

 

We happened upon a caretaker, who was kind enough to show us a lovely little bird mosaic, and then a necropolis where there were frescoes of two birds in arches, then to a place where there was a partial mosaic which still had two women's faces on the sides of an arch. There was a family tomb above. Very hot already, hard to be faced with such an amazing site and find it too hot to explore from top to toe.

Went back to the hotel to have breakfast and pack up in the air conditioning.

Then drove to a huge Crusader castle, Mamure, larger than most that I've seen in Scotland or Wales but looking very like those sorts of castles. To get there we crossed a bridge with hundreds of turtles in the murky green water.

	A view of Mamure, built by Crusaders in the 12th century, from one of its towers. The rusty dome on the right is the roof of a newish mosque built inside the castle.
	Jim at Mamure (taken by Matt).

 

We clambered up to a tower, appreciating each tiny bit of breeze that came our way in the oppresive heat. 12th Century, long walls and towers. Must have housed many at its height. Very quickly the heat made us tired, and with extreme regret Christina and I retired to the tea house across the street. The waiter brought glasses on saucers with lovely flowers on a plate beneath. Sat and cooled off. After Jim and Matt joined us, the waiter told us to visit the ruined baths right next to the cafe--several rooms, domed, with interesting angular patterns at eye height. In one dome, star- and circle-shaped cutouts.

Driving back toward Aydincip, we passed a corsair fortress/castle (again) atop a steep mountain. Decided not to brave it, as were didn't think the road would be good enough for the car (if indeed there was a road) and we certainly weren't able to hike up a mountain in the heat. I find it frustrating how the heat immobilizes me when there's so much to see.

Winding coastal roads. Took an impulse turn to follow a historic marker sign to a place called Aphroditis, hoping to find something Greek. The road began as gravel, and I was worried about Matt driving 14 kilometers on a bad road, but very shortly it was paved, and when we got to the end we found out the reason for that trick--there was a peninsula with a gated community at the end. Christina showed them her Bilkent University card (expired but there's no date on it) and the guard let us through to see the site. We had to wander through the strange resort streets past their docks, and found an early Christian church with only the floors left but they had some nice mosaic work--abstract designs, then a repeated pattern of a duck, guinea fowl, fish, chalice, bread basket. Christina and Matt interpreted a long inscription in Greek written in the mosaic about Paul and archbishops.

The duck in the large mosaic. Still in wonderful shape after well over 1,000 years.

 

More mountain roads, then flat.

This section is written halfway down to heaven:

Stopped to see a Roman bath with a sweet mosaic of the three graces.

The Roman mosaic of The Three Graces.

 

Then dinner in a fish restaurant right on a small cove, where we fed the local cats then threw the leftovers to the fish in the bay.

A view of the cove from the fish restaurant.

 

Drove across the way and up the hill a bit, directly to the Gates of Heaven and Hell, where in the tourist souvenir area I bought Christina a bell because she's been talking a long time about having a bell to ring when she makes a pun so Matt will laugh.

Heaven is in a deep chasm. There are stairs down, but I got about halfway down and started to worry about my ankle (still quite swollen even after so many days), so I'm sitting here looking down waiting for Christina, Matt, and Jim to return. Right by the stairs so people passing keeping looking to see what I'm writing. It is lovely here. Cool and treed, where the roof of an underground river fell in. Perhaps as a pagan I should not go farther, anyway.

Rag trees again near the top, where people have tied bits of rags to mark their wishes. The accompanying postcard is improbable. A guy just walked by talking on his cell phone.

End of section written halfway to heaven.

Christina, Matt, and Jim returned, sweating and tired, proclaiming heaven rather hellish, and a surprisingly long way down. They only went to the mouth of the cave, which was a little foul.

	At the bottom of the chasm of heaven, there is a deep cave. [Christina's caption: "Matt and Jim look over the precipice into heaven, far below."]
	The chapel built at the bottom of Heaven by the mouth of the cave. [Christina's caption: "The dreary chapel on the road to heaven."]

 

Walked back up and had something to drink, then while Matt, Jim, and I went to look at hell, an almost cylindrical hole in the ground with greenery at the bottom (there was, allegedly according to the guidebook a ladder you could take down, but it was nowhere in evidence, and overall hell didn't look so much worse than heaven except it was smaller and the only way down was to jump). Christina contemplated the camels that were waiting there for tourists to ride. When we turned around Christina had finished contemplating camels and had decided she and Matt would take a ride. This surprised me, as Christina had always warned me about camels, given that they were covered with fleas and given the part of human anatomy that touches a camel when riding and how distasteful fleas would be when they inevitably moved from camel to human. They did a little circle, riding together on one camel, while the other camel strained to follow. The owner pointed out that it was a second-class camel. It cost them one million Turkish lira to ride (about $2.40). I was only mildly jealous, as I was wearing a skirt which precluded the tasteful riding of camels.

Christina, small child (borrowed), and Matt on their camel. [Christina's caption: "Community service on a camel. The camel's name of Shimshek."]

 

Drove along a little ways and found a hotel with air conditioning (this one a bit of a dive compared to the previous nights and more expensive as well, but the nearby area seemed pretty busy and we weren't inclined to be picky. We pulled out and appreciated all our carpets, then came back and packed all up for the trip back to Istanbul and crashed.