Saying goodbye to Istanbul

I decided to leave my visit to Topkapi Palace to my last day in Istanbul. I wanted to say goodbye to this amazing city in style.



This palace has a history of colorful stories and was the home of my new hero Selim the Sot. Why is this dude my hero ... well besides the very cool name, he managed to drown after drinking a skinful of champers. There are much worse ways to go ... gotta love a bubbles drinker.

Work on the palace commenced in 1453 and it was home to a whole load of sultans until the nineteenth century when they built somewhere better can you believe.



The palace is enormous and is made up of four courtyards. The first courtyard was open to anyone, the second to people visiting on business, and the others to the sultan, family and staff. The courtyards get more opulent as you move through them.

My favorite section was the Harem ... the hang out for the sultan when he wanted to party.


The eunuchs, poor dudes with their lopped off bits, had their own area within the harem but it wasn't half as fancy as that of the concubines.


The buildings within the third courtyard were built in the 16th century and were plush indeed.




The fourth courtyard is uber plush and has very cool views.




You've gotta love a place that is full of decadence and good times ... and these guys were masters of both.

Posted from somewhere round the world...

Doing it tough in the south of Turkey

An interesting bus ride through the winding mountain roads had me hit the southern Turkish town of Fethiye around 9pm. Another shuttle picked me up and deposited me in the beach town of Oludeniz. It was quite late by this stage so it wasn't until the following morning that I realized I'd found paradise (well paradise except for the package tourists!)

I spent 5 days hanging out on the beach called blue lagoon with the occasional visit to Paradise Beach. I never take my camera to the beach but think I must start to so I can share paradise with you!

I popped to Rhodes for a bit .... but thats a whole different post.

The next part of my adventure was aboard a traditional Turkish gulet, sailing (or motoring as the case may be) for the next four days.




It's what I call doing it tough .... swimming in beautiful clear water and checking out little villages only accessible by boat.















We had an afternoon break in the small town of Kas. It is such a cute town with winding paved streets and friendly locals ... all trying to sell stuff of course. I had a fresh OJ, my new addiction. I know, who would have thought I'd get addicted to juice!





All too soon it was time to leave the boat and head for the beach and tree houses of Olympos. The cool thing was that everyone from the boat was heading there so we didn't have to say goodbye just yet.







My next stop was Antalya, the third largest city in Turkey. It was strange being back in a bustling metropolis, luckily I was staying in the peaceful old town where the streets are cobbled and there are more cats than cars.






My usual dose of roman ruins had been lacking so I hopped on a bus and headed out to see how the Romans had left there mark in this part of the country. I wasn't disappointed in Perege.










Although I did get a bit bored so got chatting to a dude who was cutting fruit off a cactus. Nothing like a bit of cactus fruit to spice up a ruin or two.










My next stop was Side and was I in for a surprise. This town is part mass tourism and part magnificent ruins (and that's a big call coming from someone who's seen a ruin or 10!) The town is entered through the Vespasian Gate. Very cool.


Then you get through the standard shops selling tourist tat and the Temples of Apollo and Athena (or a couple of columns left from the temples) stand guard over the Mediterranean.









Now that's what I call a ruin with a view.




Posted from somewhere round the world...

Turkey .... heading south

I decided to do a loop around this fabulous country, heading south along the coastal route until I hit the Med. I had loved Istanbul from the moment I landed so was hoping the rest of the country didn't disappoint.



I crossed the Dardanelles and made a stop in Troy. Now the story of Troy - if it is correct - is a great one but oooooooh the famous site is now a tourist trap. A fake bloody horse, what the?And you need a hell of a lot of imagination as the ruins are ruined.





I grabbed an ice-cream, my treat when I've hit a bad tourist site, and wandered around listening to the guide describe what once stood. He tried his best to get us excited about the grand buildings but I was kinda pleased I had an ice cream as the ruins just didn't cut it. And he questioned the legend that is Troy ... at least he could of pretended he believed in Helen!

My next stop was another dip into the land of the bible. Apparently this unassuming cottage (rebuilt from the foundations up) is thought to be the last home of the Blessed Virgin Mary.


There were big signs with various passages from the bible used to try and create a strong argument as to why we know Mary last laid her head here. Whether she did or not, I didn't mind as the area was very serene.


There was also a row of taps dispersing holy water (from the local water supply I think) but cause I need all the help I can get I splashed a bit around.


Feeling very holy and refreshed despite the 40 degree heat, i headed to Ephesus.

Ephesus is said to be one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities in Europe. It was the capital of Asia minor and had up to 250,000 inhabitants ... which makes for loads of ruins and loads of walking. Perhaps midday wasnt the best time to visit this site. But anyways, I thought I'd give it a shot.
















This site is quite incredible, its up here with Jerash in Jordan as a fav site. God bless those Romans.

The ruins include a large brothel, baths, library, theaters and temples. The large temple, built around 300BC is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It's very cool.

I then decided to head inland to a place called Pamukkale. This town was given a Unesco world heritage tag in 1988 due to the amazing calcite shelves leading up to a roman spa city. Wow, I've never seen anything like this.


It's like 400 degrees (well at least high 30s) and i felt like i was looking at snow from a distance. The walk up the hill is through the crystal travertines with water flowing down the paths. Quite a refreshing way to walk up a hill.








And you could stop and have a dip on the way up.

Now as I've told you before, the Romans got around. They discovered this funky natural spa so promptly built a town on the top of the hill.

The ruins of the spa town of Hierapolis founded in 190BC are actually a combo of pagan, roman, Jewish and early Christian influences. The town was destroyed by earthquakes in the early 1330s so not many elements of the town remain but the views are amazing.










As this was a spa town, the focus was on the sacred swimming pool. The pool still exists and today gets very full when the tourist buses turn up. Despite the potential healing powers of the water, and the fact that Cleopatra used to bathe here I thought it wise to stay out of the water.


Who knows what's going on in there!



Posted from somewhere round the world...

Gallipoli .... lest we forget

At dawn on 25 April 1915, Australian troops began landing at North Beach and around the area known today as Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsular in Turkey. They were closely followed by the Kiwi troops.

The allied troops were trying to get control of the Dardanelles. The aim that day was to capture the Sari Baird range and then press inland to Mal Tepe to cut off Turkish reinforcements to Cape Helles. The strategy was to knock Turkey out of the war and open a path through to Russia.

 

From the beach, groups of men ran up steep, scrub covered slopes toward the high ground ... these men had been squatting in row boats for many hours, were in full army gear and were soaking wet.

At first the few Turkish defenders were pushed back. Some groups of Aussie and Kiwi troops fought their way to where they could see the Dardanelles on the other side of the peninsular.

As the day progressed, Turkish resistance strengthened and by nightfall none of the objectives of the allied troops had been reached. The commanders on the spot recommended withdrawal but they were ordered to dig in and hold. A very sad decision.

There were many ferocious and bloody battles on the Gallipoli Peninsular but for Aussies, none more so than the battle of Lone Pine.

On 6 August at Lone Pine, Australian troops commenced an attack to support the British landing further north along the coast at Suvla Bay.

Aussie troops attacked and occupied Turkish front line positions against determined Turkish counter-attacks. Most of the fighting took place at close quarters in the Turkish trenches. After four days of intense hand to hand fighting the Aussie troops gained control. This close range assault resulted in 2,273 Aussie and 4,000 Turkish casualties in the area the size of a soccer field.

The ANZAC memorial to soldiers who have no marked graves has been erected at Lone Pine.

 

"There is hell waiting here"
CA McAnulty,
Australian soldier killed in the battle of Lone Pine
6 - 12 August 1915

It is hard to fathom, nearly 100 years later, how such atrocities could occur in what today is a very moving but very serene place. This is the view from Lone Pine.

One of my favourite stories of Gallipoli has always been about Simpson and his donkey Duffy. Simpson was a stretcher bearer. He and Duffy would go onto the battle fields every day and bring back the dead and wounded troops. It was a sad day for the troops the day Duffy returned alone.




















It was a very sad moment for me, standing in front of this grave stone. Such a brave man and only 22 years old.

The Gallipoli campaign lasted 9 months, until January 1916. There were more than half a million casualties, 130,000 deaths of which 8,700 were Aussies and 2,700 were Kiwis.

This campaign has always been called a gentleman's war ... a Turk soldier carrying an allied troop.

I think some of the peace that is now felt when walking around the bloody battlefields of Gallipoli is due to the respect that the Turk and ANZAC troops have for each other... at various times during the campaign and forever after.

This memorial was constructed by the Turkish government in memory of ANZAC soldiers who lie side by side with Turkish soldiers of the Gallipoli Peninsular.

 

In case you can't read it ...

'Those heroes that shed their blood
and lost their lives,
you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
here in this country of ours ....
You, the mothers,
who sent their sons from far away countries,
wipe away your tears.
Your sons are now living in our bosom
and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well.'
Attaturk
1934

After a very emotional day, it was these words that really brought me undone.

Lest we forget.



Posted from somewhere round the world...