Turkey Wrap Up

All,

Time is just zipping by!  Here's a re-cap of our trip to Turkey.  Learned that Cappadocia means "Land of the Thoroughbred Horses."  Stopped where the Dervishes were established and visited the Runi Museum.  What an interesting place and philosophy.  Runi thought that everything turns in harmony and in order to find harmony with God, one must be in harmony with everything by turning or spinning.  Discovered that Borek in Turkish means pastry shop.  

Visited Perge which has been inhabited since the 3rd Century BC!  Perge is still being excavated.  Two Greek towers are still standing!  As we walked, we saw a grinding stone used to fill in a section of a wall - the ultimate in recycling!  Don't waste any good material!  

The ancient site of Aspendos is mind blowing!  The theater is pretty intact but the rest of the city has not been excavated yet.  Surround sound was done mathematically with bronze jars filled with water for the re-verb and amplification. Alexander the Great was here in 333 BC.  This theater is still being used today for many concerts.

  

On the way to Fetiyah, we stopped in Myrna (Lycia). The tombs here are hewn into rock walls and look like Greco-Roman architecture.  At the church of St. Nicholas, we saw an interesting fresco.  Usually, Mary is depicted on the left side of Jesus, however, the painting here has her on the right hand side, which is considered to be unusual. During one of the many crusades, the bones of St Nicholas were "taken" to Italy as "holy" relics.  One quick story about St Nicholas; he overheard a father and daughter discussing her lack of a dowry.  Without a dowry, she could not marry.  So, one evening, St Nicholas climbed up on the roof of their house and dropped a small bag of coins down the chimney.  The young girl found the small bag of coins when she cleaned the hearth the next morning. Took a short walk in the town of Fetiyah, which is named for a pilot, who crashed while attempting a flight record.

We boarded the Pinar III for our Turquoise Coast Cruise.  One place we visited was Kayakoy, which is the inspiration for the novel, Birds Without Wings.  The village is now deserted due to the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.  Such a sad story; families were uprooted and had to learn a new language and culture.  

Spent some time at Cleopatra's Sunken Bath.  Cleopatra was never here but the name draws boaters and other visitors.  It's an old building half submerged.  Makes for an interesting story though.  All too soon we departed our ship.  

While visiting St. John's Basilica, we saw storks flying and nesting!  Spring is here!  

Easter Sunday we visited Ephesus - what an experience!  Thought we had seen some pretty amazing things but this takes the cake thus far!  The site has been excavated but only 15 percent of it.  Celsus' Library is probably our favorite building there.  It appears to have 2 stories/floors; however, it has only one ground floor.  It was built for pure show.  What a way to end our travels in Turkey!  Next up is Greece!