Turkey (III)

Day 3: Konya to Denizli (by tour bus)

Day 3 was the day where we had to travel the furthest by bus (nearly 6 hours by bus), through most of the countryside. The scenery was not much different from other countries, mainly farmland, and you can really see the abundance that Turkey has - so many olive trees and fig trees. I think the tour guide mentioned how Turkey always has enough food to export.

After several hours, we finally arrived in Denizli for a late lunch, again we had the same sort of dishes, salads with lots of different vegetables, some are preserved in vinegar, some are like Tzatziki with yoghurt and cucumber and herbs, some are just fresh veggies for a mixed salad.

Eating in Turkey is not as scary as some people thing - a lot of the group members who traveled with us thought that the food would not be suitable to their palate, but actually a lot of the food that we had was really good, and they all tasted so healthy and yummy. The veggies were fresh, and the meat was lean, even the dairy products tasted good (and usually I stay away from dairy cuz it has that milky-fatty taste... :P)

above left: variety of salad

above middle: lentil soup with BREAD!

above right: a bit of rice, pasta and potatoes with some of their shaved meat - chicken and doner

And because I was missing the doner wrap that I had in Toronto, I decided to make my own version - of course, it didn't taste as good as I remembered, but it was still delicious.

And every meal we finished off with sliced oranges, which were ALWAYS SWEET - I don't think I had one sour orange the whole time I was in Turkey.... and they always slice the oranges into circular wheels, rather than wedges

After lunch, we quickly made our way to the ancient city of Hierapolis. This city has been through different era - ruled by the Byzantium Empire, and then the Roman Empire. What makes this city so significant is because in the city is the head of a hot spring that supplies water to the entire city and flows to other cities further away.

In ancient times, this city was a well-known medical centre because of the hot spring which was said to be a good remedy for many different kinds of illness.

Looks like a snow covered hillside doesn't it? It's actually the thousands of years of mineral deposits from the hot spring water

We entered Hierapolis first by walking through the Necropolis - City of the Dead (this is the grave yard outside of the city gates/walls)

Just entered the city gates into Hierapolis

In the centre of Hierapolis is Pamukkale,
here you can see the terraced layers of mineral deposits, it's like steps going down

above left: with each layer, there are even more detailed layers of mineral deposit... not sure if I'm explaining this clearly... you'll have to go there to see for yourself. :P 

above right: we had really wonderful weather the whole time we were in Turkey, there was only one day of rain, the rest of the time, we had the sun, blue sky and a nice cool breeze - the ultimate vacation weather!

See how blue the water is compared to my toe nailpolish?
Supposedly, the really nutrient-rich water is not even suppose to be this clear, it's supposed to be a milky-white

After spending the afternoon at Hierpolis and Pemukkale, under the bright sun, we headed back to the hotel and had an early breakfast. See how brightly colored my salad is?

Day 4: Denizli to Kusadasi (by tour bus)

Breakfast the next morning......

 above middle: fresh, plain yoghurt with dried and fresh fit (figs, raisins, apricots, and even honey with honeycomb!)

above right: they had egg/omelet stations at many of the hotels that we stayed at, but I have to say they do not really do good omelets, so I had fried eggs, sprinkled with a bit of cumin, salt and pepper and eaten with bread to wipe up all the runny egg yolk...mmmmmm

Our first stop that morning (8am!) was at the ancient city of Laodica (Laodikeia in Turkish).

An interesting thing about Turkish is their language, because Turkey is situated in between Europe and Central Asia, the language sounds similar to some of the other languages used in Central Asia - that's why some of the qurans and other ancient text are written in Persian. But because they are close to Europe and was once part of the Roman Empire, the letters that they use in writing are Roman letters, they do not use the fancy and ornate Arabic writing...

As we traveled, I also noticed that the closer we got towards Europe (we started out in middle/eastern Turkey and traveled west back to Istanbul which is in the part of Turkey that is part of the European Continent), the more "sophisticated" or "europoean" things became - the hotels, food, buildings etc. But more on that later as we get to cities closer to the European continent.

We were the first group of people to arrive at Laodica, which was pretty cool, because it's really like a deserted city, not a single soul around except for some scurrying lizards and two guard dogs. This one below, we named Laodica.... hahaha, he/she came to us and was so quiet and calm, as our Reverend explained the significance of this city in the bible.

Laodica is related to the Hierapolis city that we visited on Day 3, as the spring water found in Pamukkale flows down to Laodica. But in the Book of Revelations, Paul warns the citizens of Laodica not to be lukewarm. This actually has dual meaning. Because by the time the water flows to Laodica, it is not longer hot to help cure illness or to sooth aching bodies, nor is it cool enough to drink - it's just lukewarm. So Revelations warns Laodicans not be lukewarm, they must either be hot with passion for God, or cold so that they can quench thirst (for the word).

 above right: 'Laodica' was such a good dog, she/he sat quietly while we were listening to our tour guide, and when we took a group photo, she/he just walked over to our group and sat down right in the middle to be in the picture! :) And as we walked around the ruins, she (I think she's a she) was leading the way

The stone pillars that we saw along the main road of the city, and in many other ancient cities that we visited are actually not a single pillar. They were actually different blocks "strung" together with metal rods and filled with liquid lead to hold in place - see the hole where the metal rods were placed?

we saw quite a bit of poppy flowers at many of the sites we visited

The other dog,  him and Laodica are like the protectors of this city... hehe....

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a statue... haha...

SuperMOM... hahaha

 below: our lunch, again soup, salad, 

main dish of rice, chicken, spinach, and a cheese pastry spring roll thing...

         

 left: the yellow/black chicken that is the mascot of the city

right: a turkey in Turkey!

After lunch, we were on our way to Kusadasi, a resort area of Turkey (one of many) which is frequently by travelers from Europe.

Along the road.... we saw many fields

When we arrived in the area around Kusadasi, we went to visit the Basilica of St. Jean (St. John). Kusadasi is very close to the ancient city of Ephesus, where it is believed that John moved to after Jesus died, he moved there with Jesus's mother, Mary.

above left: entrance into the ruins of the Basilica of St. Jean

above right: a baptism well/tub

below right: the four pillars standing on the corners of the tomb of St. Jean symbolize the Four Book of the Gospel - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

 above right & below: the surround modern city, all these areas of modern day were once ocean. The land had been filled because of the main river that ran through Ephesus deposited rich silt over the centuries, so now the surrounding area produces abundant crops

On the way to the resort in Kusadasi...

a Private Lagoon

At this resort, they even had a Chinese chef, so he made stir-fry noodles, sweet & sour chicken, veggie spring roll, it was good, but I actually prefer the Turkish food.

Woohoo! I was able to do two days' in today's posting!

More ruins tomorrow...